What’s in a name?

Glass Halo

We call a company’s brand, and associated elements, its ‘Halo’.

And we believe that organisational halos are, metaphorically, made of glass, with all the positive and negative attributes of that substance:

  • Glass can be made of very common and inexpensive materials. It’s how you select and process those materials that makes the difference between a Lalique and a jam jar.
  • Glass can become completely invisible, transparent or sparkle in the light depending on how you present it.
  • Glass can be incredibly strong and remarkably brittle at the same time.
  • Damaged glass can be repaired but it’s rarely the same again.
  • Broken glass can be very dangerous.

Chemically, and despite the myths, glass is not really a slow-moving liquid. At a push, it’s an amorphous, supercooled liquid. Which is a shame, because the idea of an apparent solid and inert object that is actually morphing over time fits in rather nicely with the Glass Halo analogy.

This is why pedants, chemists and, in particular, pedantic chemists should never trouble themselves with metaphors.