Ambigrams

This image is a great example not only of tattoo typography, but also an ambigram and graphic design.  According to wikipedia an ambigram, also sometimes known as an inversion, is a typographical design or artform that may be read as one or more words not only in it's form presented, but also from another viewpoint, direction or orientation.  The words readable in the other viewpoint, direction or orientation may be the same or different from the original words.  The origin of ambigrams is somewhat of a sketchy area, but the first known ambigram published was by Peter Newell in 1893.  Newell's ambigram was considered a non-natural ambigram, meaning it read one thing from one viewpoint and a completely different word from the other viewpoint.  Regardless, it was an ambigram.   Since then, many artists have claimed to be the inventors.  Over the years and continued to this day, many of those same artists have developed their own ambigrams.  John Langdon and Scott Kim have become the two artists who are mainly attributed to the popularization of ambigrams.  Ambigrams have gained much more popularity as a result of Dan Brown's book Angels and Demons.  Langdon produced ambigrams that were used for the book cover and certain points in the plot.  The main character is Robert Langdon, who Brown named as a homage to John Langdon.  Although ambigramss are much more popular today as tattoo's they have not lost any of the prestige or design quality associated with and involved in the process of creating them.  In my eyes, for a typeface designer, this has to be the ultimate test.  Creating an ambigram requires an unbelievable amount of talent, time and dedication.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambigram