Here are the details of the gallery exhibit:

John Langdon - "Depth Perception"

Ambigram.com Andrey, tell us a bit about yourself. How did you become interested in graphic design and typography?

Andrey Shch I am a human, a male as such. That I know for sure. Any other characteristics of myself and what I do bore me to death. They just don’t seem colorful enough to me for describing something as grand and mysterious as art.

I would say that I have been granted a permission to live in art’s minor region called Graphic Design, or rather in a small corner of it called Typography. Someone or something from that world got interested in me and invited me in which I am sincerely grateful for, and doing what I do simply seems like most appropriate way of returning the favor.

Ambigram.com Your typography work has an amazingly precise feel to it, especially the hand-drawn pieces. How long did it take you to master such a lettering technique?

Andrey Shch I mastered this technique one windy autumn day during my apprenticeship among Chinese monks of Hunan province. Didn’t really take that long… The precision embowered me while chasing mosquitoes with chopsticks. 20 hours of such exercise each day and you will be mastering it just as well. 30 or 45 years is more than enough. You will probably need some luck though.

Ambigram.com Where does your inspiration come from? Do you have a favorite designer, typographer, artist, or art period that consistently influences you and your work?

Andrey Shch The main source of inspiration is those bottomless eyes of beautiful, wise women which hide crystal clear hearts deep within. No designer, typographer or calligrapher in the world is able to replicate or describe with words the things they can do to you with those eyes. In my opinion, there is no inspiration without being slightly in love in some beautiful women beyond one’s reach, and each creative period of mine is simply a time of being in love.

Ambigram.com Your work aesthetic has a very wide range, from highly decorative to elegant and reserved. How do you know where to draw the line (no pun intended)?

Andrey Shch There is no absolute certainty in my works. Not in a single line. I go along with my intuition and just let my hand feel where to do draw the line and where to curve it, what to do or not to do. It’s like being in love – you never know what comes next, you just trust the feeling to lead you in the right direction. You just follow it.

Ambigram.com Do you prefer to incorporate hand-rendered graphics into every project, or do you only do so at the client’s request?

Andrey Shch I do try to enchant each work with that special element, whether it is hand-rendered graphics or some other yet unknown sort of graphics which has no name, but may only be expressed by the line’s bend. Even though it is not always visible, it does live in every piece.

Ambigram.com :When did you first hear about ambigrams? Do you remember the first ambgiram you’ve ever seen?

Andrey Shch I toyed with ambigrams since childhood. Me and my school love exchanged love poems written on small pieces of squared paper during math classes. If we got caught, the teacher could only see simple numbers and formulas which only two of us could turn around just right. We did it for a long time – hiding our feelings behind fractions and equations.

Therefore, yes. I do remember my first ambigram, how could I forget? It was my first love. You just don’t forget such things.

Ambigram.com Here we have several ambigrams you’ve designed (here I will use the two examples you gave me.) Were these personal projects or requested piece? Do you have any other ambigrams you can share with us?

Andrey Shch I see each piece as a personal project and I don’t undertake projects if I can’t see myself contributing with something of my own, if I can’t make them personal. Just like a composer, I play my own music and if the spectators pay for the show… Well, that’s a nice bonus. And yes, I do have other ambigrams you can take a look at.

Ambigram.com Are there any ambigram artists that you admire?

Andrey Shch This is an interesting question and I would like to fluctuate a bit from the obvious answers if you don’t mind. This is amazing, but I do get a lot of personal letters, especially from ladies, and I do prefer to see them as artists in this particular context. Solving their complex ambigrams is a constant source of inspiration. Simple letters and handwriting can hide so much more complex and even ambiguous things! It never stops to amaze me. Inspiring indeed…

Ambigram.com Let’s go back to your hand-lettering for a minute. Can you provide some suggestions to designers & artists that want to experiment with hand-lettered graphics and typography? What tools would you recommend? Can you recommend and specific techniques and approaches?

