and

Two versions of a Haydee Gomila ambigram.

One of our most challenging requests yet. Five names in a traditional square kufi. We tinkered with each character-form, and their configurations, and after three long early morning hours - Nag did this during his shift looking over Nayla Najwa - it's finally done:

square kufi: 5-in-1

.

For an easier reading, we present:

square kufi: 5-in-1

.

...which when spread, reads:

nariza, razlan, ashwyn, ashraf & alysa

.

Our sincere thank you to Tuan Azlan for his unwavering trust and very positive feedback, without which we could have never dug deep to produce this.

A related previously done ambigram:

nagfa ambigram by Robert Petrick

This came as a pleasant surprise via email: a 'nagfa' ambigram by one of the pioneers of ambigram designing, Robert Petrick! And after all these years, he is still going strong... Do visit his ambigram page: here.

Design proposal for a web-based company. Ambigram.

Logo proposals for a skate website encouraging veteran (oldschool) skaters to pick up their decks and skate again. Manskate ambigram.

Proposals for logo branding of literature.com. Ambigrams.

nagfa ambigram challenge (NAC) December 2008

Right on the heels of the recently-ended NAC (nagfa ambigram challenge), let's keep the momentum going by proceeding to yet another challenge. This time, we present the Guest Challenger, none other than Alessandro Pocaterra of Italy, and winner of this previous NAC, in his own words:

.

I am Alessandro, a teenager of 39, in love with ambigrams since I read Scott Kim's article on Scientific American eons ago. I prefer symbio(togram)s (where you can read upside down another word/sentence) and very simple "no frills" ones. To digitalize ambigrams, I use Inkscape, the open (and better) version of CorelDraw. I'm kind of lazy: if an ambigram comes out from the pen in ten minutes I refine it on the computer. Otherwise I leave the effort to somebody else and pick up a book. Reading is my first hobby. I'm fond of self growth, EFT and other psychological techniques, mathematics, drawing, informatics, Net surfing searching for info about the incredible possibility of our brain, stone balancing.

.

Since I was a child my dream was to be a genius but I am not smart enough. Preferred sentence: "If you want a better World, do it!" by me. My whole life is a symbio. I had a 180 degrees rotation in 2004 during the Camino de Santiago, a 800km walk in Northern Spain. Over there I met Susann, a wonderful woman who will give me a child next March. I discovered that life is great and really better than it seems. No television at home as a choice since then. I was a microcontroller programmer till some months ago, then I've been promoted to Innovation Manager, whatever that is. I'll put an ambigram as name/logo for a new device that my company is producing. There was a page of mine with a number of ambis but it's now lost in digital space: the Net Gods made it disappear without telling me anything. I'll try to put on something in the short future.

.

Being Italian, my NAC theme is "Leonardo da Vinci".

Looking forward to good ambigrams!

.

Alessandro

.

Please submit designs to:
nagfa_ambigram@hotmail.com
hopefully before 15th of January (for allowance for us to compile them mid-February). Please also include the chosen word for the design, your name (pseudonym allowed), country of origin, and website/blog (if any). *Designers are allowed to send in more than one design/entry...
.
All the best,

Salam,
Nagfa: Naguib & Fadilah
Singapore

The following ambigrams were done on the night after Fa gave birth to our baby girl, Nayla Najwa. Freehand.

'naguib-fadilah' rotating into
'mother&-father'.

That night, everything was serene. The ceiling light was dimmed just right, the air-conditioner breathing a steady stream of cool blankets. Fa was resting - she deserves it - in bed, a hint of a contented smile on her lips. Nayla too, in her own plastic cocoon. After watching MacGyver on the ward's TV, and after performing the night prayers, I sat down, recollecting how it had been these past few months...

.

I was a tourist in Scotland's Loch Ness. Waiting, while reading beside Fa. Fa's the eager one, no surprise, she had experienced it first hand. Ever so often Fa would suddenly grab my hands, and exclaimed, "Did you see that? A ripple?" I shrugged guiltily, for the umpteenth time. Missed it again. And again. And again. It's always the same thing: I stared across the surface, no movement, just a long, heightened expectation slowly ebbing away. I went back to my book.. and without fail, "Did you see that? A ripple?"

.

Then it happened; at last, guided by Fa, I saw it: the ripple on her belly. That's our little girl there, telling us she's okay, exercising and playing on her own.

.

The following ambigrams are drawn freehand at the hospital on the night of Nayla Najwa's birth. The first one reads 'americanhero' while the second reads when rotated 'barackobama':

Based on our previous:

NAC: the aftermath

In the wake of another successful NAC, Danial Dostal, the Guest Challenger, had made every contributor a personalised ambigram. This is our beautifully-intricate ambigram:

See here for other ambigrams for the other contributors. We thank Danial Dostal for this kind gesture.