.design Pre-Register Domain - .design Domain Information

Top Level Design, LLCʹs goal for the .design gTLD is to create a designated Internet space for designers. Presently, designers are relegated to ambiguous TLDs like .com and .net, which says nothing about their work. This TLD will allow them to identify themselves from among the billions of other web pages populating the Internet, and allow Internet users to easily be able to identify them as well. Most important, it will be a place where designers can further enhance the realization of their ideas and concepts which make them unique.

The design market includes a wide array of specialties, including but not limited to: graphic designers, interior designers, fashion designers, industrial designers, web designers, architects, game designers, civil engineers, and essentially any individual or company specializing in the practical and artistic aspects of creating a unique product. The number of international firms and individuals involved in the design process, and who would consequently be served by a .design TLD, is well into the hundreds of thousands. The 2010 figures provided by the US census show that the US market alone has 21,500 fashion designers; 66,500 floral designers; 279,200 graphic designers; 40,800 industrial designers; 56,500 interior designers; and 11,700 set and exhibit designers. While these are individuals and not companies, and there is no clear way of verifiably turning these figures into projected domains registered, it certainly gives an idea of how large and how varied the design sector is. By fully understanding the size and scope of this market, it is possible to see the utility of and need for a .design TLD. Furthermore, using a tool we have created to analyze the second-level names in the Internet's most popular zone file, the .com TLD, we have found that the word design appears 721,400 times in registered .com domains, and that 322,804 of those occurrences appear at the end of a multi-word domain. Again, there is no clear way to turn these figures into projected domains registered, but it shows the large size of the market that we would be targeting, and how many people a .design TLD could positively affect.

It is our goal to become a model TLD within ICANN's expansion of the root zone, and to embody the innovative, inclusive spirit that created the program. Like ICANN, we recognize the many stakeholders that have an equal voice in the safe, productive development of the root zone and the Internet, and we specifically want to cater to the voices of those designers involved in presenting their work and talent on the web. We trust that as we become the recognized, secure, and personal designation for all types of international designers, the Internet and its users will benefit from clear designation and the creation of thousands of unique and compelling design related websites. The .design TLD will be an open TLD, with wholesale pricing higher than currently available gTLDs. We believe that this pricing strategy will help encourage the productive development of the domain space, and encourage those individuals that wish to create malicious content, parked pages, or are generally not looking to reflect their involvement in design through their TLD to use cheaper TLD offerings to host their content.

It is also our goal at Top Level Design, LLC's to make the .design TLD a viable and profitable business. We believe this to be the most likely scenario, and the projections and financial analysis included in this application demonstrate such. We hope to grow at a rate that allows us to continually improve our registry offerings and increase benefits for both our customers and employees. However, our commitments and projections at this time are focused on conservatively estimating our revenue in order to best prepare for a TLD market with the possibility of many more TLDs.

.Design will have an open registration policy targeted to all types of designers, from the bottom, most practical aspects of design to the artistic or aesthetic aspects. It will be available to both individuals and companies small and large; websites could be anything from an individual designerʹs resume and gallery of their work, to an established design companyʹs corporate website.

We hope to quickly become a reputable and desired TLD for designers by working with prominent design firms, designers, and design schools to ensure that they feel comfortable with the space and are ready and excited about creating their primary online presence within the .design TLD. We will be working with these groups throughout the coming months ahead of our launch, and hope to secure prominent endorsements its influential members. However, we firmly believe that while these endorsements may help our marketing efforts, what ultimately matters most is the reputation created within the relevant industries themselves, and not with specific important members. Thus, we will focus on creating a safe and secure space that is targeted at all relevant users and not some sections thereof; we believe that pursuing this bottom-up model is not only in the best interest of the productive development of the .design TLD, but also that it further underscores the importance of the bottom-up, multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance.

ii.) What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of areas of competition, differentiation, or innovation?
It is our goal at Top Level Design, LLC to create a competitive, specified alternative to the popular but exceedingly generic TLDs available today. It is a commonly accepted notion that the .com TLD is reaching a point of saturation, and that the best, most marketable domains were registered years ago. We believe that implementing a .design TLD will bring greater attention and market success to these businesses. At Top Level Design, LLC, we believe that the .design TLD is an innovative top-level domain that represents a progressive development in how end-users utilize and identify via the root zone. .Design is both generic and specific: calling it "niche" fails to recognize exactly how wide of breadth designers are, and calling it "general" simplifies the way in which it is targeted towards a specified industry or subset of several industries. Design is a creative, collaborative, and innovative process that is unique among other professions, and the .design TLD clearly denotes the creative and innovative aspects of this specific market unlike any other current or possible TLD.

We do not expect that all design-related sites will want to move to a .design extension. Many individual designers or design companies may think that their business is better served by .com, or that they would prefer to stick to their old .net, or that they feel more attracted to one of the other new gTLDs to come about as a result of the New gTLD Program. However, by adding a .design to the root zone, ICANN will be improving existing TLDs by allowing them to become more focused on their intended significance, while simultaneously providing a differentiated and specific extension for those who want to clearly label themselves as designers. This will certainly facilitate more TLD competition, and allow the current offerings to become significantly more differentiated than they currently are.


iii.) What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?
By creating a .design TLD we hope to be creating a space where a creative center can come together and showcase their diffuse talents. We have noted the size and breadth of what "design" encompasses, and by creating a design-targeted gTLD we will be creating the first top-level space that transcends the line between generic and niche. That is, there will be no uniformity as to the type of design that is represented, and the creative nature of the registrants will be the primary attribute that binds them together. We believe that the .design TLD will be welcomed by both content creators and end-users as a way to more clearly facilitate targeted and intentional web-surfing and digital and commercial interaction. Once we have established ourselves as a reputable space for designers, users can be sure that the TLD denotes a dedication to the productive dissemination and discussion of design-related material. We also believe that designers that are currently operating websites on sub-par domains, which were chosen out of constraint and necessity rather than passion, will be able to finally have a marketable and attractive domain.

