…and a cash prize for second place.

…and even a cash prize for third place!

Have we got your attention yet?

OK, here are the details:

Magic Man Ambigram Challenge

Dan Chan, Magic Man

For this Ambigram.Com Ambigram Challenge (ACAC), we will be working to develop some outstanding artwork for multitalented magician, juggler, pick-pocket and mind-blowing, award-winning entertainer Dan Chan, the Magic Man.  Dan will be using the final design(s) on products that he intends to give away to his clients.

You have free reign over the style and a degree of flexibility in word selection, but keep in mind that Dan Chan himself will be the sole deciding judge on this one, so you’ll need to make him happy.  We recommend visiting his web site to determine a style that Dan would love.  Here are the words that he recommends that you choose from:

Upright, the ambigram should say one of the following:

• Dan Chan
• Dan Chan Magic
• Dan Chan Magic Man

When the rotational ambigram is viewed inverted, it should say one of the following:

• Dan Chan
• Dan Chan Magic
• Dan Chan Magic Man
• danchanmagic.com
• acrobat
• pick-pocket
• juggler
• magician
• bian lian  / change of face
• bullet catch

Prizes

There will be three(3) separate prizes given out for the winning designs.  We have the prize money in escrow, so the payout is guaranteed and will be awarded when the artist(s) of the winning designs turn over the copyright of the design(s) to “Dan Chan”, to use as he wishes. All prizes will be paid via Paypal from Ambigram.com.  All dollar amounts are in USD.

1. First place will receive $100
2. Second place will receive $50
3. Third place will receive $25

So, there is a good chance for a cash prize in this contest.

A single artist may win no more than 2 of the prizes, and in fact, may submit no more than 2 designs to the challenge. Please save all files with your name in the file name, for identification purposes.

The winning designs will be featured here (of course), and also on Dan Chan’s facebook page and blog, and will be linked back from all three locations to the artist’s web site (if available).

Judging

Unlike most ambigram challenges, this one will be judged exclusively by the sponsor of the contest.  These are designs that he intends to use for his company, so pleasing him is the goal.  This won’t be a theoretical judging.  The final designs must have real-world utility for the sponsor.  Dan’s judgment shall be final, although we will provide additional commentary when the results are posted.

All designs should be submitted by Friday, February 4th, and the judging will take place soon after.  Results will be posted as soon as the sponsor has selected the winner(s).  Cash prizes to immediately follow.

Since Dan will be the judge of the contest, the challenge will be open to everyone without restrictions.  The goal is to give Dan a nice collection of quality artwork to pick from, so whether or not you have participated in the past, give it a shot.

We will send a boilerplate document to the winner(s) that simply assigns the copyright of the design to “Dan Chan”.  Sending the document back to Dan will be a condition of payout.

Best of luck to everyone.  This should be a blast!

Illuminati Diamond Signed Print

Each print will be hand signed and numbered.

Dan Brown describes this ambigram in “Angels and Demons” as:

“A flawless diamond, born of the ancient elements with such perfection that all those who saw it only stand in wonder.”

To find out more about this limited offer, please click on the thumbnail below for the full ordering details:

Signed Print Offer Details

Ambigram.com Hello Michael, and thank you for speaking with ambigram.com. Let me start off with a predictable, albeit relevant question. Have you heard of ambigrams, and if you have, what was your first encounter with them?

Michael Bierut An early one I remember is the NEW MAN logo designed by Herb Lubalin, and the VISTA logo designed by Paul Davis. A good one is like magic.

Ambigram.com At its core, ambigram design is still pure typographic manipulation that adheres to some traditional typographic principles. If a project you’re working on calls for a non-standard typeface, would you rather use an existing typeface and manipulate it, or would you call on a type designer to create a custom typeface?

Michael Bierut I have done both. I actually have a bit of an aversion to inventing or changing things for no reason when there’s a perfectly good alternative already available, so I probably (slightly) favor the former.

Ambigram.com In your mind, is there a difference between the term ‘typographer’ and ‘type designer’, or are those terms use interchangeably in an erroneous manner, much like ‘font’ and ‘typeface’? If there is a difference between a ‘typographer’ and a ‘type designer’, what would you say it is?

Michael Bierut Typographers, in my mind, do design work using typography as an element. Type designers actually, you know, design typefaces.

Ambigram.com You’re known as a very hands-on designer who works closely with his designers. Have you taken on the task of designing your own typeface or hand-lettering type, or ever ask any of your designers to perform that task?