Andrey Shch I really couldn’t be sure if what I do is calligraphy. It’s a very unprompted, natural thing for me.

Don’t concern yourself with techniques so much! You will never be able to say you’ve mastered something as elusive as some unspecified technique. You will always be running after some bus which you don’t need in a first place just to find out later that you have a free lifetime ticket for a transportation mode of your choice.

Experiment with your brain instead. It is always near at hand and it never runs out of ink or battery. Your own personal style will shape itself when you realize you’re doing what you love and you’re doing it the way you want to. Try not to listen to advices too much. Really. And take mine with a lot of skepticism and irony as well. For example, this one – Your head is guiding your hand and your hand is guiding the pencil. Learn to control your thoughts and you will be able to do wonders. And while you are drawing, don’t think about anything else but drawing. You don’t need any other thoughts while you do that. As soon as you start thinking whether or not something you do will be modern, rated, saleable, famous or scandalous – just stop and walk away, away from your piece, from your desk as far as you can. Stay away until you stop thinking and feel peaceful again. Now you can continue.

Ambigram.com Can you name a favorite project of yours? Why is it your favorite?

Andrey Shch Vogue. A project where the client had full respect and understanding for my artistic perspective and gave me liberty of action for realization of the original idea.

Ambigram.com What is your favorite typeface?

Andrey Shch Those which are time-tested just like Cheops Pyramid. Non-commercial ones, created thoughtfully, thoroughly, to a tee.

Early Chinese writing from The Shang Dynasty ages, found in Jiahu. They are dated 1765-1027 BCA – supposedly the Chinese writing’s time of birth. They are about 8600 years old. And very beautiful.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Andrey, thank you so much for interviewing with Ambigram.com and providing examples of your beautiful work! For more examples of Andrey’s work, please visit http://www.sgr.kiev.ua/.

Blazing poster. Used with permission of the artist.

Ambigram.com: Sebastian, thank you for speaking with us. First, let’s get the expected question out of the way. How long have you known about ambigrams, and when did you first become interested in them?

Sebastian Lester: I first became aware of ambigrams in the early 90′s when I was in the first year of my graphic design degree. For as long as I can remember I’ve been interested in optical illusions and clever visual ideas with letterforms though. In 1992 I designed a logo for a proposed art college magazine called ‘Edge’. It wasn’t an ambigram but all the letters were the same shape rotated and flipped to create the word. In 1992 I also designed a somewhat lunatic font called ‘recycle’ made out of five characters that you rotated, scaled and flipped to create an entire lower case alphabet. That was the theory anyway. Making ambigrams was a natural progression from these kind of experiments.

Edge magazine logo. Used with permission of the artist.

Recycle typeface. Used with permission of the artist.

Ambigram.com: Is ‘Blazing’ your first ambigram design? If it’s not your first, what was your first ambigram?

SL: The first decent ambigram I drew was ‘Virtual Reality’ in 1993 whilst at art college. I liked the fact that the ambigram approach worked well conceptually with the idea of virtual reality and that the letterforms have a suitably futuristic style to them.

Virtual Reality ambigram. Used with permission of the artist.

Ambigram.com: When designing your ‘Blazing’ limited edition art print, what was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome? Was it creating ambigrams out of all the words, maintaining a consistent style, or another difficulty you’d like to mention?

Blazing poster sketches. Used with permission of the artist.

SL: The aim was always to create something that was as attractive as any other limited edition print I’d created before, but also happened to be a successful ambigram. So working with those constraints was difficult and I tried various approaches before settling on this treatment. I’ve written a short article here about the print for anyone who is interested.

Blazing poster close-ups. Used with permission of the artist.

Ambigram.com: Do you think your background as a type designer and illustrator helped when designing the ‘Blazing’ poster?

SL: Definitely. I’m well versed in creating consistency in shapes and working experimentally in a variety of lettering styles. A lot of the qualities you need as a type designer are useful for creating ambigrams. In both disciplines you have to be creative, think laterally, have a forensic approach to detail, and stay focused and persistent for the best results.

