A closer look at ambigrams

One of my faves is the 20th anniversary logo for The Princess Bride.

great post!
here are a couple ambigrams I did a about a year ago.

found on http://blogcooler.blogspot.com/2008/12/ambigrams.html

Nice post :)

I once spent a week or so working on an ambigram (that i ended up using on a business card for some fun and to run a press, not for a legit use really) and it was one of the most challenging but rewarding pieces of work I’ve ever spent my time on.. it’s not too hard to get a grasp of the concept and the kind of shapes that’ll work, it’s in the fine tuning, over and over, that things get interesting.. especially as it wasn’t the same word both ways (it was create/beauty)..

I agree with George that you wouldn’t really use any of these in a commercial application, but I think in designing one you learn a lot about letterforms and how to compress an idea to its elegant core — something that comes in handy when working with logos?

Nice post David :)

Nice compilation. :-)
My two cents: http://dengueanguap.com/

Great addition, Kristen. I wasn’t familiar with it.

Alec,

Have you tested Flipscript? It’s superb how it combines two words into one, with rotation showing the difference.

George,

Raymond Loewy was a fantastic designer, and his New Man logo is certainly iconic. I agree that the Aerosmith option wouldn’t be ideal for brand identity. It does take a close look to decifer the letters.

Jaime,

Thanks for the kind mention, and for sharing a couple of your own ambigrams. I hope to experiment with my own designs quite soon.

Sean,

You’re more than welcome, my friend.

Alex,

From my short experience, I think you sum it up well with the ‘fine tuning’ term. Thanks.

I’m pretty sure George doesn’t think all these ambigrams are unsuitable for commercial use. I find the following ones particularly effective: Nine Inch Nails, ABBA, Edge, Ann, Delorean, New Man.

Roy,

Glad you think so.

Pablo, Eric,

Superb additions. Thanks for commenting.

Paul McCartney had one for his 2006 album.

Brilliant!! Never even knew that about the Aerosmith logo.

I love stuff like this, shows the extra mile taken in the logotype design rather than just picking a suitable font and running with it.

Kinda shows that sometimes the simplest of designs can have a deeper twist to it.

Definitely one to try out in the near future.

I love clever logos, and the ones with ambigrams are definitely at the top that list.
My favourite one is Chanel logo with two inverted “C”s—simple, elegant, iconic—just like Chanel brand itself.

John Langdon is such an inspiration. I especially enjoy his Kelly Ripa ambigram. Thanks for the mention, David!

Nice collection, David. I’ve seen some of them, but some are new. I’m nuts about the Labyrinth ambigram – clever, appropriate, interesting style that arises naturally out of the problem. I design both logos and ambigrams (see http://scottkim.com/graphicdesign), and agree that ambigrams rarely make good logos, mostly cuz they’re usually too hard to read. The few successful ambigram logos have been for clients for whom ambigrams were appropriate: artists, magicians and puzzle makers. My last name, however, works well as an ambigram. Like Michel, my personal logo is an ambigram…see my site http://scottkim.com.

hey danone have this one.

DANUP LOGO

Hi, nice compilation, David.

And thanks for the link to our blog. The superbly conceptualized Labyrinth ambigram was done by Krzystof Sliwa of Poland. It was his entry for our Nagfa Ambigram Challenge (NAC), which saw other ambigram entries from artists from all over.

The link is:
http://nagfa.blogspot.com/2008/11/nac-september-2008-danial-dostals-greek.html

Thanks

nagfa

The Truce Vodka “Ambigram” is quite inspiring. I wonder how the whole concept/thinking behind it came about.

Words don’t usually mix like that — the designers at Agency26 were either lucky discovering the concept for this final outcome…or extremely talented designers!

Thanks very much for everyone’s kind comments. A web server issue has meant my last reply to you all was lost during a necessary backup restoration. Please accept my apologies if you have received comment updates twice, and I’m very glad you enjoyed the ambigram feature.

That variation on the Aerosmith logo is great. Maybe it’s because I’m familiar with their classic logo, but I find this ambigram to be one of the most legible. A lot of these are obviously ambigrams.
I think the most successful ambigrams are the ones that don’t scream that they work both ways. If the logo works on its own, and THEN you find out that it also works upside down, I find that to be a much more successful logo.

awesome post. loved them all, especially ‘aerosmith’.

The Truce logo is not from Agency26, but it is indeed awesome, and was featured at LetterCult, which might explain why it’s on my server. :)

cheers!

These are pretty breathtaking. I’ve always loved ambigrams, and I actually created one somewhat similar to Raja’s “edge” design for an ill-fated student magazine. Here’s a link: http://www.reaktdesign.com/Portfolio/edge/edgecover7.jpg

WOW ! ambigram logos are so intriguing… some are very famous, such as the NIN or ABBa logo -I’ve known the NEW MAN for a while, and now i wonder if there’s anything i could do with MYOWS

I think ‘Edge’ is really good, amazing that it’s so easy to read still as well.

