Backstory 

Last December, I was lucky enough to meet René Pizarro when he and his wife were visiting New York City. René has been a frequent contributor to Ambigram.com and has created some fantastic work as part of his contribution. We decided to meet for coffee at one of the thousands of coffee shops in NYC, and what a surprise it was that our conversation took a turn towards ambigrams & graphic design! In the spur of the moment, we conducted a Quick Draw but kept it under wraps because there was another Quick Draw scheduled as well as a sponsored challenge. Since it was an impromptu challenge, neither of us wrote any step-by-step commentary. But, in this case, the work speaks for itself!

First, here is the original logo of the coffee shop.

And now, here are our ambigrammatic interpretations of the logo.

The artists hard at work.

That was a very exhausting & mentally draining 20 minutes! René, it was a pleasure to meet you and to Quick Draw!

If anyone is interested in participating in the next (or future) Quick Draw, please email me at nikita@ambigram.com with the subject line “I want to Quick Draw!”

Prajyot Damle

“BahHumbug”…To be honest i heard this word or phrase (pardon me if i am wrong ) for the first time. But to a ambigrammist a word is a word so the process starts with some doodling and scribbling the letters on a piece of paper.

Initially as we can see “b” and “g” are natural ambigrams as are “U” and “A”. So we are done there. next are “h” and “b”, initially thought of a capital “H” and “B”, but they were pretty unclear. Soon i got the combination of “h” and “b” pretty well and finalized on that.

The main task here was “hum” and “muh”. I thought of combining “hu” to make “M”. After spending a considerable amount of time i got the combination fairly. After completion a idea struck me, Why not a capital “B” instead of a small one. So i got to work and converted the thinking onto the paper. I also converted the top part of “h” to a bell to add to Christmas fever. This was my first completed ambigram after a gap of 3 months and i am very happy that i got it through.

Clayton Mabey

I started with a rotational sketch.

Then I thought it would be fun to complete a chain. I wasn’t too pleased with the B/H…so I didn’t push it to the infinite circular chain. I did like the humbug portion of the design.

Here’s my first sketches of a mirror design.

Here is the design drawn out by hand with my blue pilot gel pen.

Here is the design placed with an image of Scrooge.

Dear Prajyot and Clayton, thank you for participating in this Quick Draw! 

To the rest of the ambigram community: I know we waited a bit for this Quick Draw, but as you know, life can become hectic at times, especially over the holiday season. I would say it was worth the wait…but feel free to say Bah Humbug if you want to!

It’s All Greek Ambigram Challenge

For this Ambigram Challenge, you are being asked to create an ambigram for a unique soft drink company that is currently creating a new soda. The manufacturer (which will remain anonymous until the end of the challenge) will incorporate the final design on the product.

The Ambigram
The word that is being provided by the sponsor is ‘Greek Gold.’ It is to be a 180 degree rotational ambigram.

Sponsor Requirements
The sponsor has requested that the ambigram be kept in a stacked format, i.e. the word ‘Greek’ on top of the word ‘Gold.’ The sponsor will not completely exclude one-line ambigrams, but since the ambigram will be presented in a very small area, the stacked version will be given preference over single line ambigrams. In addition:

• Legibility/readability will be a major factor in the judges’ decision.
• Incorporating elements of the art of the Byzantine Empire (such as use of gold and crimson) is encouraged.
• Use of a byzantine style font (especially like the first example below) is encouraged.

Note that even though the characters in the example are not all English, they are offered as an example of the style that the sponsor is looking for.

Prizes

The top 5 ambigrams will be recognized by the sponsor, with the first place winner receiving $150. We will have the prize money in escrow, so the payout is guaranteed and will be awarded when the artist of the winning design(s) turns over the copyright of the design to the sponsor to use as they wish. The grand prize of USD $150 will be paid via Paypal from Ambigram.com. All dollar amounts are in USD.

Judging

Unlike most Ambigram.com Ambigram Challenges, this one will be judged exclusively by the sponsor of the contest. These are designs that are intended for use by the company, so while some comments may be provided by some of the judges, the winning ambigram will ultimately be selected by the sponsor.

All designs should be submitted by Sunday, February 5th; all the submissions will be posted within a day & then the judging process will begin. Results will be posted as soon as the sponsor has selected the top ambigram, and a boilerplate document will be sent to the winner shortly thereafter. Cash prizes to immediately follow after the designer returns the signed document (along with the requested files) to the sponsor.

The challenge will be open to everyone without restrictions. We will send a boilerplate document to the winner(s) that simply assigns the copyright of the design to the sponsor. Sending the document back to the sponsor will be a condition of payout. The details of this will be worked out after the winning ambigram is selected.