Ambigram.com: What do you love the most about typography and letterforms?

SL: I don’t really know. Letterforms just seem to make more sense to me than anything else I know. I find them endlessly stimulating and fascinating. The Latin alphabet is one of our most beautiful and profound creations. I feel incredibly lucky I’ve found something I love as much as I do that I can actually make a living from. And what’s not to love about ambigrams? The best ambigrams aren’t just clever. They have a magical, almost transcendent, quality about them.

Ambigram.com: If someone wants to incorporate custom hand-lettered typography into their work, what is a good starting point?

SL: Just work loosely and freely with your lines to start with. Read about type and lettering history. Be inspired by other artists and designers, but find your own voice. Just have fun. If you persist, and you’re having fun in the process, it will become apparent in your work.

Ambigram.com: What is your personal creative process, and where do you draw your inspiration from?

SL: I always try and research a subject or particular lettering style as much as possible before I start a project. I always start with a pencil and paper, rather than a computer, as it’s the easiest way to get a lot of ideas down fast. I brainstorm words and ideas and shapes, not just letterforms. It’s important to be totally unselfconscious about making marks on paper. I start with loose scribbles. I might take elements I like from six different scribbles and make a more resolved drawing. Then I’ll scan it in and start refining it on a computer.

I draw my inspiration from everywhere. I find beauty, in all its manifestations, inspiring. I have an appreciation of the history of type, calligraphy and lettering that continues to grow. I collect old ephemera. Sometimes totally random things can fuel an idea. Sunshine, trees, medieval armour, a piece of product design or music. I’m always thinking about and absorbing the letterforms I see around me.

Ambigram.com: Who is your favorite ambigram designer?

SL: There are some incredible ambigram artists out there. I guess, to my mind, the best ambigrams combine ingenious legibility problem solving with great aesthetic beauty and I think John Langdon consistently achieves the best balance of those two components.

Ambigram.com: What is your favorite typeface? Why?

SL: Typefaces are tools so it depends what the typeface is to be used for. I have a favorite typeface for on screen legibility. I have a favorite typeface for setting books about the Renaissance in. I have a favorite typeface for setting magazines about monster trucks in. So unfortunately I’ve given the question far too much thought over the last fifteen years to have a simple answer.

Ambigram.com: What is your favorite ambigram?

SL: Sorry to choose one of my own pieces but I have to say ‘Blazing’. I just put so much into it and I’m so happy with it. It’s been quite an undertaking for me. It really pushed me creatively, it looks great in the flesh having been screen printed by hand to the highest standards, and it’s being sold by a gallery that sells the work of some very well known and successful artists. I feel very lucky to have been able to make it work.

Ambigram.com: Sebastian, the Blazing poster is beautiful, so you have the full right to toot your horn! Thank you for the insight into your daily work, life and inspiration.

——————————–

More of Sebastian Lester’s work can be found here: http://www.seblester.co.uk/

It’s too bad that no one noticed that until it was too late!

The UK “Office of Government Commerce” (OGC) decided to keep up with the times by getting a new simple, cool, edgy logo consisting of just their acronym initials.

The New OGC Logo

It seemed to be the perfect new look for the office…

Until someone discovered that the logo was perhaps a bit too suggestive for such a conservative group.  Take a look at what happens when the logo is rotated 90 degrees to the right:

Every organization has to be good at SOMETHING!

John Langdon
http://www.johnlangdon.net/

I have favorite ambigrams now and then.  They last for a while, and then they’re not my favorite any longer.  If I have a current favorite, it would be one of Scott Kim’s recent ambigrams of the phrase “REVERSE ENGINEERING”.

It reads as easily as any ambigram, it has a consistent style and sort of a heavy construction look, and there’s obviously a nice resonance between the phrase and the ambigrammatic treatment.  In fact that relationship seems to kind of wink  at the viewer, and thus helps, along with the choppy style and the particularly un-engineer-y color treatment, to create a sense of fun. All that adds up to a highly charming piece of ambigram art. In addition, it’s always nice to see reversible glyphs that we haven’t seen before, and this ambigram appears to have at least a couple of those.