I think Aerosmith have the benefit of global familiarity with the word to allow them to get away with something that otherwise would be pretty difficult to read.

Not keen on Labyrinth at all, I think it’s pretty scruffy and hard to read and whilst the ‘concept’ is good the execution just hasn’t worked very well in practice. I think it’s dreadfully impractical also.

The xpedx logo is my favorite in this category:

http://www.xpedx.com/

What’s great about this logo is that it reads upside down or right side up … and for a company that sells reams of paper, this makes sense because the stacks aren’t always right side up.

Form + Function = Good

Great post! If I may add one: SUN Microsystems
http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~dasfaa06/images/SUN-logo.jpg

For me, “edge” is the real winner in this group. The struggle with ambigram logos is maintaining readability and of the group I think raja succeeded far more than the rest. I’d give a close second place to ann.

Another example of an ambigram logo, from clothing/accessories companies.

1. http://www.686.com/2009/
2. http://www.boatechnologies.com/

Super cool! We used to use an ambigram for our logo http://www.studiodemiurge.com/sdi_old_logo.png. Our company name is Studio Demiurge, but we go by Demiurge which explains the logo.

These are stunning. Nice collection.

The Abba logo isn’t an ambigram, it can be readed if you “mirror” the image, but if you rotate the image 180º, you obtain something like V8BV

Another one here:

http://www.fabriziopaci.com

Another:

http://www.oysho.com

I miss the New X MEN logo created for the comic book by Grant Morrison

ABBA and NIN are not ambigrams because they are not readable as they are. Each has a backwards letter. I would call them ambigram-like. A bit of irony is that NIN is a natural rotational ambigram if you don’t do anything to it.

There are many forms of ambigrams and the SUN logo is certainly one. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambigram for a list of types of ambigrams.

I do some ambigrams too (in french), you can see them here :

http://www.virtualmagie.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/141543/Ambigrammes_de_Julien_DAVID_La

One of my all time favourite logo designs works perfectly upsidedown or right-side up for VIA rail – the print works on a box car whether its upside down or right side up.

David,

I don’t agree that the ABBA and NIN logos are ambigrams. They are not properly readable either way because they each have a backwards letter. Would you consider ЯUR an ambigram of RUR? I wouldn’t — that first R is a Russian YA, not an R!

If that counts, here’s another one: the mirror image ambigram ARI/IЯA. One way, the R is forwards and the other way it’s backwards, but, hey, we’re allowing backwards letters! Certainly, some ambigrams have hard to read letters, but, to be a real ambigram, you can’t have letters that nobody would say is a valid instance of the letter.

These logos are certainly ambigram-like or ambigram-inspired. I created a new section in the Wikipedia Ambigram page to showcase logos like this.

-Roy.

My logo is an ambigram: http://www.3across.com

(designed by Wayne Wright)

Great list but one excelent ambigram your missing can be found here http://www.18bikes.co.uk/

Thanks a lot for picking up on the broken link.

I know I’m a bit late but was browsing this today and thought I’d mention the Truce design is by the mighty Turner Duckworth.

Good on them! Excellent stuff.

A bit late to jump in, but just stumbled onto this site….there’s also the xpedx delivery service logo…..

I am really loving how much exposure ambigrams are getting. Now, if only it can become a real word.

Thanks for the post.

I create ambigrams, also. I hope you enjoy them and please post comments. I really want constructive feedback.

Cheers!

Michael

“Not quite an ambigram, and I’m not sure what you’d call it, but I found it interesting nonetheless — for Truce Vodka”

I think you can call it a tessellation; think M.C. Escher. :)

I agree with Kristen. Probably the first such logo I’ve ever really noticed, The Princess Bride title is clever and works well with the rotatable cover design depicting the two lives of the characters.

I didn’t read through all the posts to see if it was mentioned, but xpedx is one I’ve always thought was fun. When they first designed it, our then Nationwide Paper Rep said that way if the truck is ever flipped over in a ditch it was still recognizable. Maybe that was only funny if you knew the rep…

I created this personal ambigram: http://guzforster.com/2010/06/vida-morte-ambigram/

“Vida” means “life” and “Morte” means “death.”

I’m a huge fan of Langdon’s work. I highly recommend his awesome book Wordplay.

My logo DAZE is an ambigram.

The process can be seen here:

http://www.behance.net/gallery/14337423/VISUAL-IDENTITY

Thanks David for the ♥

Many of the broken links can be repaired using the Wayback Machine, e.g., https://web.archive.org/web/20081216015051/https://swissmiss.typepad.com/ and https://web.archive.org/web/20100328103756/http://www.xpedx.com/

Roy Leban’s point about the “unreadability” of the ABBA ambigram is an interesting one. Should we instead call it a necgram (“neithergram”)? But I’m not entirely convinced. I wonder if Leban has ever shopped at a “Toys Ya Us” store?