Design an Ambigram logo with your name

Ambigrams are a particularly complex type of typographic art that can be read identically in different orientations. They usually take the form of a word that reads upside down in the same way as it reads right side up.

Today we’re going to look at what’s involved in creating ambigrams and walk through creating a basic one on our own.

What is an ambigram?

In its most basic form, an ambigram can be a simple symbol that looks the same in two or more orientations. More complex forms involve words, groups of words or even whole sentences.

Ambigrams are one of those things that you can go your whole life without noticing and then realize that they are everywhere once you learn to see them. For example, ambigrams are a fairly popular logo technique and can be spotted in several well-known brands. I’ve always particularly liked the AnchorBlue (the old version, they’ve ruined it now) and Sun logos for this reason.

If you rotate one of these logos 180 degrees, they look exactly the same. This is a pretty cool and subtle design trick that is usually mostly noticed by designers, artists and other visually-conscious people.

Here are some logos I drew from LogoPond these are Ambigrams.

Pop culture

In recent years, Ambigrams have become popular largely due to the success of Angels and demons and The Da Vinci Codetwo books by Dan Brown that were later turned into Tom Hanks movies.

In this story, the “Illuminati” is a secret satanic cult with an ambigram logo that the author...