As long as I have another paragraph available, maybe I can get away with mentioning a few more without showing them. I’ll first mention Scott’s  GATHERING FOR GARDNER 5 animated logo. (http://www.scottkim.com/inversions/gallery/g4g5.html) While it has  only a couple of double-function glyphs, is just so much fun to watch, it’s been a favorite for a long time. Another old favorite is Bob Petrick’s NONSENSE. More recent: Brett Gilbert’s CHRISTMAS (displayed below) and Daan Juttman’s HALF BLOOD PRINCE.

Of my own work, the Philosophy ambigram would be a favorite.

With it’s text accompaniment, it represents the heart and soul of all my ambigram work, but it’s a bit too old to still carry around as a favorite.

Robert Petrick
http://www.robertpetrick.com/wordart.html

Robert Petrick sent in a whole collection of his ambigrams! When asked which ones were his favorites, he said “I think out of those EUROPE, then secondly JESTER.”

Douglas Hofstadter
http://www.introspections.org/2008/07/22/the-ambigrams-of-douglas-hofstadter/ (This website isn’t Douglas’s, but a great collection of his other ambigrams.)

Douglas Hofstadter sent in an ambigram classic.  He added the following. “…I don’t think anyone who knows English will have too much trouble reading this ambigram — it’s the names of the seven classic colors of the rainbow, in the standard ROYGBIV order, with each word written in its own color: RED, ORANGE, YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE, INDIGO, VIOLET.

They all read both as shown here and also when reflected in a mirror (otherwise it wouldn’t be an ambigram, would it?).  And then, below the rainbow, as a cherry on the sundae (or a cherry underneath the sundae), there is one last line. What does it say?  Well, it says both “DOUG” and “2006″, the year in which I created this ambigram.  The last line both an oscillation ambigram, as well as a mirror-reflection ambigram…”

Mark Hunter
http://www.flipscript.com

There are so many great ambigrams, from so many talented people, it’s really hard to pick one “favorite”.  So, I’ll pick three that really stand out in my memory, for different reasons.  The first is John Langdon‘s “PHILADELPHA – CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE”.  The complexity is mind-boggling, yet the design is instantly readable.  John clearly put a lot of thought and effort into this design, and it shows.

Another one of my favorites is Mark Palmer‘s DR JEKYL / MR HYDE.  I like this one partially because of the word selection.  If there was ever a character worthy of being displayed as two sides of a single design, it is this mild-mannered monster.  The design would serve quite nicely as the cover for a special edition of the book.

Finally, I love the way that Scott Kim goes the extra mile for his designs, adding complex animations and often creating new types of ambigrams that have never been seen before.  Here is an example of how Scott presents one of his vertical reflection ambigrams of the words TEACH and LEARN:

Teach / Learn Animated Reflection Ambigram

I would probably also give props to the creator of the “Princess Bride” DVD cover ambigram, but I have no idea who created it.

Patrice Hamel

http://www.patricehamel.org/insitu/

Patrice Hamel, a French ambigram designer, sent in this gorgeous example.

Brett Gilbert
http://www.55cards.com/ambigrams/

Brett Gilbert sent in the following example, and had this to say.

Nikita Prokhorov
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14588353@N07/sets/72157605407353219/

Finally, I decided to add my favorite ambigram. To be honest, the question “what’s your favorite ambigram” is fully loaded! There are so many ambigram artists, and so many fantastic ambigrams, that it really is hard to pick just one. So, I had to cheat just a little bit and pick the following three:

Why are they my favorites? A very simple reason: they were the ones that began my love affair with ambigrams when I first opened Dan Brown’s book several years ago.

————————

And that’s that! Some favorite ambigrams from some ambigram designer & lovers. If anyone has a favorite ambigram (especially one that is not their own) that they’d like to see in part 2 of this series, email me at nikita@ambigram.com.

