Naming & Brand Identity

Twenty years
of warning
needs a name.

Timeline
6 weeks from early September
Investment
$6,500 or $10,000 ex GST
Prepared by
Nick Hoskin
Date
July 2026
01 The situation

You can see dementia coming twenty years early. The name you are using was built to win a grant, not to launch a global health company.

TasTest reads as a university research project. It is geographically anchored, descriptively narrow, and it will not travel into the markets your $2.5M grant is funding you to enter.

Every week it stays in place, it costs more to change. Regulatory submissions, award nominations, published papers and investor decks all compound around the name you are using right now.

02 What you get

Two levels. Same three streams of work.

Extended includes everything in Standard, plus the items that matter specifically for a regulated clinical product going international.

Standard
$6,500
A new name, a usable identity, and enough applied assets to start.
Recommended
Extended
$10,000
Everything in Standard, plus the language to launch it and the assets to carry it.
Immersion
  • Written requirements gathering survey, issued to up to 5 nominated stakeholders
  • One immersion session, up to 90 minutes, with the nominated group
  • Review of pitch deck, grant materials and existing brand assets
$900
 Same as Standard
  • Written requirements gathering survey, issued to up to 5 nominated stakeholders
  • One immersion session, up to 90 minutes, with the nominated group
  • Review of pitch deck, grant materials and existing brand assets
$900
Naming
  • Naming strategy, signed off before name generation begins
  • 5 company name candidates
  • Full screening applied to the shortlist of 5
  • One refinement round on the selected name
$2,700
 Same as Standard
  • Naming strategy, signed off before name generation begins
  • 5 company name candidates
  • Full screening applied to the shortlist of 5
  • One refinement round on the selected name
$2,700
Positioning
& identity
  • Positioning statement
  • Wordmark
  • Typography and colour palette
  • One round of feedback
$1,900
 Everything in Standard, plus
  • Value proposition and tagline
  • Four key messages for clinicians, regulators, investors and patients
  • Icon and secondary lockup
  • Two rounds of feedback
$3,700
Brand kit
& assets
  • Logo file pack
  • Single-page brand sheet
  • 2 brand application examples
$1,000
 Everything in Standard, plus
  • Mini brand guide, including tone of voice
  • Social banner and profile assets
  • Email signature
  • 5 slide PowerPoint template
  • Business card design, printing not included
$2,700
Total ex GST
$6,500
$10,000
What the extra $3,500 buys
Immersion and naming are identical at both levels. The difference is everything that comes after the name.
  • Messaging, value proposition and tagline Four key messages your CEO, board and grant reporting can all use.
  • Icon and secondary lockup A mark that works where the full wordmark cannot.
  • A second round of feedback Standard allows one round across the identity work.
  • Mini brand guide Expanded guidance covering logo, colour, typography and tone of voice.
  • Social and email assets Banner and profile images, plus a designed email signature.
  • 5 slide PowerPoint template Reusable layouts so the team can build consistent decks.
  • Business card design Print-ready artwork. Printing costs not included.
Put simply. Both levels get you the same name, arrived at the same way. Standard gives you a mark and enough to start. Extended gives you the language to explain the company and the assets to put it in front of an award panel, an investor or a conference room without coming back to me first.
A note on the ScopeIR benchmark. That project was delivered at $4,500 and was underpriced at the time. TasTest is a regulated clinical product entering international markets, and the requirements are materially heavier. The scopes above are priced to the work required.
03 Timeline

Six weeks from an early September start.

Weeks 1 to 3
01
Requirements gathering, immersion, naming strategy, shortlist and refinement. You can start using the new name in regulatory and award correspondence from here.
Weeks 3 to 5
02
Positioning, messaging and visual identity developed against the approved name.
Weeks 5 to 6
03
Brand kit, applied assets and handover. Everything delivered and walked through with the team.
Timing. My earliest start is early September. Requirements gathering can begin before then, so we lose nothing by confirming now. A start in the first week of September puts the name in your hands by late September and a completed identity by mid-October. With approval in progress and award nominations live, confirming the slot early is worth more than it sounds.
04 What makes this work

Five things I need from you.

