Math Encounters — Symmetry, Art, & Illusion — Scott Kim

Also take a look at the ambigram in the background of the poster.

Scott Kim - "Symmetry, Art & Illusion"

The proceeds benefit the “Museum of Mathematics”, opening in Manhattan in 2012. For more information, visit mathencounters.org.

As you know, the Quick Draw challenges take two people who are interested in trying their skills at creating an ambigram, assigns them both the same word to turn into an ambigram, and gives them a fairly short deadline to complete the design.

Then, we get to take a look at their creative thought process by seeing the sketches, hearing their thoughts, checking out their final designs and basically seeing if we agree with the artistic decisions of another person.  In other words, we get a sneak peak inside their brains!

…and we get to look at some REALLY nice brains here.

Ahem.  You know what I mean.

So, this quick draw challenge pits Ambigram.com’s hardworking and beloved Content Director and graphic designer Nikita Prokhorov against MegaMind himself, Stamford PhD, founder of ShuffleBrain, and co-inventor of ambigrams Scott Kim!

Each of them was given the word “FASCINATING”.  Yeah, something they could have a little fun with.  I mean really, who on earth would make a boring ambigram that says the word “fascinating”.  It would be against the laws of nature.

Even though I thought it might have been a tricky word to turn into an ambigram, they both did a great job with it, using solutions I wasn’t expecting.

Anyway, let me step aside and let these two tell you about their designs in their own words, and I’ll do some final comments at the bottom.

Nikita, since your design came in first, you’re the first to go:

Nikita Prokhorov

All I can say that it was fun to participate! It has been a while since I designed an ambigram (aside from commissioned work) where someone else picked the word…and it was one heck of a word!!

My initial approach to ambigram design is probably strikingly similar to most of the designers who start out with the traditional pencil and paper approach. First, I wanted to determine how to split up the word.

Initial Thoughts

The “N” jumped out as the obvious choice for the central point because of its symmetry. I also dabbled with the idea of the “NA” being the central point, but the seeing as the letters would break after doing a very quick sketch, I decided to use the “N” as the central rotating point.

After determining the center of the ambigram, I quickly did some evaluation sketches to see what would work and what would be a challenge.

Initial Sketches

You’re not seeing all of my sketches because a few of them were so miniscule and rough that they would make sense only in my head and in the context of my sketchbook, so I elected to show the most clear and understandable sketches.

The “N” was an easy solution. The “CI/A” flip looked to be pretty workable as well. After I got to the “A/N” split, I realized that had to stray from my inital desire to make the ambigram all uppercase and mix in some lowercase as well. The only flip remained was the “S/TI” flip, and I could see that it would be trouble. I usually try to seek out the most complex flip in the ambigram, because I know that if I can solve the most complex flip, I can also solve the easier ones! So…on to the “S/TI”!

S / TI Exploration

The “S/TI” exploration proved to be a very challenging one, and I still feel that I did not solve it successfully. I tried a range of solutions, from connecting the letters in the center (which made it seem like an S in both directions!) to separating the letters and relying on the human brain/eye/intuition and some decorative flourishes to define the flip. In the end, that proved to be the more welcomed option, as I simply did not see another way to solve this flip.

"Fascin" Explorations

In the next series of on-paper explorations, I focused on placing all the characters together and experimenting with different widths, heights, and weights of the letters. The last sketch in the bottom right hand corner seemed to work well on paper, so I transitioned to the computer.

Digital Explorations

This image shows the transformation of the ambigram and the various digital alterations I explored. In some of them, the difference was as minute as changing the width of the stroke from 1 to 2 points or adjusting the dimensions of the letterforms by a few clicks of the keyboard. Towards the end you can see the ambigram starting to take shape.

Fascinating Ambigram

The final ambigram is the finished piece that I think is acceptable. There are a few letterforms that I still want to work on, especially that pesky “S/TI” flip. I look forward to what fellow ambigrammists have to say…and once again, this has been a blast!

Scott Kim

For my contribution to this Quick Draw I wanted to illustrate two of my particular ambigram obsessions — to explore one word with several different symmetries, and to try unusual symmetries that will be less familiar to most ambigram.com readers. So I made three ambigrams out of FASCINATING, using three different symmetries.