Michael Bierut’s sketches for the MAD face. Image is property of Pentagram.com

Michael Bierut Yes, I’ve asked designers to do handlettered or custom-designed type. Like other designers, I’ve also used my own handwriting on occasion.

Ambigram.com Speaking of hand-lettered typography, I’d like to discuss a specific project. The “Want It!” campaign from 2007 is one of my favorite advertising campaigns for its design as much as for its typography, which was created by Marian Bantjes. What was the reasoning behind using an altered typeface rather than use an existing script typeface?

Michael Bierut There were three reasons. First, the script is based on the Saks handlettered logo invented originally by Tom Carnese and then redrawn for us by Joe Finocchiaro. We wanted the basic Want It! logo that year to go with the Saks logo. Second, I had this vision of obsessiveness and imagined an overelaborate graphic language with almost too many curlicues and flourishes, as if the artist almost couldn’t help herself.

This is Marian’s specialty, so we brought her in. Finally, Saks’s creative director Terron Schaefer had an additional idea to have the script flourishes turn into illustrations of product. Marian and I both thought this would be impossible to do, but she pulled it off!

Ambigram.com Let’s continue the Saks theme and touch base on the new “Think about…” campaign. The typography for that campaign is more traditional, while highlighted by the black/white illustrations of the various products from the Saks line. In contrast with the previous campaign, why was the typographic element of this campaign relatively subtle?

Images property of Pentagram.com

Michael Bierut Each campaign at Saks is different, with a few things connecting them. The “Think About…” campaign started with our discovery that it had to unite 10 different catalogues, and that there happened to be ten letters in the theme “Think About.” We assigned each catalogue a letter. The logo is basically the catalogues all put together. Although it is very simple, it’s still very typographic.

Ambigram.com The identity for the Museum of Arts and Design uses a beautiful custom typeface that was created specifically for this project. After seeing it in person and applied to various mediums, it’s hard to imagine another typeface working just as well in its place. How often do you find yourself in a position where an existing typeface just won’t do and you have to create an original typeface for a client?

Images property of Pentagram.com

Michael Bierut With MAD, we started with the three-letter logo and then Joe Marianek drew out an entire alphabet based on those three letters.  Because the Museum had a new name and a new location, we wanted something pretty aggressive to make sure they’d get the attention they deserve. In other cases we custom design a typeface because we want to blend in. For the restoration of Lever House, a 1952 skyscaper office building on Park Avenue by SOM’s Gordon Bunshaft, we wanted to match the building and the mid-century era perfectly. Typefaces like Futura and Neutra would not do. So we commissioned Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones to do one based on the original signs.

Ambigram.com Choosing a typeface for an identity project is one of the most difficult parts of a project, and it’s something I see students and new designers struggle with. Does that process become easier with time and experience, and what advice would you give to designers that are struggling with this problem?

Michael Bierut I wrote a piece for Design Observer called something like “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Typeface” that pretty much sums up my advice.

Ambigram.com What is your favorite project you’ve worked on that was focused on typography? (if you can tell me which project you would like to use for this answer, I will find images of it and include them with the final interview.)

Images property of Pentagram.com

Michael Bierut I would say the ten-year-old poster series we’ve been doing for the Yale School of Architiecture. It is a highly visual subject and a highly visual audience, but I would say that most of the posters are all type.

Ambigram.com There are several current typefaces that have achieved a negative cult status because they are so misused and overused: Papyrus and Comic Sans are the first two that come to mind. Do you feel that they are poorly designed typefaces from the get go, or is that only our perception of them since they’re so overused, and they’re actually well-designed typefaces?

Michael Bierut I think they are badly designed, not misused or overused. Sorry, Comic Sans and Papyrus!

Ambigram.com Michael, I have one last question for you. I’ve heard you and other designers discuss their feelings about this typeface…but how do you truly feel about Helvetica?

Michael Bierut I think Helvetica is a truly beautiful typeface. Along the lines of your last question, it’s been so overused through the years that it seems to be about everything and about nothing. I seem to find it really hard to use now.

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Michael, thank you for the interview, advice and insight!

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.

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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.

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

It is hard to believe that a company involved with the creative process would steal other people’s creative works, but when we called to ask them about this practice, they (accidentally) confessed to it.  After realizing their mistake, they hung up the phone and refused to comment further.

Repeated attempts by Ambigram Magazine to contact a representative of the company about their shady business practices went unanswered.

So, if you were thinking about getting a logo from Sleek Logos, do yourself a favor and look for a serious, reputable company.  There are lots of logo design firms out there that have respect and integrity…  It’s too bad that Sleek Logos isn’t one of them.

