Hello my friend, I’d like to drink a coffee with you. I mean, if I could, I would literally sit next to you and have a conversation about ambigrams.

Hey V. I just made a coffee and started reading Ambigram Horizons. What do you want to talk about?

About ambigrams, in general. What are they? How can we know if a new typographic piece counts as an ambigram? Why are we attracted to some ambigram types more than others?

That’ll be an interesting conversation. Where do we begin? And, haven’t we discussed what an ambigram is already?

We did, yes. I have some new ideas I’d like to discuss. Just to begin, do you remember how we defined an ambigram?

Yes, an ambigram is a typographic piece of art that has at least two ways of being read.

Fantastic. I would say that there is a second definition, that’s the other side of the same coin. And that is “an ambigram is a typographic piece of art that remains readable after a transformation happens”. This is the same as before, but it shows that in order to get the second way of reading, there must be a transformation. Thus, the geometric and mind ambigrams, requiring geometric and mind transformations respectively.

Moreover, studying those transformations is how we get the ambigram types, right?

You’re an excellent student, my friend. The coffee is on me. Now, is the word NOON an ambigram?

Well, yes.

Do you think it’s an interesting ambigram?

Actually, no.

Why?

Because, maybe, it’s natural?

Which means?

Which means that there is not a design choice there. NOON is just a word that has natural rotational symmetry in its letters.

I agree with you, but if I want to challenge you, I would say that you cannot write the word NOON in every typeface and have a rotational ambigram. There are fonts where the N is not symmetrical to itself. So, there is a design choice there.

Well, technically yes. But it’s not an interesting design choice.

That’s right. NOON is a natural ambigram, because we can immediately say that N is symmetrical to itself. It’s obvious. So, shall we disregard words like these as not being ambigrams? I’m talking about NOON, SWIMS, MOM etc.

They are ambigrams, they’re just not interesting.

Why is that, then?

It’s because it’s a matter of finding the right words. Words with symmetrical first and last letters, second and second to last letters, and so on. There is not a letterform manipulation in these natural ambigrams, apart from this minimal font choice. I miss the ‘solving the puzzle’ feeling that’s fun in ambigrams.

Now we’re getting somewhere. So, should there be a letterform manipulation in order to have a good ambigram?

Well, yes.

You’re right… almost. In the majority of the ambigram types we’ve discussed, there has been a letterform manipulation of some sort. But, and this is the interesting part, arrangement ambigrams do not have a letterform manipulation as a prerequisite. Are they not ambigrams, then?

They are. But, they also have a sort of graphic design manipulation. It’s not in the letterforms themselves, but it’s in how the letters are arranged on the canvas instead.

So there is a design choice, along with the word choice.

Exactly!

I see two things here, my friend. There are word choices and design choices. There are easy ambigrams (aka. natural) and there are challenging ambigrams. We are more attracted to the latter ones, pieces that require a certain degree of design manipulation over those with a safe word choice. It’s this element of design decisions that excites us!

I agree with that, V.

Now, having discovered some mind ambigram types that I’ll discuss in the next chapters, I feel that some of them share the same essence as the natural geometric ambigrams. This is, there are mind ambigrams that are natural, if I may say, just like NOON is natural. And I though it will be nice to explore what we find attractive in ambigrams as a piece of art.

 Ambigram classes

There are two ‘classes’ of  ambigrams. Form-driven and Linguistic ambigrams.

Form-driven ambigrams are centered around the visual design of the typography.

Linguistic ambigrams are centered around the careful selection of the word/phrase.

Oooh, I like that.

And here’s something interesting! These classes can be found in either category of ambigrams, geometric and mind.

There are geometric ambigrams that are form-driven (almost everyone), and there are geometric ambigrams that are linguistic (NOON, MOM etc.)

Similarly, there are mind ambigrams that are form-driven (middle-form, figure-ground etc), and there are mind ambigrams that are linguistic (arrangement).

I get that. So, any ambigram is either form-driven or linguistic?

It’s more of a spectrum. An ambigram can be in both classes. Imagine the word VISTA and try to draw a 180° rotational ambigram. Is it easy?

Well, almost. Yes. V and A share the two main strokes. The central S helps a lot. I and T are no problem.

Still, there’s work you must do right?

Yes, but not so much. It’ll be an easy ambigram to create.

