Well, I can't attach anything for some reason, so the file is here:

EDIT: voting is over :)

What's the significance of the name?

I think C works best, but they all remind me of the PRODUCT(RED) campaign.

- Lex

Have you tried rotating the text 90 and placing it in the box. I know a name in a box isn't the most novel idea but I think with this name it would make sense.

C

Thanks to everyone for their critiques. It's pretty funny how often I tell people to not be quite so literal in their design work but when it comes to my own identity I go and do just that! Thanks, Andy - it is certainly worth considering and I will do some more sketches tonight. Thankfully there's no rush on this, so I can take the time to do it right. I'm still interested in what everyone else has to say, of course.

A, but with the text on the right side of the monolith, left-aligned/ragged right---like B but with the text set as two lines.

Then place a tiny white human figure inside (in front of?) the monolith to give a sense of gigantic scale.

DIN is an okay choice of font but there exists another type that was designed with exactly this sort of subject in mind---its capitals are meant to evoke monolithic or monumental structures on a vast scale. At least that was what I had in mind when I designed Rhodealian. Rhodie's N and M are explicitly architectural, looking just like tall buildings in silhouette.

...how can you say HUGE without showing me two things?

Hard to do. To demonstrate the size of a thing it's easier, more effective to show two objects.

j a m e s

Lex, that approach is sometimes used by large companies and corporations with a marketing budget large enough to establish their name and identity with mult-media, typically supplementing a non-descript image with the use of sound, for example, by speaking the company's name aloud in radio and television ads. Even so most examples still include an acronym with the visual element.

For a small design shop a graphic logo with no text at all, not even an acronym, might be too obscure. Keeping it simple generally produces good design, but given how minimal this one is, getting rid of the text altogether would make it reductive, and for clients, incomprehensible.

j a m e s

>Helvetica Neue
That’ll be ABC and D.

Tim

B of course. This is what you're after, and everything else is just unnecessary stylishness. B is no style and all style all at the same time.

You have two conflicting elements. Tie them together.

James - I like Rhodealian a lot (and it's a bargain). I'll take a closer look at it.

Lex & Koppa - My first thought was "just the rectangle; do the simple strong shape you're always begging everyone else to try." And then I chickened out at the last minute, just like everyone else does. :) But I have to say that while it's nice to have a one color logo, the text inside the monolith cheapens it a little bit, gives it a weak footing. I really wanted to go with the one-color and stick with it, but after taking a few days off I have to say that I'm not so fond of the text inside and that Koppa's arguments are very persuasive.

Sim - I had done a lot of sketches where the object was built using the type, with "RED" as the front face and "MONOLITH" as the side, all put together at an extreme angle, but I just couldn't make it work.

Robert - could you be more specific?

Red, cheers I'm glad you like Rhodaelian. Koppa's rationale about the large rectangle next to the small type illustrating huge scale is true in a general sense. Some observers, however, may reason that if the type is only a few inches high the rectangle, while much taller, must be only a few feet tall and hardly giant-scale. Depends on reproduction size and how philosophical you want to be about this. Adding an element of readily-recognized size, such as a human figure, would make the scale of things indisputable, but that's an intellectual conceit and there's a lot to be said for keeping things simple. It was just a passing thought.

Robert, do you have the Flash 9 plugin installed? It's essential for the
Insert image link to appear below the text entry box when posting at Typophile.

j a m e s

The only thing that might irritate me about this is that technically, the figure is leaning on the edge of the shape. So here's one more take on it and then I have to make a decision by the weekend or I'm just going to make myself nuts. :)

Litera - I'd planned on having a slightly different treatment for the business cards, with one side solid spot red and custom cut to keep the 4:9 ratio and the second side with the name only. With the new treatments there would obviously be some changes to accommodate the figure in small-scale reproduction. I'm a prepress/production guy from the start so I have thought about the absolute minimum sizes I can get away with, but it's always good to be reminded.

Righty-ho then. Now that I can see how it looks, the human figure adds another dimension ;^) It gives me the impression there's a real intelligence at work behind the monolith, and that was what the Monolith was all about in Kubrik's film and Clark's book. It was a teaching machine that supercharged the apes and made them evolve.

You're right Red, it does make an interesting visual. I'm more drawn into the piece now because the human figure gives it relevance.

j a m e s

Apparently editing a comment changes the timestamp/position on the page. That's bad. Anyway, I just wanted to thank all of you for your advice and help - I took all of your very smart opinions and suggestions into consideration and I owe you guys a lot. Thanks!