File Submission

• Please submit no more than 3 entries, and make sure that they are “finalized” before emailing them.  We are getting swamped with entire collections of designs using incorrect file formats and dimensions; also, some artists make frequent revisions within the contest time frame and expect us to keep track of it all. You have several weeks for this challenge…so please take your time and send us the finalized submissions closer to the end of the contest. The ambigram(s) have to be created from scratch for this challenge. Make sure the files are in JPG format, 72dpi and AT LEAST 600×600 pixels in dimension. Please note that after the winning ambigram is selected, the sponsor may also request the final art in a vector format (.ai or .svg), so make sure you have that format available as well. That will be discussed between the sponsor and the winning designer.
• Please name your submissions as follows: JohnSmith_typeofambigram_Submissionnumber.jpg. Otherwise, it can be easy to lose track of which design belongs to which artist, especially if we get a lot of submissions.

To submit your ambigrams, or if you have any other questions, email us at challenge@ambigram.com.

Pic 1
This was the first scetch i did. I had a hard time squeezing in the O in this solution.

Pic 2

I tried to do something with the first scetch for a while before I decided that it didn’t work at all and I went back to square one. I got an idea that if I combined C and E to create the N the rest would flow better and I think it did. All of a sudden the rest of the letter weren’t that hard and I think it turned out much more natural and easier to read.

Pic 3

Pic 4

Nikita Prokhorov

Alex Paat

I make my best ambigrams by hand, so I decided to hand-draw the “Jingle Bells” ambigram and then scan it onto the computer.  To save time and energy and to make the ambigram more accurate, I drew only the first half of my final drawings and added the second half digitally.

Although in the very early stages of the design process I experimented with making the “lls” in “bells” flip into the “J” in “jingle,” I found it more effective and legible if the “s” simply flipped into the “j.”  The easy “g-b” letter combination helped piece together the final result, and all the letter combinations came together easily after that.

When I had figured out the final solution, I decided to draw some holly leaves and berries inside the letters to give the final ambigram a Christmas feel.  Since I believe that legibility is by far the most important aspect of an ambigram, I wanted the holly graphics to be subtle enough so as to not overpower the ambigram, while still effectively contributing to the Christmas theme.  I hope the final ambigram is both readable and aesthetically pleasing.  Merry (early) Christmas to you all, and I hope my ambigram helped you get into the Christmas spirit! 

John Moore

When I saw the word is supposed that feasibility had to be created. I began toconsider its options, with the chart pattern or inverted letters of the word, so to study the similarities and opportunities provided by way of combining those letters fairly to both inversions.

In fact, the ”J” and “S” are of the same morphological family, likewise the ”I” and “L”, similar case is the combination “N” with ”EL”, whose inversion allow ambiguity.

Arriving at the ”G” I see that looks very similar to the “B”, which was not a problem. The dilemma began to try to get to center of the word, where “L” fight the epicenter with the “E”, this inversion makes the “L” anticipate the “B”. For more I tried to solve this dilemma, I couldn’t integrate it with the “B” therefore sought to disguise the ”L”, so to avoid this undesirable interference, trying to camouflage as an ornament, that somehow seems to be part of the “B ”. No doubt the center of the word is the big problem with this ambigram where “E” is surrounded by letters “L”.

If you ask me if I am 100% satisfied, I am convinced that no, although the universe of possibilities is infinite, I had to solve as we see in the picture. I only hope that the public likes it.

Dear Alex and John, thank you for participating!  The next Quick Draw is already in progress, and it promises to be a doozie…with a potential 3-way participation!

Winner – Johan Skylling

Johan Skylling once again takes the top spot. This ambigram has so many unique and complex layers to it that it seems impossible for them to work together well. Yet, all the layers integrate seamlessly with one another while still maintaining great legibility and recognition of all the elements. Beautiful work Johan!!

#2 – Dan Adona Jr.

The second entry comes to us from a new participant. Let us welcome Dan and his work to Ambigram.com! His submission is elegant & whimsical; the decorative flourishes, which are often an overused element, function well as characters in one orientation and decorative elements in another. Maybe a few too many flourishes faded into the background, but other than that, a beautifully balanced ambigram!

#3 – Robert Maitland

The legibility and elegance of this ambigram comes from its simplicity. Beautifully crafted letters, no unnecessary elements and subtle touches make this ambigram extremely easy to read and convey the meaning of the via not only the word itself, but also with colors and the lettering style. Great job Robert!