Ambigram.com: Tiffany, thank you for speaking with us. I will ask you the same question that I ask everyone, yet the answer never gets old, because each time the answer is slightly different:

How did you become interested in ambigrams?

Tiffany: Like most people, I was first introduced to ambigrams through John Langdon‘s work, but it was not from “Angels & Demons”. An online friend of mine was asked to be be in a book about words that are used as tattoos and posted a picture of the featured tattoo, Langdon’s mirror-image design of the word “Balance” (which she had permission to use). I immediately rushed over to Langdon’s site and was fascinated by the rotational designs. I’ve always been interested in calligraphy, word puzzles, optical illusions, and secret codes, so I had to try it out myself.

Ambigram.com: What was the very first ambigram you created? We’d love to see an example of it.

Tiffany: The first thing I tried was my last name, “Harvey”. Luckily, it was a very easy word to use! I drew it out on paper and then tried to draw it on the computer with my mouse, which is never pretty, but this was the basic design.

Once I started, I couldn’t stop!

Ambigram.com: You have a strong background in arts & crafts. How has that influenced your ambigram design?

Tiffany: I’ve always noticed a lot of cross over between different arts. When you are working on ceramics, you might use painting or carving techniques. I’ve used origami in resin pendants, stitched together paper on my sewing machine to create greeting cards, it all overlaps. In some ways, even the patchwork and the the embellishments I add to the ambigrams are similar. I was always trying to arrange the different fabrics in a way that looked random, but balanced, the same way I might layout stars and curls and dots around the letters of an ambigram. Developing an eye for details will carry through to any kind of artistic work.

Ambigram.com: Now, I have to ask this question. Aesthetically speaking, your ambigrams are spot on almost every single time. How do you create those perfectly matching curves, flourishes, and the rest of the intricate details that are such an integral part of your ambigram style?

Tiffany: I think repeating the same motif throughout the design can really help. If you look at fonts, you will see the same lines and curves appearing again and again throughout the letters. That is what creates the unifying style of the font. You can add a curl, or stick thin lines in among thick ones, but try to add them to the design more than once so that they become part of the overall style.

Ambigram.com: To follow up the previous question, how much of a factor does computer software play in your design? Do you create the complete ambigram using just paper/pencil  & then finalize it on the computer, or do you create very rough sketches and then develop the ambigram on the computer?

Tiffany: In the beginning, I did draw out the ambigrams on paper and scan them in to trace on the computer. I didn’t have a very good program to do this with, I was basically drawing with my mouse again, but I worked with large images so I could smooth things out easier.

Soon after that I was introduced to Inkscape, which is basically a free version of Illustrator, so that I could create vector images. Last year I got a Wacom graphics tablet, and have since then retired the scanner. I do still create a very rough sketch when a customer first contacts me, just to make sure ambigram is possible. I either create a more finished sketch on the computer, which is then re-worked in Inkscape, or use my rough sketch as a guide and lay out the ambigram from the font pieces of previous designs.

Here you can see it a little more step-by-step.

Ambigram.com: Are there any types of ambigrams you haven’t tried before that you’d like to design in the future? Have you ever designed any ambigrams in a different language?

Tiffany: I’m actually learning Japanese right now, and I’d love to create some bilingual ambigrams in Japanese and English.  These Chinese-English ambigrams are an inspiration.   I have created a few foreign ambigrams, though most of them use the Latin alphabet, so they are not very different from normal ambigrams in English, or some of the unusual names I get!

The most difficult foreign design I’ve done was a Russian ambigram in the Cyrillic alphabet, because I have no real concept of what makes the letters readable, or the different styles they can take on. I based my sketches on a cursive version of the alphabet I found online and sent the customer a few variations so she could pick what was most readable.

Ambigram.com: Are there any artists in the ambigram community that inspire you? Is there anyone whose work you follow really closely?

Tiffany: Of course, John Langdon was a big inspiration, and I remember looking at a lot of other work when I was first starting out. Now I think I tend to avoid others’ ambigrams, because I worry about being unintentionally inspired by other designs.

Ambigram.com: What is your own personal process for developing an ambigram, from start to finish? Where do you find your inspiration?

Tiffany: You can see a a lot of my step-by-step process in the above question about software. As far as inspiration, I think most of it comes from my customers. Sometimes the ambigrams are simply a matter of putting two names together with a font I’ve used many times before.

Other times the customers comes to me with layouts and embellishments I’ve never created before, a list of 10 fonts that I would not normally consider for an ambigram, or even ask for non-ambigram word art. The further I am drug out of my comfort zone, the more I start to worry, but the designs you struggle with are usually the ones you are most proud of in the end.

