A
language as familiar as English is ripe for ambiguity and design. There
are powerful wizards among us who can manipulate the symmetry
of familiar words. We revere these wizards and call them Typographers.
The most powerful Typographers can weave letter forms into fantastic
illusions.
John
Langdon is such a wizard. His genius for design was forged during
the American art Renaissance of the 70's as he immersed himself
in the popular culture of art. Langdon's design philosophy was
influenced by the great poster designers of that time such as
Rick Griffin and other artists such as Dali, Escher, and Rene
Magritte.
In
1973 Langdon began designing a new set of letter forms which
we now know as ambigrams. Ambigrams are words that do
not change their meanings when inverted, rotated or even reflected.
The word "DIOXIDE" in caps is a natural ambigram. It
reads the same when inverted because the letters are vertically
symmetrical.
Langdon's
Ambigrams
This first example from Langdon's body of work is the masthead and title
from his incredible book, Wordplay. Note the clean symmetry
and elegance of the design. Note also that the word is not a natural
ambigram. Langdon orchestrates the overall design to produce a pleasing
and believable flow. Mouse-over the image to see the word rotated 180°.
This
next example is also from Langdon's book Wordplay.
It is called Energysm. As usual Langdon starts with
a seemingly impossible asymmetrical word, in this case, the word Energy. Langdon
transformes it into a natural flowing, symmetrical ambigram.
Mouse-over to rotate the word 180° and to see another facet
of its meaning.
This
next example is called SYZYGY. Talk about asymmetrical beginnings!
Amazingly, Langdon the wizard has no trouble making radically
different letters such as a "Y" and a "G" share
the same space at different times. Imagine the intimate knowledge
of letter forms required to produce these effects. Mouse-over
to see the artwork rotated 180° and to see another facet
of the word's meaning.
Our
last ambigram example is called... we'll let you figure out the
word in this elegant, minimalistic design. Mouse-over
to rotate the image 180° and see a clue that will help you
identity the word.
Ambiguous
Illusions
Look closely at the image below. This 1999 oil painting is a perfect
example of a figure-ground reversal or ambiguous illusion. At
first you only see the word OPTICAL in the open spaces of the
design. Then the word ILLUSION resolves itself in the negative
spaces. Ambiguity in its purest form.
Here
is another amazing example of a ambiguous illusion. A battleground
where two words existing in the same space compete for your attention.
You may see one or the other, but scientists tell us that no
one can see both at exactly the same time. John Langdon calls
the oil painting below "US." Can you tell
why?
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