Yes, everyone.

Even the experts.

In fact, especially the experts!

So, just for fun, we wanted to post some of the “bloopers” that happened during the development of the Glyphusion ambigram generator.  The strange output from the ambigram generator was captured along the way, and is being shared now for the first time, one year after the system officially went “live”.

Some of these are odd, some are fascinating, and some are downright beautiful, even if they didn’t come out exactly “as planned”.

Decorative parts growing their own appendages

There is a strange property of some Microsoft libraries that cause really odd behavior when you approach certain mathematical limits.  Everything will be fine right up to the limits, but right at the edge of those limits, the designs just explode with new “off shoots”. It’s like some sort of fractal sneeze.

This one bug came up over… and over… and over.  It happened in slightly different ways and slightly different places, but we recognized it every time.

The Tarantula ambigram!

Now, it’s just getting frightening!

Check out that "fur"!

The spidery renderings are only the beginning.  The ambigrams themselves didn’t always cooperate, either.

"Jenny - Brian" ambigram... where Brian seems to have a bad case of the shakes

Zoom out! Zoom out! (This is a picture of a T-shirt)

Could this next one be a sighting of the legendary Flying Spaghetti Monster?

The Flying Spaghetti Monster attacks an innocent ambigram

This next one is supposed to say “Mark / Laurie”.  Yeah, we can’t read it either.

Clear at first, this quickly degrades into nonsense

We had to intervene when the ambigram generator’s drinking habits became a problem.

At least it's symmetrical

Finally, there are the bloopers that are beautiful in their renderings, like this delicate flower of a flourish.

This one looks like clear acrylic (unintentional)

This next one was a test that was used to take all sorts of measurements.  You’ve just got to click this one to see the blown-up version in order to get the full effect.  Each color and shape is a clue to the aspect ratio, positioning and sizing for the design.

Measurements and Engineering

The final one is probably the best “clue” ever posted about how the Glyphusion ambigram generator works internally.  If you click the image to see the blown-up version, you’ll see the “blue print” lines that are used in character aspect ratio definition and inter-character spacing.  Study this one for a minute or two, and you’ll get a new respect for the magic that happens in those couple of seconds when you create an ambigram with the generator.

Ambigram Blue Prints (Click for Larger View)

There are lots more, but we’ll keep the rest secret for now.  If you liked these, let us know and perhaps someday we’ll post the others.

"Angels and Demons" Earth Ambigram

The first brand was found on the cardinal buried underground.  It reads “Earth” no matter which was it is turned.  All of the ambigrams in “Angels and Demons” were drawn by artist John Langdon and are reproduced here with permission.

"Angels and Demons" Air Ambigram

The “Air” ambigram was found on the cardinal whose lungs has been punctured.

"Angels and Demons" Fire Ambigram

The “Fire” ambigram was on the cardinal being burned alive in one of the most gruesome parts of the story.

"Angels and Demons" Water Ambigram

The last brand was on the chest of Cardinal Baggio, who was attempted to be drowned in the Fountain of the Four Rivers.  In the book, Cardinal Baggio dies, but in the movie he is saved by Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), later to be named Pope.

Angels and Demons Illuminati ambigram

Although not used a brand, the other ambigram design presented in the movie is the fax that launches Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) on his quest.

The “Angels and Demons” book also presented the “Illumanati Diamond” as the final brand that the Camerlingo uses upon himself. The movie replaces this final brand with a crossed keys symbol (not presented here), presumably because the Illuminati Diamond would have been too complex to digest in a 3 second close-up during the movie.

There you have it. The four Angels and Demons brands used in the movie, in a little more detail to give you a good look.

Today we received a scan of that first ambigram.

The picture below was created in 1893 by Peter Newell as the last page in his book “Topsys and Turvys”.  It read “THE END” normally and when inverted became the word “PUZZLE”.

