Research VPN brand terms & messaging
To help select a name for the Tor VPN and inform the direction of its identity, we will need to conduct additional research on how our audience perceives related brand terms and messaging.
We should be particularly sensitive to the following:
- At launch, the Tor Project will offer three user-facing applications (in addition to those offered by The Guardian Project, Leap, and others). At a high level, our messaging should help users distinguish between the different functionality various use-cases of each – as far as possible.
- Many other, third-party VPN apps advertise Tor integration – and we should be aware of potential overlaps in search engine results and app store listings.
- "VPN" is a highly loaded term, and has already led to misunderstandings about cost and functionality among existing Tor users.
- At the same time, users who are unfamiliar with Tor won't immediately understand Tor-specific terminology, and will likely receive analogous terms like "VPN" better.
We should also test a shortlist of "neutral" candidates (e.g. "Tor Portal") with users before choosing our final app name.
Edited by donuts