Ambigram.com: What advice would you give someone who is just starting to design their first ambigram?

Tiffany: Get a calligraphy book and practice writing a few of the alphabets. You don’t need to get really good at it (I certainly never was!), but seeing how the strokes repeat, and how the same letter can be completely different from one alphabet to the next, can really help you put together a readable design. Practice is also a big part of it.  The more ambigrams you draw, the more successful letter combinations you will discover and file away in your mind for future use.

Ask a friend if they can read your design, and what letters need more work. You already know what the word is supposed to be, so you need outside opinions. Also, small tweaks can really affect the readability of an ambigram, so don’t be afraid to play around with a hard-to-read letter.

Ambigram.com: One last question and then we’ll let you get back to work. If you had to pick one major corporation out there and redesign their logo as an ambigram, who would it be?

Tiffany: There have been several times when I have seen a logo and thought, “that would be pretty easy to turn into an ambigram”, and even considered making one up for fun and sending it to the company. Of course, now that you ask, I can’t remember any of them!

I think the most fun designs to create would be for a company that could really use the rotational aspect of the ambigram in their product, like on a watch or Ferris wheel, or across a tablecloth at a restaurant where customers could read the design from both sides.

Ambigram.com: Tiffany, thank you for the interview. We look forward to seeing more work from you!

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You can find more examples of Tiffany’s work at her web site at: http://wordillusion.com/

NAGFA: We started off doing laterally symmetrical typography, commonly known now as ‘reflections’ – those usually found as logos for metal bands. Like many, we were first acquainted with ambigrams via Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons. It was an almost-natural progression from lateral symmetry to a rotational one.

Laterally symmetrical "New York" ambigram. Used with permission from NAGFA.

Ambigram.com: What was the very first ambigram you created? Would you be able to provide an example of it?

NAGFA: It was in 2004. We were in the lecture theatre during our early courting days. We challenged each other to come out with an ambigram (the first NAC [Nagfa Ambigram Challenge]?) reading ‘Naguib’ one way and ‘Fadilah’ another. The outputs were combined and scribbled out and the final piece was left in its full amateurish glory. Looking at this again brings back sweet memories.

Naguib/Fadilah Ambigram. Used with permission from NAGFA.

Ambigram.com: Both of you work as Malay-language teachers. Has your linguistic/teaching background influenced your ambigram work in any way?

NAGFA: This is an interesting point to ponder.  An ambigram is a combination of typography and calligraphy, the art of writing. It is unsurprising, therefore, that ambigrams relate very closely to language.  As Malay-language teachers we are still learning every day.  We do come across new, refreshing concepts, words, and their etymology which ‘instigates’ a need for us to share in the form of ambigrams.

The Malay language – in its linguistic and geographical history – has borrowed words from many other languages, including Arabic, Sanskrit, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Tamil, and of course English. Designing an ambigram which hints of this shared language (or at least in its etymology) is a subtle reminder of how we all share a common thread, where compartmentalization of races and/or languages does not exist. It gently puts us back in our places and roles in this world.

On another hand, sometimes we use ambigrams as a topic starter / lesson induction. For example, a Racial Harmony ambigram was used to begin a class discussion on the importance of racial harmony, and a Maria Hertogh ambigram was used to introduce the race riots in 1964.

Racial Harmony Ambigram. Used with permission from NAGFA.

Maria Hertogh Ambigram. Used with permission from NAGFA.

Beyond the classroom walls, ambigram designing is a good mental exercise to keep the mind alert, especially in between long lectures. Our experiences being invited to other countries, to special events, being featured in the local paper, being involved in an ambigram-based charity project, for example, were good anecdotes and real-life proof to our students how a simple hobby, added with passion and a willingness to learn and improve, could be fulfilling.

Ambigram.com: Speaking of languages, artists such as Scott Kim & David Moser designed ‘dual-language’ ambigrams. A good example would be the Tokyo 90 degree ambigram designed by David Moser: originally written in a vertical orientation using Japanese characters, it would read “Tokyo” when rotated clockwise. Have you ever attempted to design a Malay language ambigram?

Used with permission from David Moser (http://www.cognitive-china.org/)

NAGFA: Yes, we have. Some are titles of texts we were to read and analyze during our University days.  The titles themselves are renditions of Hindu folklore. ‘Hikayat Seri Rama’ is the Malay version of Ramayana, the Prince of India while ‘Durga/Umayi’ are two manifestations of a Goddess in the Hindu religion.

Hikayat Seri Rama Ambigram. Used with permission from NAGFA.

