Emma Shean

Specialist Practice / Dissertation

Booklet of Ambigrams

Despite this, I believe they turned out very well and gave an excellent idea to how these would look in real life on the streets of Bournemouth.

Using my map, I walked around the route I had planned out for my ambigrams, taking pictures of each location to use for mockups later.

Map Mockups

At first, people could not read what was written, however with constant changes I got to a point where people were walking past and instantly understanding what it said. This was successful, and gave me an impression to how the public would react when they saw these around the Bournemouth beach and gardens.

24/05/24 - More Ambigrams

I then created another ambigram as the logo instead of using the shell one from before, as it was no longer relevant to my project.

Inspired by David Hockney, using Brusho powder, Azteca markers and water.

Sally suggested I research David Hockney, and I remembered I went to Salts Mill in 2022. I used these photographs I took as primary research, and I loved the way he sectioned off areas with textured paints. I wondered if I could replicate this.

“The maps were inspired by a trip to Swedish Lapland where I learnt to drive my own dog sledge through some incredible midwinter landscape. My enduring memories were the ice crystalising on my eyelashes, the contrast of white snow against the dark (there were very few hours of daylight) and watching the Northern Lights sky-dance from the middle of a frozen lake on New Year's eve.”

Tape/stencil on ground to experiment

By adding more text above and below the ambigrams, it indicates more clearly that this text can be read from both directions. It also means I could incorporate a poem into this street exhibition, which is something I have wanted to do for a while.

I tested out different colours from my colour palette I made when doing the logos, and liked the bright yellow the best. It stood out amongst the muted buildings and greenery, and yellow is associated with sun and happiness, which is how I wanted people to think of Bournemouth. I also quite liked how it popped with the double yellow lines on the road, bringing this unnatural colour further into the environment.

I only really liked the last two as it had the clearest, most unobstructed view of the pavement.

21/05/24 - Ambigrams on Illustrator

It was extremely difficult at first, as I didn’t understand how the letters were supposed to work together, however I began to get the hang of the technique and actually quite enjoyed it.