Overview
RDX is a branding campaign I designed as a focus for media platforms in my digital home. I'm not sure why I am so passionate about having the idea of a brand drive RDX, but I feel it will keep my endeavors aligned and in check. RDX (Romankiw Digital Experience) is a name I had a lot of trouble coming up with. Acronyms are actually really hard to come up with. Well, maybe that's not true but it's hard to come up with a good acronym, one that rolls of the tongue with ease and one that is catchy.
I first started off by thinking what kind of brand do I want to develop. My last name Romankiw was core to the brand. This was not negotiable because I wanted RDX to be personal to me and only me (and I guess my family by extension). Another core element I wanted in the brand name was the notion of an experience. Thinking through these two words (Romankiw & Experience) I thought of several different words to complete the brand and I ended up with digital. Digital connected the dots when it came to the technology bridge. The acronym RDX was then derived from these terms and thus the Romankiw Digital Experience branding system was born.
I have a lot of passion for graphic design, it's something I really enjoy doing. As an engineer, I feel I have a unique skillset to visualize geometric subsets, something which is critical for a graphic designer. I'm also a passionate photographer, so I feel I understand the aspects of composition and weighted distribution when it comes to graphic design. Before this project, I was familiar with Adobe Illustrator and InDesign, which were critical to creating the graphics for this project. But one thing I didn't really understand was how to communicate the message of a brand. When I thought about what a brand really is, I discovered it isn't a logo, it's the message the brand convenes and the feeling you get when you see it. I had to figure out what my message was. To this day, I'm not sure if I went down the right path with this, but brands change over time because culture changes. Brands, while they have their core attributes, are pliable. Many companies do brand refreshes to keep themselves up with the times and also to promote themselves. While I don't plan to do this any time soon (since I just took the time to develop this brand!), I do intend to revise RDX in the future to meet the standards at that time.
I've really enjoyed developing the RDX brand, and I hope you can see that to me, it's about organizing my thoughts and creating a standard to upload the Romankiw Digital Experience to for years to come. Enjoy RDX.
The RDX Brand
RDX's mission is to deliver the highest quality of digital assets at home. This mission is core to the digital experience at RDX, as nothing less than perfect is acceptable. I came up with the idea of RDX because of my passion for graphic design. I really enjoy projects where I can control the end-to-end dynamics meaning that everything that is created is created with intent, purpose, and more important, scalability. This was the focus of the brand. RDX is simply an outlet to provide a generalized term to describe anything digital in my house. For example, RDX Cinema is my (future) core entertainment room. It's the home cinema I dream of. RDX Visuals are a collections of my photographs and digital art. RDX Server is a data storage platform to maintain digital content. The list goes on, but the core message among all of these, is RDX. The Romankiw Digital Experience paves the way for a broad landscape of franchises which was my design intent.
Brand Strategy
To deliver the highest quality experience of digital assets at home.
Brand Promise
The most immersive home digital experience.
Brand Principles
Technologically Advanced, Welcoming and Bright Environment, Experience Excellence
Brand Logo and Icon
The RDX logo is the most recognizable asset of the RDX visual identity. The RDX logo consists of the wordmark and brandmark. These make up the RDX logo. The logo can also include a tagline describe a particular function of RDX such as “RDX Cinema”.
The basic rules are
Only show the RDX logo in black or white. The brandmark can be used with experience blue in certain exceptions. Don’t modify the logo or rotate it. Don’t change the spacing of the brandmark and wordmark within the logo. Use the most up to date version of the logo. That’s why I work so hard on it.
Use of RDX Digital Assets
Do not screenshot or download by right-clicking the images on this page and utilizing 'save-as', instead, acquire the brand assets from the zip file included at the bottom of this page.
Geometry
Logo consists of the brand mark and word mark 'RDX'. The brand mark and word mark together make up the RDX logo. The brand mark consists of a 2 geometric shapes inverted and mirrored. The geometry of the shapes are based on features from other components in the logo and were designed to have a fresh and modern feel. The most important feature was that they had to be very simply designed; minimal features yet uniquely recognizable. The brand mark achieves these requirements. The word mark is, obviously, the letters R, D, and X representing the name of the brand. The letters were designed specifically for this case, there was no font used. Although they were designed without a font, they work well with the brand font which is Gordita.
