Why Mayari?

Back in 1997, when I started using the Internet having a pseudonym was the norm. I chose to use "Mayari" as my online name to stay incognito.

To me, "Mayari" seemed to be a perfect name: short, poetic and easy to pronounce in most languages. I picked this name from a Tagalog myth my mother used to tell us kids. In its story, Mayari is the lunar deity, the princess that ruled the world at night.

I always considered myself a nocturnal being. Looking up to the moon I have always been fascinated by its presence. Seeing the silver shining gives me comfort. It looks like the moon was coming and going in cycles but in fact it will always be there, whatever happens. I love magical things and transformations. Cycles and freedom. Amazement and surprises.


Later, I added a simple logo to "Mayari" to be visually recognizable. I was using it as a profile picture not wanting people to see my face. It consists of a black element representing the sky at night, a white moon and the outlines of a luna moth symbolizing Mayari - goddess of the moon - and therefore myself. I always wanted to become a butterfly, a bird or any flying animal. The font is made of my handwriting for the letter M. It reflects the movements of a vital luna moth.




Today, I have nothing to hide anymore. Everything I put online may and should be seen by the public. Mayari is now mentioned together with my real name Tanja Burgdorfer and an image of my luna moth. To people who know me and my works, Mayari and the moth have become my personal brand name and symbol.

Why did I do this?

Maybe it’s because of my urge to find memorable names, visuals and objects representing complex issues or intangible and unique promises. I didn’t come up with "Mayari" because of self-promoting or marketing tactics but to express my unique self, respectively my creations, metaphorically and visually other from my real name, handwriting and face.

Probably, being a multidisciplinary designer, I created Mayari to designate authorship and authenticity for my own little works. When I see interesting works from other creatives, I often wonder: which company/which person is behind that work. I’m interested in backgrounds and contexts because to me, they add meaning. They give me orientation and trust. I’m very curious. I don’t feel satisfied if I can’t find ways to get answers. My intuition says that in our complex world it’s more and more important to differentiate ideas through brands (personas/ideals) that are internationally comprehensible.

Finding and creating long-term i.e. sustainable visuals and material manifestations for communicating ideas is a challenge. Making them known to the public the way you wish them to be understood is not easy. I strongly believe successful branding and its communication is the key for a new, mutual, global language/symbols and hopefully more understanding. So to say, I created and kept Mayari to merge all my designed and realized manifestations - following my ideals - into one understandable image: