The names we give our products and features teach people how to use Okta and how to find the things they need. Choose names that describe what the feature or product does or represents.
Naming Principles
- Put clarity above creativity.
- Establish a mental model for our users.
- Indicate where a product or feature fits into our brand system or the information architecture of the product.
- Be understandable without deep knowledge of Okta or aligns to use outside of Okta.
Types of Names
Descriptive name
Features should always have descriptive names to allow users to easily understand their purpose or capabilities. Products may have descriptive names if it will be more helpful for adoption and use.
A descriptive name should:
- Explain something about the purpose or what makes the feature or product unique.
- Describe the experience.
- Use user-friendly terms.
- Make sense in marketing materials.
- Avoid jargon.
- Distinct enough to avoid confusion with similar names or terms.
- Be application specific or application agnostic — Consider if this is crucial to explain the feature or limiting in the future.
Evocative name
Standalone products with SKUs and independent branding should have evocative names to differentiate Okta from other products and to position them in the industry.
An evocative name should:
- Have a strong, independent brand identity.
- Enhance people’s perception of our brand or increase memorability.
- Reflect the concept it represents.
- Make sense when used in marketing materials.
- Include the use of Okta if needed to differentiate the product from similar products in the industry. See Branded names for more considerations.
- Likely requires a trademark. Align with legal to ensure a evocative name meets the requirements.
Branded names
Include Okta sparingly in a branded name for a product or platform. It’s likely only appropriate for a product or platform at the highest level because once users are inside a product, including Okta becomes redundant.
Use a branded name to:
- Differentiate a product from other, similar products in the industry.
- If the product doesn’t justify an evocative name, but still needs to be associated with Okta.
- Ensure the target audience knows the product is associated with Okta.
Internationalization considerations
Names may not translate directly to other languages. Before confirming a name, check with translation and localization to find out if:
- There are cultural considerations.
- A direct translation is possible.
- A different name for a different location would have a positive impact for brand.
Have questions or need support?
Oktanauts can use the following resources when building with Odyssey:
- Check the Odyssey 1.0 FAQs.
- Join #odyssey in Slack and tag @content to ask questions.
- Attend Odyssey Office Hours on Mondays and Wednesdays from 1-1:30 p.m. PT / 4-4:30 p.m. ET.
- Submit bug reports and feature requests to the Odyssey Jira board.