We were widening dua’s audience. Did that mean changing its name too? In November 2023, my answer was no. Short, simple, beautiful: I still saw a reason for the name to stay.
When a project’s audience changes, it is easy to assume that everything around it must change too. The useful question is more specific: what needs to be different for the people you now want to reach?
A familiar name can carry continuity. It does not do the work of explaining the product to someone encountering it for the first time. The message beside it still needs to make sense without the founder standing there to explain.
Try describing the product in a sentence for someone outside its original community. Can they tell who it is for and why they might use it? Then ask someone to tell you what they understood. A memorable name and a clear explanation are separate things to work on.
The decision in this post was to keep dua.com while the audience broadened. That is the part worth revisiting: growth can invite a new conversation about the brand without automatically requiring a new name. Keep what has a reason to stay, and be clear about what is changing.
This was one stage of the brand’s story. A later decision gave dua and Spotted different roles.