But a word of warning: Designing ambigrams can be addictive. All the more reason to just get started and see how far you get. The ultimate result is influenced by one’s individual preferences, the linguistic background and the available fonts. There is no one “ideal” or “only possible” ambigram solution. Alternatively, you can use small caps to give the ensemble a more angular look: The major modifications can already be guessed after putting the words on top of each other, but only the final changes turn it into an elegant ambigram. The finished ambigram of the word “Peter” looks like this: To reach the final result, we have slightly squeezed the letters together, created negative spaces from the overlapping areas, adjusted stroke weights, simplified, and repeatedly rotated and compared the elements. The creative process is more efficient when you are aware of necessary detours based on experience but still take an open-minded approach. As with all creative achievements it is difficult if not impossible to foresee the final outcome and effort involved. The actual creative process begins in step 5. The colours black and red highlight where we need to adjust, omit, delete or add something. Sorting and matching the letter pairs P and r, e and e, t and t becomes clearer when we use two different, contrasting colours. Step 4: Match the letters and highlight similarities I have another variant up my sleeve, but that is for later. “PETER”, “peter” or “pETEr” would also be possible depending on the selected font and our design idea. In our example, we choose the most common way to write “Peter” using majuscules (capital letters) and minuscules (small letters). Graphic design skills and experience are important in this. Step 2 and step 3 often merge seamlessly. This step may come before or after font selection.
It is a geometric and condensed font with optimum reading properties. In our example, we picked the clear and familiar Univers Condensed typeface. Do we prefer an ornate or no-frills appearance? Sans serif fonts tolerate some modifications better than serif fonts or Fraktur typefaces. Which font to choose depends on how easily it can be modified and the result we are aiming for. So in this case, we only have to match these three letter pairs: R and P, E and E, T and T. For this basics tutorial, however, we will use an easier example. When tackling longer or more complex words with an odd number of letters, you can group two or more letters and then match these groups to each other. This is the exception rather than the rule. The word “Peter” has the advantage that the three letters in the middle are already identical. The first step is to match the letter pairs you want to combine: Let’s assume you want to create an ambigram of the name “Peter”.
We will use an example to demonstrate how to design an ambigram step by step: Step 1: Figure out the letter pairs Things get more difficult with longer words and different sequences of letters. The latter can be turned into an ambigram with only a few changes: “o++o”. It is a sequence of letters that reads the same backward and forward such as “OTTO”. A palindrome might be suitable to design an ambigram.
In its simplest form, an ambigram can be created directly from the available letters of a word without having to change or reposition them. Designing an ambigram requires abstract thinking, artistic design skills and a structured approach. Finished ambigrams have a logical and consistent appearance to them. This is the challenging part and often requires the most time and effort. They became famous through Dan Brown’s best-selling novel “Angels and Demons”.Īmbigrams used as word marks must be visually appealing and easy to read. They are often incorporated in logos because they have point rotation symmetry and look the same when flipped 180 degrees. Ambigrams are a special type of word/figurative marks.