This experiment is an ‘oscillation’- the ambigram reads either ‘simple’ or ”complex’, depending on what you focus on.
The C, o and EX of ‘complex’ are also the S, dot of the i and e of ‘simple’, respectively. It is interesting how both words share so many letters despite being opposites.
This ambigram is appropriate in the sense that so many things in life seem to be simutaneously simple and complex.
Abstract & Galaxy have been tweaked a bit, while Cerberus has had a complete overhaul. Much happier with these ones now.
The final polished version at last, done in a typewriter-esque font.
Below is a small section of an ambigram of the Canadian National Anthem I made a while back. I was inspired by the works of Kevin Pease (see links section on the right), who has tackled some difficult subjects (ie ‘Tyger Tyger’).
I wanted to really challenge myself, and result was the longest ambigram I’ve ever done, and possibly the longest in the world.
The link to the full ambigram is below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32432968@N06/3608467784/in/set-72157612131122650/
EDIT: A bigger version can be found here:
Questions regarding how one creates an ambigram are frequently asked. There are no easy answers, but fortunately helpful advice does exist. The best ‘how to’ guide I have found is John Langdon’s informative essay:
http://www.johnlangdon.net/adviceonambigrams.php
Ambigram.com’s ‘Design Secrets’ column is also useful:
http://www.ambigram.com/category/secrets
I’ve found that the best way to understand how to create good designs is to study as many ambigrams as you can- see how different people tackle difficult letter transformations.
If you’re really stuck and need a starting point, ambigram generators (as referenced in a previous post) can be helpful (although keep in mind that the designs they produce are protected under copyright, and should not be stolen).
Sometimes a word or phrase can offer more than one possible ambigram, which is the case here. While sketching out ‘bermuda triangle’, two reasonably good results emerged- one divides the phrase neatly in two, while the other is all on one line.
There are many ways of getting the rough design to a completed piece, but I’ve found that constructing the words with pre-existing shapes (usually edited from existing fonts) gives the best results. It’s time-consuming, but the effort is worth it.
Generally this process takes around 1-2 hours, depending on how difficult the shapes are. Below are the finished ambigrams.
Two designs (from previous sketches), the first computer-drawn and the second hand-drawn. The latter still could use a bit of cleanup, though.
Since listing every single one of the dozens of ambigram sites in existence would be next to impossible, here is a list of some of the most noteworthy websites:
John Langdon
http://www.johnlangdon.net/
Scott Kim
http://www.scottkim.com/inversions/index.html
Robert Petrick
http://www.robertpetrick.com/
FlipScript
http://www.flipscript.com/
Ambigram Magazine
http://www.ambigram.com/
Flickr Ambigram Group
http://www.flickr.com/groups/ambigram/
Kevin Pease
http://www.ceruleanstimuli.com/ambigram/index.html
Naguib and Fadilah
http://nagfa.blogspot.com/
Brett James Gilbert
http://www.55cards.com/ambigrams/
Gilles Esposito-Farèse
http://www.gef.free.fr/ambigallery.html
Again, this is just the tip of the iceberg. This list will most likely be revisited and expanded upon in the future.
Ambigram Design 
