Brainard carries the message of On My Mind activities to the university community

During the year 2021, members of the university community have come across a colorful brain buddy who has adventurously been in On My Mind project’s promotional materials. The character who has experienced web surfing, electric kick boarding, the opening carnival thrill and a full spectrum of emotions will continue the journey into the new semester with a worthy name – thanks to the students of the University of Turku!

At December, a name competition was opened in the project. Dozens of proposals were already sent during the first few days. The competition yielded a total of 49 imaginative name suggestions and 95 likes for the suggestions.

The aim of this happening was to promote students’ community spirit. Viima was chosen as the platform for the competition, so that everyone could, in addition to submitting their own idea, look at the name proposals already submitted and encourage them with likes. Some participants also commented on the background thinking of their proposals, which showed participants ’commitment to the issue.

The winner of the competition is a name that is suitable for both English and Finnish communication. We drew attention to the fact that the name does not fix the gender of the character nor signal similarities with existing characters or brands.  Rosa Puusaari’s proposal from Brainard was chosen as the winner of the competition! Also, the word conveniently includes a reference to the brain.

We decided to give three honorable mentions too. Erika Ojavuo’s proposal Doris Dopamine, which stood out as a cheerful and memorable name. This proposal got second most likes from the participants. Rida Kamal, who invented the name HappyPal, provided a exhaustive and convincing reasoning behind the proposal. Linguistic richness was brought to the competition by Miika Kaksonen’s  name proposal Oaivi, which means head in the Northern Sámi language. A small gift was delivered to all these who received the honorable mention.

The name competition concludes On My Mind project year 2021. Under the leadership of Brainard, we wish a happy new year to all members of the university community!

Kaisa-Riitta Aho

project worker

On My Mind project