01
One decision-maker
Six weeks does not survive a committee. One named person approves the naming strategy, the shortlist and the final name. Stakeholders contribute through the survey and the immersion session; they do not hold a veto later.
02
Up to five nominated stakeholders
Named before we start, with survey responses returned within five working days. Additional participants or a second round of gathering can be added as a change order.
03
Consolidated feedback within three working days
One response per round, in a single document or email, from the decision-maker. A round is one consolidated response, not a series of individual messages over a fortnight.
04
Your regulatory lead available once
A short conversation during immersion to set the claim-language guardrails. If the regulatory position is unsettled, I need to know early, because names cannot be screened against a moving target.
05
Early sight of any university conditions
Spin-outs sometimes carry naming, attribution or IP obligations. If these surface late, the naming strategy has to be reopened.
On revisions. One art direction at both levels. One round of feedback on the identity at Standard, two at Extended. The naming refinement round adjusts a selected name; if none of the five candidates is selected, a further generation round is a change order. Anything beyond the scope above is quoted and agreed in writing before the work is done.
05 Due diligence on the name

What I check, and what needs a lawyer.

Naming work involves two different kinds of checking, and they are often confused. I do the first. The second has to be done by a qualified professional, and I would strongly recommend it before you file or go public with a new name.

Included in this project
Screening
by me
Filtering the shortlist so we do not develop a name with an obvious problem. Identical at both levels.
  • Register searchesDirect and near-identical matches on IP Australia, plus a first-pass check across international registers via TMview.
  • Class relevanceA check of whether conflicts sit in the classes relevant to digital health and medical software.
  • Domain availabilityWhether the primary .com, .ai and .com.au are free, parked or held.
  • Social handlesAvailability across the main platforms.
  • Common-use checkWhether the name is already in active commercial use, including by companies that have not registered it, and whether it clashes with an existing clinical assessment instrument.
  • Linguistic sense checkObvious problems in English-language markets.
  • Claim-language checkWhether the name implies a diagnosis or prediction that could complicate your regulatory pathway.
This is desk research, designed to catch obvious problems early and cheaply. Full screening is applied to the shortlist of 5. Candidates culled before shortlisting receive a top-level check only.
Not included, arranged by TasTest
Clearance by
an IP professional
The legal opinion that actually protects you. I cannot provide this and I am not qualified to.
  • Formal availability opinionA written legal assessment of whether the name can be registered and used in each territory.
  • Full class analysisDeciding which classes you need to file in, and identifying conflicts I would not find.
  • Unregistered rights and common law marksRights that exist without appearing on any register.
  • Trademark filingPreparing and lodging applications in Australia and internationally.
  • Opposition and infringement riskAssessing how likely an existing holder is to challenge you.
  • Domain acquisitionPurchase or negotiation where a name you want is held by someone else.
  • Regulatory naming complianceFormal confirmation from your regulatory advisor that the name and claims are acceptable.
Engaged and paid directly by TasTest, with no margin to me. I can brief your attorney and hand over the shortlist and my screening notes so you are not paying them to repeat work already done.
To be direct about it. My screening reduces risk. It does not remove it, and it is not a legal opinion. A name that clears my checks can still be challenged. Budget for an IP attorney before you file or announce, and treat that as a separate cost from this project.
06 Commercials

Two payments.

On commencement
50%
$3,250 at Standard
$5,000 at Extended
On delivery
50%
$3,250 at Standard
$5,000 at Extended
All costs exclude GST. Payment terms are 14 days from invoice. Full ownership of the name and identity transfers to TasTest on final payment.
07 Next steps

Three things and we start.

01
Pick a level
Standard at $6,500 or Extended at $10,000, and name your decision-maker.
02
Sign the Statement of Work
Scope, feedback rounds, change process, IP transfer and payment schedule, issued once you have picked a level.
03
Complete the requirements gathering survey
Sent to your key stakeholders once the Statement of Work is signed. This can be done ahead of the September start, so we hit the ground running.

Twenty years ahead
of the disease.
Let's get the name
ahead of the launch.

Email
nick@nickhoskin.com
Phone
0473 616 416
Based in
Bangalow, NSW