Buro S1E8 - Back to School
Desk is changing to become Buro. Discover why in this new Edition!
I don’t know if you have noticed but everything changed around here! It’s been months now that I tease a big change for Desk. Here it is! Desk is now Buro. This change is very exciting for me.
Welcome to my Buro
Buro [byʀo] is a phonetic transcription of the french word Bureau (Desk in English), so even if the name changes, the approach stay the same.
Why Buro?
All started in March when I had the desire of using Desk as a Media instead of a simple newsletter. When I design, write and search about a subject to create an edition of Desk and share my passion with you, I feel joy and accomplishment but I felt stuck in the format.
I also quickly launched Desk after December because I wanted to continue my graphic inspiration process and communicate with the world the pieces I seek thought the web. I remember myself the weeks before leaving my previous job when I looked at every newsletters I sent to my colleagues and I was amazed about all the references I have pinned during all this years. Each ones inspired me again, it was like seeing something completely new!
In March, I started to travel through New Zealand, It was mesmerising and inspiring! I not only used this time far from the technology to reconnect with the nature and myself, but It was also the perfect time to finally think about Desk and its evolution. My desire was to use this platform as a way to express myself, learn new things and share it with you, hoping that maybe we will grow together even if to reach that goal I had to stop publishing blog posts on my website to bring them into Desk and concentrate my effort on this project near to my heart.
I am very attached to Desk. I have written it since 2020! This adventure started as a quick little newsletter sharing 3 graphic design or interactive pieces with my colleagues and it grew during the years to become a way to share some graphic design knowledge and continue to share more and more interesting pieces of creativity.
But recently, I’ve rediscovered “From the Desk” by Tobias Van Schneider. What a shock! The newsletter talk about the same field of subjects than me and the branding was very closed.
This finding was like an electro-shock, it was time to change Desk.
In June, I finally took the time to think clearly about the new Desk. I used my knowledge in business to create a clear vision of what I want for the future of Desk and which value I want to share. You can find an overview of this months of reflexion in the About page.
But all this introduction doesn’t answer the initial question: Why Buro?
So there are multiple important points I wanted to have for my newsletter’s name.
The first one is my attachment to the name Desk. For me this name represent everything I want to share with you. A desk is a place to work but also to create and inspire. It is a way to suggest the subjects I will talk to you. It could be work-related (like this edition) but also talk about researches I made (S1E5 — May the Fourth be with you) or funny and quirky things I discovered (S1E4 – A Fish or an Egg). But the most important is that a desk is personal and familiar.
Second point, the name should be short, simple and memorisable. With Desk I had the chance to have a word than everyone know about because part of the basic lexigram making it comprehensible across the world. Desk is also a very short word, with only 4 letters, it was easy to play graphically with the letter and make the brand memorisable.
Third point is a bonus point but became important with the time. I wanted than the name make reference to my native country: France. I am french and since I left the country to explore the world and be open to any opportunity, I notice than I am very french, and I am very marked but my country culture – more than I want to recognise. With the distance I came to the conclusion that it is important to be proud of who we are and not to be ashamed of our origin. And I know this could sound weird to you – especially if you come from the USA – but in France be proud of being french is not something well-see.
All this criteria came to the name Buro. Buro derivates from the french word “bureau” that I have simplified to be shorter and more readable for other languages because the “-eau” is pronounced “-o” in french and I think it could be tricky — and if you have learned french you should know that this language is full of weird things. “bureau” is the french word for “desk” so for me the meaning is the same as the old name but for you it could maybe add a layer of sense. I have discovered than “Bureau” also exist in english but for a more elevated meaning related to organisation collecting and providing information as in “Federal Bureau of Investigation”. I like it! It is exactly what I am doing with this newsletter.
So here we are, you know why Desk is now Buro.
What it change for you?
Today, maybe nothing. Buro is still and always will be a work in progress, so the changes will be incremental. I will try new things, experiment more and maybe create more content. The only things that will never change is my desire to always do better and propose you my best.
As I write earlier, this space is for me a way to create a space to communicate my passions and share it with you. One of my goal with Buro is to create an environment that encourages participation, celebrates creativity and push us to create new opportunities. This is why in every edition of Buro I share with you my email address and incite you to share your thoughts with me. It is a way to create contact and improve Buro in the same way! See Buro as your office place (bureau in french 😉) where everyone is open to the feedback from the others.
Bye
That’s it for now! I hope you enjoyed this new edition even if it was heavy in text. Next month I will talk more about the new branding and the process of creation behind it.
See you next time for the next one.
May the Force be with you!