If the name Langdon sounds familiar, it's because Dan Brown named the intrepid protagonist of The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons after ambigram- and symbol-designer John Langdon. Widely recognized as a master of the art of the ambigram form, John Langdon does with words what M.C. Escher and Salvador Dali did with images. An ambigram is where language, science, philosophy and illusion come together in the design of a word which is manipulated to create a surprising illusion.In this book John Langdon shows us how we can expand our understanding of terms and concepts by looking at ambigrams - words designed to be read upside down, back to front, or in a mirror as well as left to right.He not only presents the reader with a number of strikingly beautiful and arresting ambigrams but also shows how the very shape of the letters can change our idea of the word itself and its meaning. He even disarmingly demonstrates how one goes about making an ambigram. But be warned- it's not as easy as it looks.WORDPLAY is the ultimate collection, featuring a foreword by Dan Brown-for all those who just can't get enough of the intriguing symbols in his bestselling novels..

Author Biography

Graphic designer John Langdon has won numerous awards from Philadelphia Art Directors Cub, New York Type Directors Club, Print magazine, and other advertising design organizations. He has had work published in U&lc, Graphics Design USA, American Corporate Identity, Verbatim, Cryptologia, Typographic I, OMNI, Diagraphics, The Design Journal of the Art Center of Seoul, Korea, Inversions by Scott Kim and Can You Believe Your Eyes by Block and Yuker. In 1987 he had a one-man show at Moore College of Art, and he contributed to the 1988 show sponsored by American Crystallographic Association. He teaches at the Nesbitt School of Design Arts at Drexel University and lives in Philadelphia.