Alexander Becker provides ideation services, conceptual and technical consulting, as well as design and production services for print and web projects. Alexander Becker is the creative mind behind alter ego Lyrois. »
The Dynasty; ambigram, created in 2008 for thedynasty.org.
An ambigram, also sometimes known as an inversion or flipscript, is a graphical figure that spells out a word not only in its form as presented, but also in another direction or orientation. The text can also consist of a few words, and the text spelled out in the other direction or orientation is often the same, but can also be a different text. Douglas R. Hofstadter describes an ambigram as a
calligraphic design that manages to squeeze two different readings into the selfsame set of curves.
The goal is a rotational ambigram, we want the graphic to look and read identical when turned upside down. This means, each letter has to contain the rotated version of its counterpart -- and vice versa. The pairs are t and y; h and t; e and s; d and a; and the middle-letter twin y and n. We can chose from upper- as well as lowercase letters.
The sketches identify potential ligatures and strategies to combine each letter-pair. After drawing the first half of the graphic, we copy and rotate it to see if it works upside down and thus completes the second half.
The shapes are drawn geometrically, and the final ambigram emerges from the ligatures. The floral elements are added to reflect the tribal nature of The Dynasty, the skewing adds to the character of the drawing.
An ambigram may or may not be legible as a word, it is, in either case, a unique shape directly evolved from its components. In fact, it acts as a new letter, reflecting the sum of its parts and adding just a little bit more.
The Dynasty represents an old tribe with mythical, even mythological foundations, itself a twisted symbol for an ancient legend.
See also: The Development of the 30pro Logotype