Durga/Umayi Ambigram. Used with permission from NAGFA.

Some other Malay language ambigrams are merely a duality, much like their English counterparts: Hitam & Putih (Black & White) and Malaikat & Shaitan (Angel & Demon).

Hitam & Putih Ambigram. Used with permission from NAGFA.

Malaikat & Shaitan Ambigram. Used with permission from NAGFA.

A Malay-English ambigram example would be ‘George W. Bush. – Orang Minyak’. ‘Orang Minyak’ could be taken literally to mean ‘Oil Man’, alluding to the war. ‘Orang Minyak’ also refers to a supernatural being in the Malay folklore who sneaks into villages and rapes the womenfolk, similar to the Western incubus.

George W. Bush/Orang Minyak  Ambigram. Used with permission from NAGFA.

Ambigram.com: Why do you think that ambigrams are so much easier to create in English, rather than any other language? We don’t really see too many foreign language ambigrams out there!

NAGFA: This may come as a surprise, but through our NAC (the NAGFA Ambigram Challenge), we do know of many talented artists who design ambigrams in other languages, mostly in Spanish, Malay, and the Indian languages. One common factor between these ambigrams is the fact that they are all written using the Roman alphabet. We figure that the Roman alphabets provide the easiest form of recognition (or re-cognition) to the viewers’ perception, perhaps due to familiarity.

What is rare is an ambigram in another written language altogether; Cyrillic, Arabic, Tamil, Japanese, Chinese… even cuneiform! Even some Scandinavian words prove challenging due to the diacritic signs.

Ambigram.com: Ambigram interest has exploded since the movie Angels & Demons was released in theatres. With so many more people  aware of ambigrams, ambigrams blogs, websites & online groups (Flickr as one example) have been springing up left and right. Where do you see the ambigram culture heading?

NAGFA: We are just excited to be part of this culture. Due to the dual nature of ambigram, many would see an ambigram as an appropriate personalized design for tattoos, wedding gifts, humour products, band logos, etc. On a similar note, a product logo / logotype which is an ambigram doesn’t require any correct orientation to advertise its name.

For more serious ambigram artists, we see them using its potential in a 3D world. We have seen superb installation pieces by Frenchman Patrice Hamel, some of them practical and relevant even in the real world. Then there are the ‘ambigram automatons’ by Tom Banwell, who incorporates mechanical movement into ambigrams. Of course, John Langdon and Robert Petrick had done more than a few reflective pieces / sculptures.

Our prediction for ambigrams in the near future is its marriage to other popular typography / calligraphic art.  Ambigram graffiti – or graffiti ambigrams – would be interesting.  An Arabic Khat which has rotational or lateral symmetry would be mind-boggling. A Sanskrit-based ambigram would be awesome.

Ambigram.com: Currently, how would you rate overall quality of ambigram design out there?  Are there any artists that come to mind that are an inspiration to you and the rest of the ambigram community?

NAGFA: Personally, we see three waves of ambigram artists: the first comprises of the ‘pioneers’ like Douglas Hofstadter, John Langdon, Robert Petrick, Scott Kim and Kevin Pease.  The second wave comprises artists who started after reading Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons and the third are those who came in later.  Hence, it is difficult – and inaccurate – to rate the overall quality of all ambigram designs.

Of course, we are inspired by the works of the pioneers; they came from a time when their only tools were some pencils, scraps of papers and the most perceptive of minds.

Having said that, there are many brilliant artists from the second and third waves which we find inspiration from. Like the Malay idiom, ‘A bird’s strength is in its wings; a crab’s strength is in its claws’, we each have our own individual styles and strengths, and we all learn from one another. We still do.

Ambigram.com: Do you have your own unique process for developing ambigrams? What’s the typical approach for you, from start to finish?

NAGFA: Typically, our ambigrams are the result of either a need to make an ambigram out of a particular word or phrase, or a realization that a word or phrase could be made into an ambigram.

We don’t think we have a unique process. We started by writing the word down and manipulating the letters stroke by stroke. Then once satisfied with the overall look, we scanned the hand-drawn design and add in colors and effects.

Quite recently, we have been doing ambigrams using a ‘template’ we made using PowerPoint. That eliminates the scanning process and does save some time. And being teachers, and parents, we need all the time-saving strategies we can get our hands on!

Ambigram.com: For quite some time, you’ve been running the Nagfa Ambigram Challenge (NAC) but have put a hold on it recently. Are there any plans to resume the NAC in the future?