We will create a safe and secure TLD, and believe that this is the most important way to ensure that our users have positive experiences when using .desgin.

iv.) Provide a complete description of the applicant's intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.

Given the wide breadth of who and what can qualify as design, we intend to implement an open registration policy offered through ICANN-accredited registrars. There will be no proof of legitimacy required for registration, although we will encourage that the domains be used for something conceptually related to design. Through targeted marketing efforts and niche pricing levels, we expect to see that a large majority of the domains registered will be by those with plans to develop relevant sites. In this way, we are insuring that the .design TLD will be open to all types of designers and design companies while still maintaining a strongly delineated space.

We will fully implement the requirements made by the ICANN Board with regards to the Trademark Clearinghouse, the URS, Trademark PDDRP, the RRDRP, and the UDRP. We believe the these measures have been suitably developed to prevent defensive registrations, bad faith registrations, and other malicious registrations.


v.) Will your proposed gTLD impose any measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users? If so, please describe any such measures.

As per the current requirements in Section 4 of the Registry Agreement, we will implement all necessary thick WHOIS services. We recognize how imperative it is for each registry and ICANN-accredited registrar to be in full compliance with ICANN's current WHOIS standards, and we plan to update our policy in accordance with any future measures taken by the ICANN Board in regard to the continuous work by the GNSO's WHOIS Task Force and other recommendations from the SOs. We have no plans to implement any privacy or confidential measures other than fully implementing any and all such measures required by ICANN.

i. How will multiple applications for a particular domain name be resolved, for example, by auction or on a first-come/first-serve basis?

About six months following the signing of the registry agreement, we will hold a standard Sunrise Period reserved for those entities with appropriate IP and Trademark claims, which we anticipate to last about 3 months. Then, after the conclusion of the Sunrise Period, we will hold a Landrush Period that will be open to the public, and which will last a few weeks to a month. At the conclusion of each period we will hold closed auctions for the domains that have been applied for by more than one party. We anticipate separating the end of the Sunrise from the beginning of the Landrush by a few weeks.

For general availability of the .design TLD following the sunrise and landrush periods, we will be operating on a first-come, first-served basis. However, we reserve the right to create a list of domain names within our .design TLD to be set aside and then sold or auctioned off to interested parties. We have included auction related revenue in the first year of operations of our financial projections.

ii.) Explain any cost benefits for registrants you intend to implement (e.g. advantageous pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts).

We have no plans to implement any cost benefits for registrants at this time. However, we have discussed the possibility of promotions, such as bulk registration discounts and advantageous pricings, should they be necessitated due to currently unforeseen circumstances or become part of a targeted marketing campaign during any part of our launch.

iii.) Note that the Registry Agreement requires that registrars be offered the option to obtain initial domain name registrations for periods of one to ten years at the discretion of the registrar, but no greater than ten years. Additionally, the Registry Agreement requires advance written notice of price increases. Do you intend to make contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalation? If so, please describe your plans.

We intend to fully comply with the provisions in the Registry Agreement stating that registration being made available by our registrars for a period of one to ten years, while not exceeding ten years.

Wholesale price increases may be necessary due to inflation or other unforeseen circumstances. However, we recognize that it is important to protect registrants from unreasonable price increases, and therefore plan not to exceed the industry-precedented reasonable maximum annual wholesale price increase of 10%. As dictated by the Registry Agreement, we plan to provide ICANN and ICANN-accredited registrars 30 days written notice for price increases on initial domain name registrations, and 180 days for domain name renewals, excepting the provisions stated in Article 2, Section 10(b) and (c), which we shall follow as they are described. We plan to give written notice of at least 90 days to our registrants of such increases. We have no plans at this time to make further contractual commitments to our registrants regarding wholesale price escalation, but do intend to follow the best practices set forth by the industry and treat our registrants with respect, both financially and otherwise. We do not anticipate the need for significant price increases and are equally likely to lower the price in the future.

We plan to work with the GAC to protect their interests in country codes, country names, and major cities at the second level via a reserve list, as per the ʺGAC Principles Regarding New gTLDs" document of March 28, 2007, and per any forthcoming mandates from the GAC as approved by the ICANN Board. Pursuant to the specification provided in ICANNʹs Applicant Guidebook, the list will include country and territory names based on the following internationally recognized lists:

• the short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list;
• the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World; and
• the list of United Nations member states in 6 official United Nations languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names;

As the above documents get updated from time to time, the exact list of reserved names will be compiled shortly before the TLD launch to account for any updates. The list of reserved names will be published on the Registry website. We recognize that we may need future permission from the GAC, its members, and the ICANN Board to use certain names.

Given the precedent of the .info TLD as described in the document "GAC Chair circular letter on Reservation of Country Names in Dot Info, ICANN Board Resolutions of 10 September 2001 and 14 March 2002" from September 9, 2003, we will protect/reserve the above described names for a suitable amount of time following the launch of the TLD, during which time we will encourage governments to register their country-specific domains. We look forward to working with all GAC representatives in order to ensure that their representation under the .design TLD is suitable to their wants and needs. Domains that are not permanently reserved or registered will be made available to the general public after securing any necessary permissions.

For ongoing operation, we will implement procedures that allow governments, public authorities, or IGOs to challenge potential abuses of names with national or geographic significance at the second level or other levels. Such procedures may include the blocking of offending domains in a system similar to URS. We intend to respect standard, ICANN-approved arbitration practices that consider both the registrant and the objecting government's rights and concerns.