Here are the sketches for the designs.

Scott Kim - Fascinating - Sketch 1

First sketches. All the ideas are here, but unrefined.

Scott Kim - Fascinating - Sketch 2

Second sketches. More refined, but still not quite right. I altered the Slide ambigram considerably after I traced it into Illustrator.

Scott Kim - Fascinating - Sketch 3

Better sketch of rotation ambigram, with more conservative letter shapes.

Scott Kim - Fascinating - Sketch 4

Better sketches of reflection ambigram. I liked the curves of the third sketch, so I went with that version.

Scott Kim "Fascinating" - Rotation Ambigram

Here are the 3 final designs, with comments on each one.

Rotational symmetry. This is a rather easy word to do in rotation symmetry…all the letter shapes are ones I use commonly. The challenge here is simply to keep the calligraphic style consistent.

Scott Kim "Fascinating" - Reflection Ambigram

Reflection symmetry (about a vertical axis). Reflection symmetry works well for FASCINATING — both A’s turn easily into N’s — except for one truly bizarre combination: CI into T. The curly-cue lettering style serves to justify the crazy flourish on the crossbar of the T, and to give the word a fanciful whimsical flair that seems to fit the meaning of FASCINATING. To create this sort of tapering I trace my sketch with a single spline in Illustrator, outline the stroke to get the edges of the stroke, then displace some of the spline points slightly to thin out the ends of the stroke.

Scott Kim "Fascinating" - Slide Ambigram

Slide symmetry. The final word is made of two copies of the same set of strokes, with one copy slid to the right slightly. This is the visual equivalent of a musical canon like Frere Jacques, where two copies of the same melody harmonize when one copy is delayed slightly in time. I’ve got several examples of this type of design on my site scottkim.com, most notably a slide ambigram of JOHN MAEDA. Note that the beginning works rather easily: F slides over to become part of the A. The lettering style was somewhat influenced by Mackintosh / Frank Lloyd Wright geometric forms. In this type of design it is very difficult to achieve even letter spacing.

Final Comments

It never ceases to amaze me the awesome quality of material you guys submit to these challenges month after month, and this article is no exception.  Nikita shared a step-by-step process for ambigram creation that could easily be worked into a tutorial, and Scott Kim submits not one, but THREE awesome final designs, all of which are signature Scott Kim works of art.  In fact, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen ANYONE else do a slide ambigram, and Scott has done many.  I’ve never tried one myself, but it sure looks hard!

So, thanks for tuning in to this Quick Draw.  Feel free to share your comments about these designs below.

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!

The ‘Art and Artist‘ ACAC challenge submissions exhibited a shocking level of creativity and imagination! With the requirements of the challenge making it a very difficult one, we received some absolutely amazing ambigrams.  It really is phenomenal what the human mind can do if you challenge it and push it outside of its comfort zone.

The Results

[NOTE: All designs are copyrighted by the respective artists. We have permission to post them here, but you must get permission from the artist for any other use of their design, or to post them elsewhere.]

1. Bjorn Wichmann - http://www.b-wichmann.de/

Comment 1: Congratulations, Bjorn!  This is so cool on so many levels.  It’s a rotational ambigram.  It’s a 3D ambigram.  AND it’s an ambigram that looks like something that MC Escher himself might have created if he were participating in our challenges here!  This is a wonderful tribute to man that we all hold in high regard, and for your efforts, you receive OUR top honor this month!  Nice work.

Comment 2: Bjorn, absolutely beautiful work! I am certain that Maurits Cornelis himself would be proud of the homage to him as an artist, as well as the accurate reflection of his ‘signature’ as an artist. A worthy tribute and a worthy first place finish.

Note: It has come to the attention of the judges that this ambigram may not have been created specifically for this challenge.  Since this is a friendly competition, we are not going to re-rank the designs, but we did want to make a note that this design appears to have been created prior to this challenge.

2. Johan Skylling

Comment 2: Shrinking this design down to fit into the article space here doesn’t do it justice.  This gem really needs to be seen at full resolution (go ahead and click it to check it out).  As above, this is an awesome tribute to a very creative man, and done in his signature style (if you’re not familiar with his work, click here.)  There was only a very slight compromise with the initial H of the ambigram missing a stem that put a small dent in the armor (so to speak), but the design work is incredible.  Congratulations on another great piece, Johan!

Comment 2: Amazing detail and another wonderful ambigram design! I’m not going to make any armor jokes like the previous comment, but I will say that this ambigram is almost bulletproof! Once again, the detail here is amazing and goes to show that a beautiful ambigram can be as simple as black/white lettering or one as complex as the one you’ve created. Great job!

3.  Ryan McCourt

Comment 1: Since the beginning of these contests, we’ve had submissions of rotational ambigrams.  We’ve had mirror ambigrams.  We’ve had vertical ambigrams.  We’ve had multilingual ambigrams.  We’ve even had hand-drawn ambigrams and 3D ambigrams (see above).  However, we’ve never seen a “performance art” ambigram before!

Ryan McCourt took the “Art and Artists” concept to a whole new level, not only attempting to replicate the artists style in his piece, but the artist’s actual techniques!  Jackson Pollock did a portion of his paintings using a “paint pouring” technique, and Ryan created a Pollock-like painting, using Pollock’s technique, forming an ambigram of Pollock’s name!  We loved this idea, and take our hats off to Ryan’s incredible dedication to accuracy in his submission.  As a side-note, we would have loved to have received a photo of the finished piece as part of the submission!

Comment 2: This is one of the most unique entries we have ever received. As the judge above mentioned, it would be great to see photos of the ambigram ‘performance’ in progress. This entry also shows that the ambigram realm isn’t always limited to pencil, paper, and the computer. Great entry Ryan, and welcome to the Ambigram Challenges!

Note: Our mistake.  This is actually Jackson Pollock, with the ambigram photoshopped into place, and not Ryan McCourt “pouring” his ambigram in paint.  It’s still quite a creative “background” for this piece.  See comments below for details.

4. Daniel Dostal – http://daneel75.wordpress.com/

Comment 1: This is another design that really needs to be seen at full resolution to be appreciated.  Daniel creates a superb ambigram (possibly the best typographical design in this challenge) of artist Albrecht Durer (if you are not familiar with his work, click here).  Unfortunately, it was Durer’s own wood-cut style that makes Daniel’s finished design somewhat difficult to see.

Still, if you take the time to follow the design, you will see what a beautiful ambigram this is, and how very true it is to the artist’s vision.  If a coffee table book is ever published with Albrecht Durer’s artwork, this would make an amazing front cover.  Congratulations on making it into the “Top Five” list (again) Daniel!

Comment 2: Great job on this ambigram Daniel! One of your unique traits is the ability to weave different letterforms together, yet make them seem like they are one letter and were created that way from the start. That is true for this ambigram as well. I also love the consistent feel of the whole piece, from the ambigram itself, to the background texture and the treatment of Durer’s mark. Nice job!

5. Nabil Harb – http://www.flickr.com/photos/wortgewandt13

Comment 1: Nabil created this fascinating piece that says “Jugendstil” (an art period like Art Nouveau) in the style of the period.  Although the extra flourishes make it difficult to read, in the context of this contest, the treatments make perfect sense, and make this a great ambigram that IS what is SAYS.  Nice work, Nabil!

Comment 2: A nice reflection of the Jugendstil period, and aside from some minor legibility issues, it’s a great representation of that art period. Very nice entry Nabil!

We received so many great submissions for this challenge, that we couldn’t just list the top five.  Below are examples of other submissions that were received for this challenge. There is still a great concept behind each of these designs, and the artists who created these pieces deserve to have them shown as much as you deserve to see them.

Michael Irving – Da Vinci

Ryan McCourt – Caro

Diego Colombo – Dante Alighieri

Alessandro Pocaterra – Campbell Soup / Andy Warhol

Daan Juttman – Art Nouveau

Clayton Mabey – Metamorphose (MC. Escher)

Stergioudis Vasileios – Mozart (drawn using musical notes)

Ian Sharp – Cubism

As a side note, we thought that we had received an excellent “Dali” submission, but when it came time to do the judging, there was no such entry in our in-box.  If you submitted a “Dali” ambigram, please re-send it to us.

