ambigram: 1.january
ambigram: 1.january
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New Year? ("The Julian calendar began on January 1, but the Christian Church frowned on pagan celebrations of this and chose the Feast of the Annunciation (March 25) as its New Year's Day" - http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=New+Year%27s+Eve).

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'January' is 'the month of Janus', the deity famous for depicting two faces, one in front, the other at the back (ooh, very ambigramesque!).

ambigram: admittance

reflection: bob.marley.&-the-wailers

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One of our favourite pieces to date. The letters and positions seem to fall very nicely into place and space. The 'leaf' was included both as a relevant icon and as a space-filler.

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A previous Bob Marley ambigram:

ambigram: bob.marley

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Another long-phrase reflection designed some time back, which we feel is similar configuration-wise:

reflection: life..-is.like.a-joke..

ambigram: wild-calm

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a nagfa version.

ambigram: do.not-touch

ambigram: pink.panther

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The 'B-side' - if you will - of this month's NAC. A (colour-animal) fictional character combo.

ambigram: scarlet-letters

reflection: wooly-mammoth

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An interesting point to note from this design is that the word 'mammoth' (one of the larger animals ever to have existed) is a product of the word 'moth' (one of the smaller animals) which was duplicated, flipped horizontally and combined.

ambigram: santa.claus-christmas

(just do it)

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With 2 nike swooshes incorporated.

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A previously nike-based nagfa ambigram:

ambigram: ronaldinho(nike swoosh)-joga bonito(nike swoosh)

ambigram: coward

ambigram: sandstorms

ambigram: square

ambigram: hari.raya-qurban

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Another name for Aidil Adha. 'hari': day; 'raya': big; 'qurban': sacrifice (refering to that made by Prophets Ibrahim and Ismail, p.b.u.t).. which rotates into...

ambigram: naguib-&.fadilah

naguib & fadilah (nagfa) wishes all Muslims a Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha!

kufic: 'Allah' in Arabic (square doughnut)

ambigram: haji.umrah

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Haji & Umrah: two versions ('manasikh') of the Muslims' Holy Pilgrimage to the Holy Lands of Makkah and Medina. 'Haji' or performing the hajj is the fifth tenet of Islam and refers to the 'complete' or 'full' version, while 'Umrah' refers to the minor pilgrimage.

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The Holy Day of Aidil Adha also marks the pilgrims' convergence in Arafah on the 10th day in the month of Zulhijjah.

ambigram: happy-holiday

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nagfa's version of a much popular phrase ambigram. Almost a straight forward solution. We chose this configuration/placement for the interchangeable shared line between 'p' and the dot of the 'i'.

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The ambiguous phrase could cover various holidays, from the general school/winter holiday to the coming Christmas. For Muslims like us, the 'Holy Day' is Aidil Adha which falls on the 20th of December, remembering the sacrifice of Prophets Ibrahim (Abraham) and Ismail (Ishmael) *peace be upon them.

kufic/reflection: 'Allah' in Arabic 1
kufic/reflection: 'Allah' in Arabic 2

reflection: 'Allah' in Arabic (diamond)

kufic: 'Allah' in Arabic (octogon)

reflection: pasir-ris (square kufic)

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A further exploration of the previous design.

reflection: pasir-ris

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One of the estates in eastern Singapore, a coastal town of chalets, resorts and a famous beach. The name itself hints of that; 'pasir' is Malay for 'sand', while 'ris' is an Old Malay word for 'white', 'pristine and/or 'pure'. Thus Pasir Ris literally means 'White Sands'. Interestingly, the main shopping mall in Pasir Ris is named as such.

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On observation, the overall design resembles a Decepticon/Autobot-esque mask/logo. Maybe a hint of a goat or a rabbit..

ambigram: alam-maya

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'Virtual realm' in Malay. 'Alam': world, realm, dimension; 'maya': virtual, illusion, unseen.

reflection: ayam.maya1

reflection: ayam.maya2

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Two reflections of the Malay phrase 'ayam maya' - also palindrome - which translates into 'virtual chicken' ('ayam': chicken; 'maya': virtual, unseen, illusion). Interestingly, the term 'maya' comes from both the Sanskrit 'maya' and the Greek 'Maia'/'Maja'.

figure-ground: 'Allah' in Arabic (circle)

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Pushing the brain further: a Yin-Yang-inspired piece.

figure-ground: 'Allah' in Arabic

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Pill-shaped: 'curelixiremedy'. Our first real successful figure-ground ambigram.

tesselation: 'Allah' in Arabic

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Our first successful Escher-esque piece.

kufic: 'Allah' in Arabic

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Came about after our simplistic and amateurish-looking square kufic of the same subject a few posts back, and after being spurred on by awangpurba's motivating challenge ('how about trying an octogon or an eight-sided star...'). Tksih, bro.

ambigram: waitress

(nothing)

reflection: cookbook

ambigram: white-myth
ambigram: black-legend
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(Another) 'white'-inspired design. A pairing; done in similar style. A further manifestation of this could be a 'black&white/myth&legend' ambigram..

ambigram & reflection: white-myth

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A lot of 'white'-inspired designs.. wonder why.. this time, combining two recent designs - white reflection and myth reflection - to come up with one which has both vertical and horizontal symmetry.

ambigram: faisal-pesort

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For Abg Faisal, a.k.a. Pesort a.k.a. Pesort King.

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An attempt at a new style: comic meets hiphop..

After much imagining, thinking, sketching, arranging and (ill-)fitting, we have at last succeeded in designing an original nagfa 'Allah' kufic, to add to the numerous designs already available:

kufic: Allah (earthy)
kufic: Allah (cheery)
kufic: Allah (cool)

kufic: Allah (primary)

kufic: Allah (tonal)

It started with a stylised Arabic 'Allah':

stylised logo: Allah in Arabic

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After duplicating, flipping horizontally and then combining:

reflection: white
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Then, duplicating that and placing it underneath, and putting in extra bars to highlight a rough diamond outline:

reflection: white2

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After which the form is duplicated and placed in a rigid grid formation, filling the spaces with smaller versions of the same form:

concept piece (tesselation): white (reflected from Allah)