NAGFA: Ambigrams – being an art-form – were always about transcending boundaries, and in our case, the bridge to create bonds and friendship. That part of our journey would always be the peak of our ambigram experience; NAC allowed us to be part of a big family which we had fun interacting with, learning from, sharing ideas and concepts and solutions, regardless of our respective background.

The knowledge that there are dedicated individuals from all corners of the world doing something similar to what we are doing, sharing a passion was surreal. Imagine once a while, when the NAC entries were posted on our blog that you have people from New Zealand to South America to the States to Europe to India mingling in the most Spartan of blogs, discussing the entries submitted. We do miss the interaction.

There are indeed plans to resume NAC, given the right circumstances, and we are sure ambigram.com would be one of the first to know.

Ambigram.com: We’ll be looking forward to it. Before we wrap things up, we have one more question for you, perhaps the most difficult one. There are a lot of new emerging ambigram artists, ranging from casual ambigrammists to ones that want make a career out of it. What advice would you give a brand new ambigrammist?

NAGFA: We believe the most important thing is to enjoy one’s self. Once you find enjoyment and a sense of fun in discovering the ‘workings’ of an ambigram, you would be more than willing to learn more.

It is also good to find your own individual style first. This foundation could prove useful in the creating a unique ambigram experience. Having seen many – but never enough! – ambigrams, we could tell who the artists are simply by the solutions, style and presentation of the ambigram pieces. Alberto Portacio, Tomas, NastyBasty, Diego Colombo, Mark Palmer and Serpiente are some artists whose designs are synonymous with the designers.

Another thing is to be bold; to explore new solutions, new concepts, longer phrases. Who knows, you might discover a new category of ambigram!

And of course: to share. It is more fulfilling to share your creations with family and friends, and to learn from their feedback. A general rule is if they cannot decipher / read the ambigram, then most probably others won’t be able to, either.

We wish all ambigram enthusiasts – experienced or otherwise – the best in all endeavors, and may we get to interact again in another domain in the near future.

Salam (peace),
Nagfa

Ambigram.com: Nagfa, thank you for the insightful interview. We look forward to seeing more great work from you.

Scott Kim

We are pleased this month to be talking to Scott Kim, one of the pioneers in the ambigram space. Scott talked to us from his home in Santa Monica, California.

Ambigram.com: “Thanks for talking with us today, Scott.”

Scott Kim: “It’s my pleasure.”

Ambigram.com: “Scott, I know we have a lot to cover, so I’m going to jump right into it.

You and John Langdon are widely regarded as the two inventors of the modern day ‘ambigram’, although you originally called the designs ‘inversions’.  What was your first design, and what inspired you to create it?”

Scott Kim: “I created my first ambigram design in 1975 for a graphic design course at Stanford.  The assignment was not to do an ambigram, but to create a figure/ground work of art where we were told to pay attention to the background as much as the foreground.  Most of the other students focused on shapes, but I wanted to focus on words.”

Ambigram.com: “And no one else in the class was working with words?”

Scott Kim: “Right. I wanted to create a design of the words ‘figure’ and ‘ground’, but that attempt failed.  So, I needed a different strategy, and decided to try the words ‘Figure’ and ‘Figure’, which ended up being my first ambigram.”

Ambigram.com: “Had you seen any ambigrams before creating that one?”

Scott Kim: “I knew about palindromes, like RACECAR, and I knew about naturally symmetrical words like NOON, but it had never occurred to me to push that idea further. When I created the ‘Figure / Figure’ design I realized there was a vast world here waiting to be explored. It was like in the Wizard of Oz movie, when the door opens and everything is suddenly in color.’

After that, like everyone else when they first discover ambigrams, I started to do ambigrams of my friends’ names. But I wasn’t satisfied with the quality of my lettering. So I studied calligraphy, typeface design, and anything else I could find related to letterforms. Ambigrams pushed me to study typography. This is a different path than the one that John Langdon took, who studied typography and design first, and then later became interested in ambigrams.

Shortly after those first few ambigrams, I met Douglas Hofstader, author of Gödel, Escher, Bach. He said that he and Peter Jones had dabbled in similar things, but had never tried to turn one letter into multiple letters, which really limits what you can do.”

Ambigram.com: “The term ‘ambigram’ had not been coined at the time. What did you and Douglas call these designs?”

Scott Kim: “Every ambigram creator had a different name for their art. I started using the term ‘Inversions’ since it worked well with my name, but I didn’t intend for that to be an industry-wide term.”

The name "Scott Kim" becomes the word "Inversions" in this Kim original design

Ambigram.com: “Let’s go ahead and talk a little bit about your book ‘Inversions’. You wrote that book in 1981, long before there were web sites devoted to ambigrams.  The book focused on your collection of ambigram designs up to that point. What made you decide to write a book about this topic?”