Although Peter Newell was better known for his children’s books and for his illustrations for Lewis Carroll and Mark Twain than he was for his ambigrams, he published 2 books of illustrations of invertible designs (“Topsys & Turvys” and “Topsys and Turvys 2″), where the picture (and text) turn into a completely different image when turned upside down (see our Matchbox Art page for an example of invertible images).

The End / Puzzle Ambigram

“It’s called an ambigram, and it’s the hottest trend in typography since Helvetica.”

Scott Kim's "Reverse Engineering" ambigram

In the article, Scott Kim stated:

“We’re wired to look for symmetry,” he explains. “Ambigrams have an almost mystical quality to them.”

We tip our hat to Wired magazine for getting on board with ambigrams… although with all respect to the Editor, we think that ambigrams are an even more significant development in typography than Helvetica.

To make our list of the Most Famous Ambigrams, an ambigram had to 1) be part of a mainstream product, 2) be exposed to a large number of people and 3) be a rotationally symmetric ambigram.

Here is the list of the “Top 10 Most Famous Ambigrams” from Ambigram.com:

• 

  Paul McCartney - Chaos and Creation in the Backyard

  Paul McCartney’s album “Chaos and Creation in the Backyard” featured an ambigram of the words “Paul McCartney” on the album cover.  Although the album was not a huge commercial success, the album was the biggest to feature an ambigram on the cover.
  

• 

  Princess Bride 20th Anniversary Edition

  The 20th Anniversary Edition of the movie “the Princess Bride” featured an ambigram on the cover of the DVD and Blu-Ray releases created by Menagerie Creative.  The Princess Bride ambigram was accompanied by a photo that appears at first as a reflection, but upon closer inspection has some subtle insights into the story’s plotline.

  As a side note: there is a second ambigram inside the DVD booklet of the words “True / Love”, but that particular design isn’t famous enough to make our “Top 10″ list.
  

• 

  Glam Rock Band "Angel"

  Glam rock band “Angel”, whose members always dressed in white, adopted a Robert Petrick ambigram logo of the band’s name in 1976 and continued to use it until 1992.
  

• 

  "New Man" Clothing Company's ambigram logo

  French clothing company “New Man” began using thisRaymond Loewy designed ambigram in 1969…and they are still using it today.
  

• 

  NASA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) logo

  Scott Kim created the logo for NASA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), and since there is no “up” in space, the satellite’s logo is a rotational ambigram.
  

• 

  Angels and Demons Illuminati ambigram

  The first ambigram encountered in Dan Brown’s book “Angels and Demons” is the Illuminati ambigram, which launches the lead character Robert Langdon (played by Tom Hanks in the movie adaptation) on his quest.  The ambigram was drawn by artist John Langdon, who lends his surname to the lead character in the story.
  

• 

  "Angels and Demons" Earth Ambigram

  Since the “Angels and Demons” book was such a big success (reportedly the second most popular book in America among people 32-43 years old), the rest of this Top 10 list is monopolized by the designs in the book.  Here is the Earth ambigram, drawn by John Langdon.
  

• 

  "Angels and Demons" Air Ambigram

  The “Air” custom ambigram from “Angels and Demons”, by John Langdon.
  

• 

  "Angels and Demons" Fire Ambigram

  The “Fire” ambigram from “Angels and Demons”, which is at the center of one of the most gruesome parts of the story.
  

• 

  "Angels and Demons" Water Ambigram

  Finally, to round out the Top 10, here is the Angels and Demons ambigram of “Water”, also drawn by John Langdon.
  

There you have it. The “Top 10 Most Famous Ambigrams” from Ambigram.com, with fully HALF of the list from author Dan Brown and artist John Langdon!

In fact, if we were to extend the list further to the “Top 12 Most Famous Ambigrams“, the “Illuminati Diamond” final ambigram in “Angels and Demons” and the books ambigram title (in certain regions) would populate the remaining spots!

So, to say that “Angels and Demons” has had an impact on the ambigram space would be a huge understatement.