Letting Go
It was finally time. I decided to make my business name match my real name and real identity. Welcome to Corinne KARL Design. I love my new name and my new identity in my name. The decision to change my name legally was actually a no-brainer for me. Many people thought because of my strong and forward personality and strong family ties that I might just go non-traditional and keep Corinne Woodward as my legal name. I didn’t change my name because it is the traditional thing to do as a married woman. I changed it because I wanted to intentionally take on my husband’s name as a part of my own, especially because many thought I wouldn’t. Though I was married almost a year and a half ago, reflecting the name in my business feels like another leap. This leap was surprisingly more difficult than the legal name change for me. Why? Because I am a designer…and I like W’s so much more than K’s.
I’m not kidding. When I legally changed my name, I made my maiden name my middle name. I did this for several reasons, but one of them was so that I could justify keeping Corinne Woodward Design as my business name…because I liked my logo. It was something sketched together almost 5 years ago in the back of my college Mac lab. It came together in one sitting and I loved it. Taking on Corinne Karl Design meant letting it go. It’s meant letting go of a lot of things — letting go of my old job as I ventured into full-time freelance, letting go of some financial security, and letting go of my precious W logo. And, yes, I know CK also stands for Calvin Klein. I’ve heard it a few times now.
It didn’t come as naturally as my W did. It took several tries and I still never liked them more than my W. I spent way too much time looking at different K letterforms on Pinterest and muttering “I hate K’s”, to myself.
It finally happened. I finally found the right K. And here I am!
The K never bothered me anyway. (Had to get a little Frozen nod in there somewhere.)
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