Neil & Karen

Another example (following in the footsteps of Rob & Helen and others) of a dual-name ambigram designed, of course, for a wedding – and this one is rather good!

What’s particularly pleasing is the inclusion of a fully formed and artfully curly ampersand. Overall the design was a real mixture: I have played fast and loose with the capitalization, and the design split straightforwardly into an easy bit (Nei/ren) and a much more difficult bit (the central l&Ka ligature).

At first, I didn’t even consider using an ampersand, thinking it would be setting myself too tricky a challenge, but in the end the addition of this character was the key that unlocked the eventual solution. And even though the capitalization is random, and even though the a is the character with the most jarring letterform, somehow the design comes together and achieves a surprising consistency and readability.