The Atlantic names its biz news site Quartz

Jeff Bercovici of Forbes.com writes that The Atlantic has decided on Quartz as the name for its new business news site.

Bercovici writes, “One is symbolic: The mineral quartz is associated with intense geological activity. ‘It’s a bit of a metaphor for our intent to cover obsessively the tectonic shifts in the global economy,’ Delaney says.

“Another is aesthetic: With both a ‘q’ and a ‘z,’ two of the least frequently used letters, it’s just an unusual and distinctive-looking word.

“Then there are the utilitarian considerations. For its domain, Quartz will drop all the more common characters in favor of the ultra-pithy qz.com. In an environment where the importance of Twitter as a distribution channel puts characters at a premium, a two-letter domain ‘practically eliminates the needs for a URL shortener,’ says Delaney. ‘From a practical standpoint, it’s user-friendly.’

“It’s also easier for mobile users to type in on their smallish keyboards. Plus there’s the fact that the company that owns Quartz.com, a manufacturer of scientific equipment, didn’t want to give it up.”

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