An ambigram is defined as a word that reads exactly the same upside down as it does right side up. Here’s one that I made in January of ’06 with the word Funny. When I created this for coolopticalillusions.com, I started with the “curlz font” which is widely available, and then just started tweaking letters.
Just turn your head to the left or two the right (or do a headstand or handstand) and you’ll see that the word “Funny” appears exactly the same no matter which way you turn your head. You can also print out the image, stab a pencil through the center and rotate it as you please.
Many people often ask me how I get started making the ambigrams. Here’s a glimpse into my thought process: First, I’ll try to come up with a word that has somewhat similar characters that match each other. A capital N is a perfect letter for the middle, because you don’t have to do anything with it. Same with the letters S, I, H, O, X, and Z.
And I’ll write out a lot of different words that are coming to my head, somewhat like a brainstorming session. Then, eventually I’ll hit a word that I like, in this case, funny.
Then I’ll use Photoshop and take the word, create a new layer, and turn it upside down. Then, so the two words don’t overlap, I’ll make one of them blue. Then the rest is just zooming into the characters and trying to get them to match somewhere in the middle.
The key is to have a lot of fun with it – and hopefully you’ll just hit it – as I think I did a really good job with this one. I haven’t seen the word funny as an ambigram anywhere else, but it doesn’t exactly make for a great mean-looking ambigram tattoo either!