Color Modes
There are two colors modes for the logo. Using the correct logo for the proper application is key to successful communication of the brand. There is no preferences between the white mode and black mode. The only preference is that the logo is visible enough to communicate the brand.
Clear Space
The clear space is a defined space around the RDX logo which is equal to the height of logo.
Brand Colors
Color communicates brand as distinctly as the geometry of the logo itself. It is the one thing that is constant across all applications. The RDX palette is diverse enough to provide colors for all applications, yet discrete enough as to offer clear choice for color choice.
The primary color is ‘Experience Blue’ which is extraordinarily vibrant and communicates a modern brand.
For other applications, a more colorful palette is also offered. While recommended for necessary applications, these colors should not be applied routinely and should not overpower the primary color palette.
White is essential to the palette. White space allows effective communication and contrast of the different colors in the palette. Use of white space is critical to communicating the RDX Brand.
The gradient helps as a background for multiple applications, and there is more on the gradient page.
Typography
The font for RDX is Gordita. Gordita is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed by Australian designer Thomas Gillett. It was published through The Designers Foundry in 2016. The design was inspired by Gotham and Futura, but feels slightly friendlier than either of those two typefaces. The apertures are fairly tight so it shouldn’t be used at too small of a size, especially in the heavier weights. Gordita is available in five weights with matching italics.
Gordita is very versatile. It is available in 7 weights, from Thin to Ultra, with regular and italic versions of each, for a total of 14 different styles.
The Gordita typeface can be purchased online.
Live RDX
RDX rallies around the idea of the complete digital experience. RDX is not a platform, but customized standard set to uphold values that are center to the RDX culture of delivering the highest quality experience. RDX's brand campaign extends to multiple digital platforms and functions. The expression of RDX drives deeper passions for the richness of a true digital experience.
Other RDX Brands
As mentioned before, RDX was developed with other sub-brands in mind. This was to provide additional description to what function RDX serves. This will help organize future branding strategies to better align different brand messages with different goals.
RDX Cinema
RDX Cinema has standards similar to that of world-class, large-scale immersive cinema theaters in the commercial sector, but with the convenience of the home going experience. The challenge of bringing the power of similar experiences in a premium home format starts with finding a vision and executing on it. The vision of RDX Cinema starts with its brand.
The approach to the RDX Cinema brand is driven by our brand voice. This includes our focus and attributes. These, combined, complete the communication effort RDX Cinema has set out to achieve.
At RDX Cinema, there are 3 simple core attributes that govern the transformative experience: Innovative Audio, Inspired Design, and Spectacular Imagery. These principles pave the way for a premium experience, every time.
Positioning Statement
Designed to provide the most immersive sound, visual, and environmental experience, RDX cinema allows you to escape your reality and enter a new one.
Promise
The apex of the cinematic experience.
Phrases
Experience the transformative power of RDX Cinema, The most immersive experience at home, Immerse yourself at RDX Cinema.
Iconic Characters. Timeless Classics.
RDX Cinema features iconic characters from films that span release dates over decades. At RDX Cinema, any seat is the best seat due to controlled theater conditions and finely tuned system parameters. Dolby Vision & Atmos enhances RDX with the best visual and audio experience.
Posters
The set of posters captures the wide gamut of RDX Cinema. The posters can be downloaded via the brand assets download, they should not be screenshotted or downloaded as a picture from this page.
Size & Orientation
The posters available are available in vertical and horizontal formats. The size of the posters are 24 x 36". The resolution of the images is high enough to print at that size.
Display Monitors
RDX Cinema utilizes monitors in order to convey images that are changed on a high frequency basis. The now showing screen is updated every time there is a feature film that is going to be shown, therefore it makes the most sense to use a hosted webpage as the source of the content, rather than a printed poster. In turn, the screen can also be used for other features rather than just a movie poster.
Remarks
Thanks for visiting the RDX Branding Design project site.
Designer
Jarod Romankiw
Date
April 2021
Software Utilized
Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign