John Langdon
Ambigrams
Ambigrams are not so much puzzles as works of art. The skill lies not in solving them but in creating them.What Is An Ambigram?
An ambigram is a representation of a word or phrase that can be read in different ways - for example back-to-front or upside down. Most ambigrams read the same thing each way but some are designed to produce interesting word combinations.The simplest examples of ambigrams are short words or phrases. For example the acronym "SOS" will read the same if rotated through 180 degrees. Note that an ambigram is not the same thing as a palindrome. Although the word "POP" is spelt the same way backwards, if rotated 180 degrees or reflected it ceases to be meaningful. However "TOT" is both a palindrome and a mirror-image ambigram.
The next simplest form of ambigram is a minor change to standard English lettering. This is often used in logos. Perhaps the best known example is the logo of the pop group ABBA where the first "B" is reversed. This logo looks the same when viewed in a mirror.
The most advanced and beautiful ambigrams go beyond typographic tweaking to become full blown calligraphic art. Letters are distorted in ways which remain readable and attractive whilst achieving the ambigrammic objectives.
Rotation and mirror image effects are the most common forms of ambigrams but there are others. One is the figure-ground ambigram where the background space behind the letters can itself be read as a word. This is reminiscent of the art of M.C.Escher.
History
It's not clear exactly who "invented" ambigrams. Some people give credit to John Langdon in the 1970s. It also seems that Scott Kim discovered them at around the same time.The likelihood is that various people had been
playing with them for centuries but it wasn't until the
twentieth century that they became widely known. The
first known publication of ambigrams was in Inversions by Scott Kim
External Links:
John Langdon Ambigram Gallery