I get a lot of questions about the name I chose for this new company, so I thought I would try and explain my thinking behind it.

Most of the questions revolve around why I chose Affect instead of Effect. My rationale has to do with a definition of affect that I found on Wikipedia that caught my attention:

Affect, like the adjective affective, refers to the experience of feeling or emotion

I liked the idea of influencing feeling and emotion through technology. That was really the motivation for starting this company. I wanted to help people building products/services to really connect with their customers; the most effective way I think you can do that is by demonstrating what you are building. And the most effective way I think you can connect with a customer is through emotion—getting them to really feel inspired, surprised, and amazed.

Of course, with that explanation so far, I should have named the company EffectiveAffect

The reason I chose Wonder is that I want to always remember that technology, when seen in its best light, should be wondrous. The often used quote from Arthur C. Clarke states it best as, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic!”

That is something we will strive for here; when we work with a client to show off their technology, we want to impart a sense of wonder—a sense of magic—to the audience.

So there you have it. In a survey of my colleagues, WonderAffect was not the most popular choice, but it is the one that I felt was closest to what I’m trying to achieve with this company. In any case, I’ve already ordered business cards, so I’m stuck with the name for at least a little while