#4 – Sharath Kumar

Another great submission from Sharath. Beautiful lettering style and ambigram texture. The only element of the ambigram that’s slightly inconsistent is the angular T/E combo, which is a bit out of sync with the beautifully curved characters in the rest of the ambigram. Despite that, another well done entry!

#5 – Jennifer Thorne

Rounding off the top 5 is an ambigram from another frequent contributor. This ambigram has a very unique & original presentation. A few of the letters are a bit challenging to read, but the context of the ambigram makes up for some of those challenges. A fun presentation and a good lettering style make this submission a very worthy top five candidate. Nice work!

Dear participants, thank you for submitting your wonderful work to the Ambigram Challenges and making them as successful as they’ve been!

Ambigram Challenge 16 – Holidays!

The holiday season is here once again, which means it’s time for decorations, presents and holiday-themed ambigrams!

Rules

1. You are allowed to submit an ambigram which is relevant to any holiday that takes place from December 21st to January 6th. This covers Christmas, New Years, and several other holidays. If you are not sure whether a certain holiday is appropriate or not, email us and ask! These challenges are fun and don’t carry too many restrictions. Also, if the holiday you want to focus on is only celebrated in your culture/country, please send us a link to a brief synopsis of the holiday and its tradition. But almost anything is fair game.

2. For this challenge, your ambigram will be judged on how festive it is and how it represents the selected holiday visually. That means the use of additional visuals, colors and decorative elements that are relevant to your chosen holiday is allowed and encouraged. Of course, legibility and readability will still be valued highly.

3. Because of a wide range of various holidays and because our wonderful audience/participants reside on nearly every continent, you are allowed to submit up to 4 entries. Make sure that they are “finalized” before emailing them. And please do not email us multiple revisions of your ambigram: once you email it the first time, that’s it. We are getting swamped with entire collections of designs using incorrect file formats and dimensions; also, some artists make frequent revisions within the contest time frame and expect us to keep track of it all. You have several weeks for this challenge…so please take your time and send us the finalized submissions closer to the end of the contest. The ambigram(s) have to be created from scratch for this challenge. Make sure the files are in JPG format, 72dpi and AT LEAST 600×600 pixels in dimension.

4. To better track the designs, please name your submissions as follows:
JohnSmith_typeofambigram_Submissionnumber.jpg

5. When emailing your entries to challenge@ambigram.com, it is imperative that you do the following.
a. Put “Ambigram Challenge 16 or ACAC16 in the email subject line.
b. Email your ambigrams as attachments and NOT embed them in the body of the email.

Otherwise, it can be easy to lose track of which design belongs to which artist, especially if we get a lot of submissions.

Deadline

All artwork will need to be submitted by midnight on Sunday, December 18th, 2011 to qualify. Email your designs to challenge@ambigram.com . The contest is open to everyone, whether or not you have participated in the past, so give it a shot!

The results will be published on December 23rd, 2011.

News and Updates

While we are waiting for the Holiday Challenge, we will have several Quick Draws, Interviews and a few other fun articles. After the Holiday challenge ends, we will take a quick break for the holidays, but will resume full-scale operations during the first week of January 2012.

Nick Gilbert

ANTIMATTER was an easy word to work with because it required little letter wrestling. Normally, I begin an ambigram by sketching out its inner workings, instead of first figuring out the word’s center point or deciding which letters share stems. Specifically, I start with the first letter and work my way along the word to find the center point. With ANTIMATTER, the ‘m’ was the center point.

Once I decided the manner in which to engineer the word, I used Illustrator to design it. I found the typeface ‘Magneto’ a suitable font to use for ANTIMATTER. I modeled the entire design from the  ’m', ‘t’, and ‘i’. Simultaneously creating a crossbar for the second ‘a’ while and eliminating distraction from the ‘t’ and ‘i’ was the main engineering feat.

Enlarging the ‘m’ deconstructs the word, makes it legible, creates a dot for the ‘i’, and makes the design look like a logo. Overall, I am content with the final results.

Winner – Johan Skylling

Fifth place – Sharath Kumar

 

Sharath is well known to experiment with different lettering styles and types of ambigrams, and that never-ending exploration contributes to his continual success as an ambigram designer. He chose a great concept for this submission, and the somewhat reserved lettering style is well complimented by his wonderful background illustrations that, once again, help the ambigram instead of hindering it. Great job!

Honorable mentions

There were several other ambigrams that, although they didn’t make it into the top five, deserve to be recognized for the creativity that the artists exhibited. 

Ambigram Challenge 15 – No Fear

Old School Challenge Submissions

There were a lot of emails and questions regarding this particular challenge. If we missed an entry from anyone, email us ASAP and we’ll add it to the gallery. Apologies in advance for missing anyone!