One can voluntarily jump back and forth between the rival readings usually by shifting one's physical point of view (moving the design in some way) but sometimes by simply altering one's perceptual bias towards a design (clicking an internal mental switch, so to speak). Īn ambigram is a visual pun of a special kind: a calligraphic design having two or more (clear) interpretations as written words.

Hofstadter describes ambigrams as 'calligraphic designs that manage to squeeze in two different readings.' 'The essence is imbuing a single written form with ambiguity'. The word ambigram was coined in 1983 by Douglas Hofstadter, an American scholar of cognitive science best known as the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the book Gödel, Escher, Bach. There are methods to design an ambigram, a field in which some artists have become specialists. Numerous ambigram logos are famous, and ambigram tattoos have become increasingly popular. Drawing symmetrical words constitutes also a recreational activity for amateurs. It is a recent interdisciplinary concept, combining art, literature, mathematics, cognition, and optical illusions. 'Half-turn' ambigrams undergo a point reflection (180° rotational symmetry) and can be read upside down, mirror ambigrams have an axial symmetry and can be read through a reflective surface (like a mirror or a mirroring lake), and many other types of ambigrams exist.Īmbigrams are found in different languages, various alphabets and the notion often extends to numbers and other symbols. When flipped, they remain unchanged, or they mutate to reveal another meaning.

Most often, ambigrams appear as visually symmetrical words.

The term was coined by Douglas Hofstadter in 1983. Īn ambigram is a calligraphic design that has several interpretations as written.

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