Scott Kim: A lot of encouragement from friends and colleagues, and a desire to create a book. The publisher, Byte Books, actually approached me about the project because they had seen my work.

I was in grad school at Stanford at the time and essentially took a year off from my studies to write that book. I had worked closely with Hofstadter when he was writing his book, so I knew a lot about the process.”

Ambigram.com: “How did the book do?”

Scott Kim: “Very well, thanks to help from some key magazine articles.

My ambigrams first appeared in print in Scot Morris’s Games column in OMNI magazine in 1979. Later, Martin Gardner wrote about my work in his ‘Mathematical Games’ column in Scientific American.

When the OMNI magazine column started appearing regularly, John Langdon heard about my work for the first time. Since he was an independent pioneer in this space, and we were previously not aware of each other, he was surprised that someone else was essentially doing the same thing. We later met and we continue to keep in touch.

Ambigram.com: “Let’s talk a little more about that column in OMNI magazine. What was the response to that column?”

Scott Kim: “At the end of the article, Scot Morris asked readers to send in their own ambigrams. He was surprised when over 3,000 entries poured in from all around the world. The article really created quite a stir. There were so many good entries, Scot decided to run the designs across several issues. Then they ran the whole contest again in 1987.”

Ambigram.com: “It seems that people that are interested in ambigrams tend to share other interests as well. Why do you think this is, and what do you think those interests are?”

Scott Kim: “I’ve definitely noticed that, too. People interested in ambigrams are often also interested in music, mathematics and puzzles. For instance, before I was making ambigrams I was composing musical canons.”

Ambigram.com: “I must admit, I’ve never composed a canon.”

Scott Kim: “A canon is a song like ‘Frere Jacques’, where several voices sing the same melody starting at different times, and all the voices fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to create harmony. Canons can be as simple as children’s songs, or they can be as complex as Bach fugues.

As with ambigrams, there are many different symmetries you can use. Voices can be transposed to start on different pitches, a voice can be turned upside down so intervals go up instead of down and vice versa. Bach even wrote ‘crab canons’ where one voice plays the melody backwards, like the way a crab seems to walk backwards, which led me to create a mirror symmetrical ambigram of J.S. Bach.

JS Bach Ambigram (by Scott Kim)

What’s the exact visual analogue of a musical canon? Instead of delaying “Frere Jacques” a few beats to create a harmonious piece of music, you would shift a visual design in space to create a legible piece of lettering.

In fact, I created an ambigram that I felt would be the visual equivalent of a musical canon. The subject is digital artist “John Maeda”, and I call it a slide ambigram, as a portion of the design shifts to reveal the whole picture.”

Ambigram.com: “You mentioned that people interested in ambigrams are often interested in mathematics, and you have a strong mathematical and computer background, including a PhD in Computers and Graphic Design from Stanford.  Has your formal education helped you with ambigram creation?”

Scott Kim: “Studying mathematics made me familiar with a wide range of geometric symmetries that I can use in my ambigrams. I use my computer science background when I draw ambigrams in Illustrator or program interactive ambigrams in Flash. Most importantly I use the problem solving skills I learned in math and computer science when I figure out how to create an ambigram on a particular word or name.

Of course there’s more to ambigrams than just math. That’s why I like creating them…they’re a whole brain activity that calls on both math and art skills.”

Ambigram.com: “So, let’s bring things back to the present day. How did your ambigram creations from the late 70s and 80s lead you to the mind exercises and puzzles that you are involved with now?”

Scott Kim: “In all my work I want to create experiences that help people stretch their minds, and see things in a different way than what they are used to. Art can do that, and so can games.

For instance, my ambigram of the word MIRROR appears in many geometry textbooks, along with artist M. C. Escher’s works, as a way of getting students interested in learning more about symmetry. Notice that the word ‘Mirror’ appears identical when reflected in a mirror.

Mirror Reflection Ambigram (by Scott Kim)

But I didn’t just want people to look at ambigrams, I wanted them to experience the creative joy I felt creating ambigrams, writing canons and doing mathematics. That led me to become a game designer, and to create my first big game – Heaven and Earth.”

Ambigram.com: “Is that a board game?”

Scott Kim: “It’s a computer game. I designed about 600 puzzles for Heaven & Earth. The puzzles are all based on optical illusions. When you play the puzzles your brain has to keep shifting how it perceives things. It’s like mental yoga. The game is long out of print, but you can play one of the Heaven & Earth puzzles, called Figure/Ground at clockworkgoldfish.com.”

