Hey cio, I suggest you start with much smaller words if you've never done this before. What you have now are nice stylisticly but readability is not there. Show this to someone who has no idea what it is and they should be able to say 'Hey that's suchandsuch' Forget the style for now. It is the solution of the ambigram that should denote its style. Going into it with a pre-determined is a problem in itself. Conquor the four letter words you're familiar with, then try 5, then maybe 6. There are limits to what can be done...even by John. How do I know this?

John is actually my professor and I work closely with him, have done amibgrams myself for his typography final (where he let us do whatever we wanted as long as it related to type). I also get to see some of his commissioned work as I help him digitize his ideas since he doesn't always have time.

I hate to say this but as John says, if it's not a success, it's trash. Don't sit there and play around with something that needs to be completely reworked. Maybe this isn't what you were looking for but that's my opinion. :)

Dave

I'm reading 'Robert and rocio', the problem is that although Robert sprang out at me the lack of word breaks and an unfamiliar word (rocio) make the rest difficult to pick out. I prefer the Art Nouveau lettering, I wonder if you might employ an ampersand and develop a way of making the R of rocio uppercase.* The dot on the i could also be combined with the c.
Tim
*I hope my reading is accurate, if not most of my comments will be rubbish

Thank you both for your comments. I have found them very helpful.

David, I will be trying out shorter names and words as well...I guess I had just gotten a bit ambitious ^_^. And I agree that sometimes, if something cannot work, there is no use in fighting with it. That is why I attempted two entirely different styles, instead of just wracking my brain on the first design that I came across.

timd, your reading is correct. I am happy that you were able to see the two names (Robert and Rocio). I wrote Rocio with a lowercase r because I could not figure out how to fit an upside-down uppercase r into Robert successfully...but I will keep trying. Using an ampersand to try to create the R in Rocio is a great idea.

Unfortunately (for my design), I have an unusual name. So if anyone that is not familar with it may not be able to pick it out right away or may question if their reading is correct (even if it is, as in timd's case).

Again, thanks and I'll keep trying...^_^.