so here’s the story:

back in the mid- to late-nineties, i made a lot of music.  i was angsty and in high school, and spent a lot of time focussing that angsty into some screamy tunes set to bad synthesizers that i called music.  i even had a fake record label.  or three.

first, i used Abyss Records.  it was half homage to Slayer’s “Seasons in the Abyss” (which in eighth grade was often pronounced “ay-bee-us”) and half a tribute to the dark void of my soul.  because dark void records didn’t have as much of a ring to it.

when i moved onward from my exclusively thrash and death metal choices in music to more punk and riot grrl, and likewise my approach to songmaking, the label changed as well.  this time i released tapes under the CRAP Records moniker.  this was partially an acronymn for “Chris Reynolds’ Abyss Productions” and partially a self-deprecating nod to how bad the music i produced was.

later, when i got a tad more serious, and also somewhat better at what i did, i had an epiphany and

 found a name that was both edgy, serious, and had the same kind of dual meaning of its’ predecessors without the same level of sucking: Think Tank Productions.  i even had a logo.  this was about 1996.  the internet was young.  i was on my first computer built by NEC with a relatively new operating system called Windows ‘95.  I started learning html by viewing source code and practicing on several GeoCities homepages.  I was connected to the internet via a 28.8 modem through a fledgling company called EarthLink.  back then, Think Tank sounded new and fresh, and i was pretty proud of myself for thinking of it.

i used the Think Tank name for various things over the years including music and a couple student films i did in college.  so, when erin and i decided to start a t-shirt company and she said she liked thinktank as a name, we went with it.  it was only natural to stick with the name when we decided to do web design.

here’s the thing:

it’s a long time since 1996.  back then, thinktank website design would have been cutting edge, new, fresh, creative, all these great things that they were in 1996 when i had the stroke of genius and came up with that name.  but now, not so much.  just here in the salt lake valley there’s a think tank creative, and thought lab design studio, and they both do graphic design.  there’s also a think tank in san diego, and various think tanks all over.  and they all do design.

we decided that if we want to be as creative, unique, and artistic as we say we are, we need a name that speaks to all of those things.  and we can’t be one-of-a-kind when there’s 9 other think tank graphic design studios.  so we’re changing the name.  we figure, this is our first year, we’ve learned a lot, and grown a lot, and you’ve grown with us, and if we’re going to do it, now is better than later.  so come january 2009, we will start transitioning to a new name and domain: enter Arcane Palette Creative Design.  i will still use thinktank for the new tshirt dealio i’m doing on zazzle.  erin’s gonna start making custom jewelry to sell on etsy, and has already decided to use a unique name for that; Arcane Palette will be exclusively our web design face.

this is only going to be a good thing for us and our clients — we’ll be easier to find, having a more distinctive name to go by.  when we create a site as arcane palette, you won’t be doing a search on google and say “which arcane palette?”  

speaking of faces, and arcane palettes — erin got me a photoshop filter for christmas.  now that may not sound exciting, but i’m pretty excited:

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