Naming a web app: One word or two?

You may have noticed in our last couple of posts about Help Scout, the name has been two words instead of one (HelpScout). When building a web app, this is something that requires more thought than you may initially think. The domain, of course, has no spaces, leading many to leave out spaces when talking about your app. Is there a right way and wrong way or is it just a personal preference?

In our opinion it doesn't really matter either way. It's all about how you present the name in the logo. As long as it's clear, consistent and easy for people to understand/pronounce the first time, it's a keeper. We've technically gone both ways in the past. Feed My Inbox has always been three separate words for us. However, Linkpatch was always one. In both cases it came down to how we presented the logo.

If you decide to combine a couple of words for your app name and keep it as one word, the logo must visually define each word so that the logo reads more clearly and is understood more quickly. FreshBooks does it through capitalization and changing the color. Salesforce does it by changing the color and the type. Both are very effective:

The main reason we chose two words for Help Scout, each capitalized, is because we've already got plenty of visual stuff going on with the mascot. The type will be pretty simple and straightforward. So in order for people to immediately make the distinction with our service in reading the name for the first time, we think the space adds more clarity.

There isn't a one-size-fits-all answer to this question, but it's definitely something that must be considered during the logo creation process. The last thing you want to do is create any confusion.