We’re firm believers that the only constant is change, and we’ve seen some change in our agency over the last few years.
When Motel was founded in 2014, the name and setting were one in the same. From humble beginnings in a converted Las Vegas motel, we’d soon assembled a small bi-coastal team with a focus on design services.
The name Motel had served us well in a lot of ways. It was our origin story. It was kitschy and retro—an interesting counterpart to our design aesthetic. It also helped create a sense of place, which was (and still is) an important consideration to us as a fully remote agency.
Motel also had some drawbacks. It felt transient and transactional—not quite representative of how we approach our working relationships. We spent a lot of time explaining its meaning, which seemed less and less relevant to who we had become.
Over the years, we’ve narrowed our focus from a broad array of creative services to a core offering of UX/UI design. We’ve become more selective about the work we take on, and we’ve become a much more diverse group in terms of our skills, backgrounds, and interests. Motel felt like a vestige of the past.
Township captures who we are today and who we’d like to be twenty years down the road. While motels are for visitors, Township is homebase. We wanted to create a sense of belonging with a name that, although small and local, feels universal.
Township’s strength as a name lies in the fondness that many of us have for small towns and the people who call them home. We wanted our employees and clients to feel like they’re part of a team that genuinely cares.
If you break it down, “town” + “ship” also conjures the image of a town on the move—something our remote agency can relate to. We’re all steadying the ship’s course from our respective positions.
A name is a first impression, and it’s never easy to change such a critical part of a company. We couldn’t feel better about making a new impression and we’re excited for where this new name will take us.