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A big thank you to all the talented artists that submitted their work for this challenge! The next challenge will be posted shortly. Keep an eye out for it…you’ll find that it’s the right season for this type of challenge!

The ‘Where In The World‘ ACAC challenge has been one of the best we’ve seen! We received more than 30 entries, and almost half of them were new participants!  This can only be attributed to the success of the previous challenges and all the fantastic work that has been submitted by the artists.

For this challenge, we don’t know what to be more ecstatic about more: the number of entries, the wonderful quality of the work, or all of the above! It is quite challenging to select the top ambigram, because every single submission has some quality that isn’t found in any of the other entries, and each ambigram has its own unique style.

The Results

[NOTE: All designs are copyrighted by the respective artists.  We have permission to post them here, but you must get permission from the artist for any other use of their design, or to post them elsewhere.]

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

This ambigram is beautiful, and probably one of the finest ambigrams ever created. Not only is the ambigram formed from the city and its description, but the complexity is mind-boggling.  One can only imagine the time involved in creating such a design.  Not only is the solution impressive, but the lettering strokes have been tweaked to perfection, with nothing noticeably out of place.  John made all the right decision in terms of design & aesthetics, and has shown us once again how a master practices his craft.

2. Elwin Gill –  http://elwin-gill-designs.com/

The hand-rendering here is exquisite, and that is part of the charm and appeal of this ambigram. Too often artists & designers forget to step away from the computer, stop relying on technology, and pick up a pencil & paper. Elwin does just that, and this is the first completely hand-rendered submission to place in the top 5 list.  Fantastic job Elwin!

3. Bastian Pinnenberg – http://unterart.wordpress.com/

Another spot-on submission from Bastian. Smooth & consistent lettering, and a great mini-ambigram “City by the Bay”, which San Francisco’s nickname.

4. Scott Kim - http://www.scottkim.com/

San Francisco seemed to be a popular pick for this challenge, with another artist making it into the top 5 with the same city choice.  This is another beautiful submission from Scott Kim, another well-known name in the ambigram world. This ambigram is a perfect example of how well-executed lettering can make an ambigram stand on its own, without depending on additional elements or decorations.

5. Michael Irving – http://michaelirvingambigrams.blogspot.com/

The top 5 is rounded off by Michael Irving.  It wasn’t necessarily the quality of the ambigram that put this one into the top 5, but the challenge that Michael took on in attempting it.  New York City is a challenging city name to turn into an ambigram, and Michael does it quite well using his signature style. He has become a consistent contributor throughout the ambigram challenges, and his style has developed quite nicely over the course of his submissions.

With the top 5 ambigrams selected above, here are 5 more “honorable mention” ambigrams without comments to round off the top 10.

6. Renzo Bongocan – http://www.behance.net/Zoner

7. Johan Skylling

8. Daniel Dostal – http://daneel75.wordpress.com/

9. Daan Juttmann – http://dahtamnay.blogspot.com/

10. Dave Bailey – http://www.davebailey.us/

We would like to thank all the participants in this challenge. It proved to be another great round of ambgirams!

Next Challenge: Ambigram Couples Ring

Design an ambigram couples ring, and if your design is the contest winner, you will receive an actual aerospace grade titanium ring deep-engraved with your design!  This is our best contest prize yet, so don’t miss your chance to win this beauty.

Just be sure to read the instructions, as the judging is partially based on your ability to follow directions.

Check out the Ambigram Couples Ring Challenge.

1. Miracle Whip? While the M/W is an obvious ambigram, I never thought I would see this on a container of mayonnaise from Kraft! My girlfriend picked this out of a crowded store shelf in a blink of an eye, and I cannot believe I didn’t see it first!

2. The Sun microsystems logo has been around for 28 years before it was acquired by Oracle in 2010. While the company itself doesn’t technically exist anymore, the ambigram logo survives!

3. Say what you while about Hyundai quality, but at least part of their logo is an ambigram!

4. Xpedx is a simple yet effective ambigram, and in my mind embodies what a corporate ambigram should be: readable, legible, and aesthetically suited for the business.

If any of our readers see ambigrams in the real world, take a photo and send me an email, telling me where you saw the ambigram & what you think of it. We might just feature it in the next “Real World Ambigrams.”

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/

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.”

“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.