This is an example that an ambigram can belong in both classes. It’s a form-driven ambigram, for sure. You’ll make some adjustments to the V-A and I-T. But it’s also a linguistic ambigram. This word lends itself easily to becoming an ambigram. I’d say that this word, VISTA, falls about in the middle of this “class spectrum”.

So, how are we going to use classes from now on?

It’s not that we’ll want to classify each ambigram, but, knowing that there are some interesting ambigrams and others not so interesting, and knowing why, is useful. If we do not disqualify pieces as ambigrams just because they may be natural or simple, we can use that understanding of what an ambigram could be on our journey to discover new ambigrams. Which leads me thinking…

What?

(V takes a sip of coffee)

How we are going to test if a typographic piece is an ambigram?

How are we going to do this?

The best way to do this is to check if it fulfills certain criteria.

  Ambigram criteria

The definition is straight-forward. Let’s repeat.

An ambigram is a typographic piece of art that has at least two ways of being read.

and

An ambigram is a typographic piece of art that remains readable after a transformation happens.

Which means?

Which means that when we come across a new piece of art, how are will we determine if it’s an ambigram or not? We shall ask ourselves questions in order to see if it fits the definition.

Now, what does the definition say? It states “An ambigram is a typograpic piece of art”. Let’s stop right there.

A typographic piece of art…

This means that the art must use typography. Well, pretty self evident, you’d say, but I’d ask, what counts as typography? And what counts as art?

The latter one has never been answered, so I’ll skip it, at least for now. Now, what counts as typography? What would you say?

Something that displays text? Letters? Or phrases?

Well, that’s the obvious answer. Of course including numbers, punctuation marks etc. The official definition for this is the art of arranging letters and text in a way that makes the copy legible, clear, and visually appealing to the reader.” But, think of shapes for a moment. Shapes that are structured to form letters. But not exactly. Something like, let’s say… abstract typography. Is it still typography?

Well, probably?

I’d say that whatever the form, if the viewer is able to read a piece of visual art, then it’s typography. Or… better than that, it’s typographic art. It’s part of what our definition says that an ambigram must be. Now, what else does it say?

It says that “it has at least two different ways of being read”.

So, this part says that the viewer must be able to read it, obviously… And that this reading can be done in more than one way. Well, I just repeated the definition, but it got me thinking. Should everybody be able to read it both ways?

It doesn’t say that…

And that’s why some people can only see just one interpretation of some mind ambigrams. But this does not mean that they are not looking at an ambigram. Because, there are other viewers that can see just the second read only. So, being able to see both ‘readings’ is not a criterion to say if a piece is an ambigram or not.

So?

So I think that we can have only two criteria, in the form of questions, that if answered positively, we can say for sure that a piece is indeed an ambigram. And these questions are:

Is this a typographic piece of art?

and

Does it have at least two ways of being read?

If both answers are yes, then it’s an ambigram, no matter if it’s a form-driven or a linguistic ambigram. No matter in which category it belongs (geometric or mind).

And recalling the alter-ego version of the definition, which states that “An ambigram is a typographic piece of art that remains readable after a transformation happens.”, which leads to the core function of the ambigram, which by the way is this:

• I read something
• Something happens
• I can read it again

I’d add a third question, asking:

Can we explicitly define that transformation between the first and second read?

If the answer is yes, then we don’t just have evidence that what we hold on is an ambigram, but we also know which type it is, since the transformation that’s being done what defines the ambigram types.

(Vassilis takes another sip of coffee, stares into the sky…)

Oh, V. You did get a little philosophical in this one.

It’s not philosophical, my friend. It’s theory. If you understand the theory, you can discover so much. You’ll see soon enough how what we talked about today will be useful in our next steps in this journey. The more tools we have in our arsenal, the more prepared we’ll be in navigating those uncharted ambigram territories in front of us.

Even though I don’t have a clear vision of how we’re going to use ambigram classes and criteria, I believe that they’ll come in handy.

That’s right my friend. Oh… my cup of coffee is empty. Yours?

I’ve finished mine as well.

Good. It was so nice to talk to you. Occasionally we’ll take some coffee breaks and discuss, shall we?

Until then, my friend, keep exploring.

Shall I say that you can always write to vassilis@ambigramhorizons.com?

If it’s your first time here, you can always subscrie to the newsletter right below, and be one of those who don’t miss the next chapter in this amazing journey.