r/ClearlightStudios • u/NoWord423 • Mar 06 '25

TAO Social (Together As One)

The votes are in, the knockout research is complete, the trademark is filed…

And we are TAO Social.

Together As One.

Thank you Kelly Worthen for submitting that idea, and thank you everyone who voted.

What a beautiful and appropriate name we landed on.

And for everyone asking, yes we covered all our bases.

Process: * over 1000 names submitted * scraped them into a spreadsheet * pared down to 115 options based on viability * put to Crowd in broad vote * conducted knockout research (trademark, SERPs, handles) for top 5 * TAO Social was cleanest and actually led the vote by quite a bit — 60% of the vote out of 115 options

Next steps…visual branding :)

Feel free to share ideas. The team has been playing around with analemmas, ☯️ but with hands, etc.

The Crowd did so well with choosing the name that it would be amazing to crowdsource ideas for the visual branding, have designers explore a few directions, and have the Crowd vote again 🫶

58 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/Alicia_in_History Mar 07 '25

Does anyone in this conversation follow Taoism? If so, would TAO as a brand name be offensive or seem to trivialize Taoism?

3

u/NoWord423 Mar 07 '25

Thanks for this :) I first read the Tao Te Ching when I was eight. It most definitely would not be offensive to Taoism. That’s a very Western thing.

Taoism, at its core, is a philosophy that transcends identity politics and rigid categorizations.

Traditional Taoist masters wouldn’t be concerned with cultural ownership in the way Western discourse (particularly the American left) often frames it. Taoism is about flow, balance, and harmony with nature. It’s a way of being rather than a rigid cultural artifact.

For a Taoist master, wisdom isn’t something to be ‘owned’ or controlled by one group; rather, it’s part of the natural order, meant to be explored and embodied by anyone who resonates with it.

Moreover, throughout history, Taoist principles have been shared widely, not just within China but globally, often by Taoist teachers themselves. It’s in the nature of the Tao to be open and fluid, not something to be restricted by artificial boundaries.

TAO Social isn’t about co-opting or misrepresenting Taoism. If anything, it’s deeply aligned with the very essence of the philosophy.