I'm trying to describe something similar to this photo: Can I use "engrave"? Is this okay? Jane got off the elevator and stepped into a hallway lined with a wooden wall which was engraved with the logo "Virage," in golden letters.
Engraved is recessed, embossed, I think, is when a logo or image sits proud. I think the detail though, in cases above, is made from the substrate itself. I’d err in this case and describe the wall as affixed with a ‘proud’ or ‘raised’ golden logo. (extruded lettering, 3D lettering may work too)
Thank you! Do these work? 1. Jane got off the elevator and stepped into a hallway lined with wood-paneled walls. The one on her left was affixed with a raised golden logo "Virage". The same logo was printed in black on a glass door which opened to a large office space. In it, cubicles sprawled in different directions. She made her way to hers and took a seat at a cluttered desk. 2. Jane got off the elevator and stepped into a hallway. To her left, there was a wood-paneled wall and on it there was a golden 3d lettering which said "Virage."
Yeah, raised is good. You could also describe it in imagery that is protruding rather than cut in. Jane stepped off the elevator and into a hallway. Across the wood-paneled wall to her left, in broad letters like bars of gold, was the company name. Virage. Then I would consider bricks or bars? Hmm . . . And I'd think about naming the wood. Not that I'd change either, but I'd consider it. Anyway, you want a sentence that is very generalized (Jane stepped . . .) with no detail, and it's contrasted with fine (but not too fine) description in the next line. Never get too hung up on left/right though. It's okay to let the reader control that.
I'm not really into architecture or advertising, so I had to look it up. I think the term for this type of signage is 'dimensional lettering' (probably used to be called 3 D lettering but today that would be confused with computerized 3D effects). But the thing is, if a native speaker has to google it, chances are the average reader would to, so unless the technical term is very self explanatory and creates a vivid image of what you want, it's better to describe it in other ways as @Seven Crowns suggests. I was thinking on similar lines of describing the effect of it sticking out, but went on a tangent that made me laugh (not out loud though): Jane got off the elevator and stepped into the lobby to wait for her interview. Greeting her immediately, in gold letters sticking out of the faux mahogany wall , was the company name -"Virage". It was both a good and bad sign, figuratively and literally. Her stepfather had convinced her that only the most affluent and obnoxious businesses would have gaudy signage like that. After the divorce, her mom starting working at his office, and if it wasn't for his romantic interest in her mom, she was sure he would have slapped her whenever she reached up to touch the shiny raised letters he was so proud of. She hoped to be proven wrong, but since that experience, every business decorated in a similar fashion confirmed the name she had for the annoying signage: 'Braille for Corporate Blowhards'.
