I think you'll agree with me that the logos
we talk about in this chapter are just plain fun.
They bring a smile to my face but more importantly, they
generally please and mystify the intended clients these have been developed for.
They can be a bit more demanding but I can assure
you the creation of these types of logos can be reputation makers.
And they may well be the most talked about work in your portfolio.
One such individual that I've known for a number of years,
rode his particular design skill to a peculiar level of fame.
Yet I'm willing to guess you may never have heard of him, his name?
John Langdon and he's a philosopher and a master at designing ambigrams.
That's a word that graphically reads the same right side up or upside down.
A number of years ago John met the soon to become best selling author Dan Brown.
You may know his blockbuster books and movies
including the Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons.
In the latter book, you might recall
the protagonist comes up against the evil Illuminati.
They have a mean streak and ultimately brand their
victims with the words earth, air, fire, and water.
The mystery of these ancient brands was that they
read the same form the top or the bottom.
Yep ambigrams.
The author asked John if he thought it possible to create art for these.
Here you see what Mister Landon created for each.
And they were used in the book and also featured prominently in the movie.
Watch the magic happen as these rotate 180 degrees.
Isn't this really amazing?
Now look at how he applied the same treatment to Illuminati.
And also to this complicated lock up of
all four words, so they too read both ways.
In this series of books the central
character was a professor of historic symbolism.
And an assuming genius of figuring out mysteries and life threatening puzzles.
Oh and why does are artist name sound familiar?
Well, when it was time to name the book's leading character Dan Brown paid his
highest respect by giving the same last
name to his protagonist and hero Robert Langdon.
Now that you know these word marks will read the same right
side up or upside down, I'd like for you to consider something.
How would you actually use these to achieve maximum impact?
If we design an ambigram and then tell the consumer
it can be spun 180 degrees and still look the same.
We've destroyed the opportunity for the consumer to find this out on their own.
And remember, the a-ha moment is critical for them to take ownership of the mark.
Because of the beautiful symmetry of these,especially with
shorter words the discovery is usually pretty quick.
Don't be impatient to show off the craft and spoil the surprise.
Pocketbook had an inventive solution on the
first edition cover of Angels and Demons.
They placed the same copy above and below so
it becomes evident it reads the same from both directions.
I wonder how many readers thought this was just a misprint.