John Langdon: Ambigrams, Logos, Word Art

Wordsmith

A great Wordsmith ambigram designed by John Langdon.

“Ambigrams are the hottest trend in typography since Helvetica.” Wired Magazine 4.20.09

A Clever Collection of 40+ Inspiring Ambigrams

Sep 17th in Inspiration by Sonali Vora

An ambigram as defined by Wikipedia, "is a typographical design or artform that may be read as one or more words not only in its form as presented, but also from another viewpoint, direction, or orientation." To simply put, an ambigram is a typographical creation where the word reads the same when upside down, or flips to create a whole new word. Ambigrams are often very sophisticated and very imaginative typographical style of visual design.

So let's take a look at some delightful graphic logotypes that read the same when they are reversed or flipped upside-down.

Ambigram Artist and Drexel's John Langdon Behind Symbols Appearing in Angels & Demons
May 04, 2009

Philadelphia
All those symbols flashing in Web site promos and posters promoting Ron Howard’s new film “Angels & Demons,” based on the novel by Dan Brown, were created by a professor of typography at Drexel University. John Langdon, who, not by coincidence, shares the same last name as the film’s protagonist played by Tom Hanks, has been creating ambigrams — words that can be read from left to right, upside down or from multiple viewpoints — since the 1970s. The follow up to the international blockbuster “The DaVinci Code” features Langdon’s ambigrams, which were first seen by the public in Brown’s novel, Angels and Demons, published in 2000. Read more...