Changing the main domain I use for my freelance design work to use philbowell.design. Not sure what to use as my email: phil@ seems like repetition; hello@ seems ok for initial contact but weird for ongoing relationships; desk@ seems a bit impersonal… any suggestions? ∞ ⋯

@philbowell maybe email@ could work, or perhaps work@…

@philbowell work@ seems good, though perhaps still a little impersonal; maybe client@ or clients@ to emphasize that relationship?

@smokey that's interesting, I like the idea of clients@. Like you say, it does have a bit more of a relational element to it, a bit less personal in name but the I guess the domain is more personal.

@philbowell personal name - every time ... why not have a second account using your name if you don’t want it all in the same inbox ? or even invent a name ... just keep it personal

@JohnPhilpin well that's what I would normally go with, just wasn't sure about phil@philbowell.design. Doesn't sound clumsy?

@philbowell to me that sounds just fine

@JohnPhilpin good to know, thanks.

@philbowell @smokey Does clients@ or work@ feel a bit too much like some generic "mailbox"? I'm not convinced anything non-personal (e.g. your name) holds up beyond first contact.

I like phil@ and don't notice the redundancy.

@jack 👍

@jack @smokey good points and helpful feedback, thanks Jack. Maybe I’m just over thinking things a bit, and only notice the redundancy because I'm thinking about it.

@philbowell What about mail@ ?

@philbowell The redundancy doesn’t give me pause, either, and I do think foo@foobar.tld a fairly common pattern.

Alternatively, if the redundancy still bothers you, you also could go with something “fun” that might sound less generic-mailbox than clients@ or work@, e.g. chiefpixelpusher@ or layoutwrangler@ (or…something; needs a creative person’s input ;-) ), the potential drawback of going that direction being it might not seem professional enough for some clients.

@smokey Ha! That sounds fun, but as you point out, I'd worry about the professional appearance of such an email. If it matched my personality I'd probably go that route, but I think I'm gonna go with phil@ since a number of people have said the repetition doesn't seem that odd.

@philbowell I use me@, simple and not repetitive. But some people call me Rose and some call me Rosemary so it also clears that issue up too :)

@thedeskofbrad @jack Thanks Brad, appreciate the input. I think I'm gonna go with phil@, I intend to use hello@ on my contact page as the generic contact address.

@rosemaryorchard I didn't think of that. Like you, I have a long full name, so putting vanessa@ in front of it all is a bit tedious. However, my nickname is Ness, which is a bit informal…

@philbowell I like both! I'm usually called Rose though :)

@philbowell I like phil@ the best as well. I find me@ weird, all the other ones seem too generic. I use mayo@oyam (first being my name, the other my nickname my brother gave me when we were little to drive me bonkers). lihp@ doesn't have quite the ring to it, though, stick with phil@ :)

@oyam Ha! mayo@oyam is great! lihp@ definitely doesn't work, telling people it's not lip would get old quick!

@philbowell I use hi@ and hey@ and hello@ for generic inquiries, then respond with name@. I also do not find name@name.tld to be awkward.

@philbowell Oh, one more I thought of: you can use pb@, too. That gets rid of the redundancy while still seeming a personal connection.

@philbowell I like using something like hello or such as an alias into my main chirag@, so that way the person can start with hello but the response & further conversation goes from chirag@ therafter :)