Campfire. Image by Doug Beckers on flickr
In the words of those slightly creepy 70s popstars, Sparks, a metaphor is a glorious thing.
What’s your website all about, then?
Most people will narrow their eyes at this and mutter that, well, it’s a platform for talking about their services, or selling their products…it’s just a case of getting it all out there.
But what’s the feeling you’re after? Do you want to create a piece of glossy advertising that will convince people that your business is rock-solid? Is it about creating relationships? Broadcasting? Maybe it’s the rebellious feeling of an underground movement, or the intimacy of a therapy sesssion.
It helps to know.
The absolutely best metaphor can provide a framework for tone, language and content that will help you decide whether a new item or a new image is right for you. If you’re running a virtual cocktail party, you might not want to add in a lecture.
It also starts to set out the relationship between you and your people.
Here’s a long list of different kinds of metaphors: places, things, news, events. You can take any of these and elaborate them. Let’s say you think your site is a coffee bar. Is it the reliable international brand, like Starbucks, or the artisan roaster…or the cheap and cheerful 60s coffee bar with formica tables and plain sandwiches? You decide.
My website is a…
- Salon
- Playground
- Talk show
- Boutique
- Road trip
- Coffee bar
- Playlist
- Confessional
- Laboratory
- Greenhouse
- Nightclub
- Retreat
- Classroom
- Source
- Department store
- Stage
- Channel
- Round table
- Rollercoaster
- Recipe book
- Encyclopaedia
- Dining table
- Odyssey
- Discount warehouse
- Boutique
- Magazine
- Gym
- Kitchen
- Collection
- Breakout session
- Therapy room
- Column
- Fast food takeaway
- Farmer’s market
- Den
- Party
- Village hall
Mine? Ooh, tricky. Right now, I think it’s a workshop space – somewhere to try out ideas and get feedback. There are elements of rehearsal and improvisation. Maybe we’re getting ready for a show. 
What’s yours? Tell me in comments – I’d love to know.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Ooh, love it. I’m thinking allotment for mine. It fits with the name and my focus on growing insights. Allotments are also places where other people are doing stuff next to you and sometimes you interact and share (as opposed to a greenhouse, which is the first idea I liked). I know more people read my blog than comment, because they tell me. So I like this idea that there’s other people looking in to see what I’m doing and that they then take that back to their space to do something with. Also allotments aren’t perfect and pretty. They’re functional and quirky (reusing stuff in interesting ways).
Oh, I like that description. I nearly put allotment in but I couldn’t work out the implications – that describes it beautifully.