Figure Ground Screen Shot

Ambigram.com: “What sorts of games are you making now?

More and more people are realizing that they need to exercise their brains to keep themselves fit, just as they exercise their bodies.

So I’ve started a company named Shufflebrain that makes computer games that are both fun and good for you, along the lines of such hit brain games as Sudoku and Nintendo’s Brain Age. Shufflebrain’s first game Photograb is now available on Facebook. It’s a quick seek-and-find style game in which you hunt for details in photos that you and your friends contribute.

"Photo Grab" Screen Shot

I am also writing a book called Brain Candy with neuroscientist and author Richard Restak. It’s all about the different areas of your brain, along with puzzles to exercise each area.”

Ambigram.com: “It sounds like those anatomy charts in the gym that show you what muscles will be worked out by each exercise.”

Scott Kim: “Exactly. That was precisely the idea.”

Ambigram.com: “Wow, Scott. That was a great conversataion, and a fascinating peak into your mind. Where can readers go after they read this article to find out more about you and your work?”

Scott Kim: “They can check out even more ambigrams on my personal web site – scottkim.com/inversions

They can also find the games on my professional site: shufflebrain.com.”

Ambigram.com: “Thanks again, Scott.”

Scott Kim: “My pleasure.”

John Langdon's ambigram of his name

The year was 1972, and Langdon would continue to practice his craft for decades, becoming widely regarded as one of the two co-inventors of modern ambigrams.   However, his was a lonely craft, with only a small demand for his unique designs.

That all began to change in 1999 when author Dan Brown contacted Langdon to produce some enigmatic and mysterious symbols for his second book entitled “Angels & Demons“.

Now that the book is becoming a Hollywood blockbuster starring Tom Hanks and directed by Ron Howard, we caught up with Langdon to discuss his contributions to the Angels and Demons phenomenon.

John Langdon: “I don’t think that anyone really expected [Angels and Demons] to become as big as it did. Keep in mind that when Dan Brown wrote “Angels and Demons“, he wasn’t the bestselling author that he is today.  He was just a guy who had recently fallen in love with my ambigrams, and a struggling author who was writing a book, and needed some illustrations to go along with the plot.”

Angels and Demons Ambigram

Ambigram.com: “Yes, but you contributed more than just the designs for the book.  Our understanding is that the character gets many of his quirks, his interests, and his surname from you.”

John Langdon: “That’s true.  I need to know a lot about universal symbols to be successful at designing logos, and Robert Langdon shares that love of symbols.  The character is also knowledgeable regarding things like word origins and etymologies, which is another field that is quite close to my heart.  His phobias regarding heights and water are similar to quirks of mine. However, seeing Robert Langdon in the Da Vinci Code, I was surprised at how much better looking he is than I am.”

“After Dan had written much of the book, he called to tell me that he had decided to name the main character after me. He never did tell me why, but I just assumed it was a way of thanking me for the ambigrams.”

Ambigram.com: “Let’s talk about the ambigrams for Angels & Demons in a little more detail.  Between the book contents and the cover, we counted seven ambigrams total, and they became the first exposure that most people have ever had with ambigrams.  In fact, in our own list of the Top Ten Most Famous Ambigrams, fully half of the spots are filled with your ambigrams from Angels and Demons.”

John Langdon: “Yes, I saw that.”

Ambigram.com: “What was the trickiest part of designing those particular ambigrams?”

John Langdon: “Honestly, Earth, Air, Fire and Water were not particularly hard words to turn into ambigrams.  Getting them to all have a similar look was a bit trickier, but the Gothic Blackletter style is the most cooperative and forgiving letter style for ambigrams, so it was fortunate that the Blackletter style fit Dan’s needs so well.”

Earth	Air
Fire	Water

“The Illuminati ambigram was harder, as it has a lot of similar shapes that repeat frequently, and not enough individuation of letter shapes.  I tried to tell Dan that the Illuminati ambigram wasn’t going to work, but as it turned out, I was wrong.”

"Angels and Demons" Illuminati ambigram

Ambigram.com: “In addition to the designs you’ve done for Dan Brown, you authored a book filled with ambigram designs and methodology called “Wordplay“, which was released in its second edition in 2005.  Any advice for someone considering reading this book?”

John Langdon: “No one should read it unless they are prepared to be challenged on their assumptions about themselves, other people and the universe around us, as well as entertained and occasionally amazed in the process.”

Ambigram.com: “Thank you, John.  We appreciate your time.”

John Langdon: “My pleasure.”