John Langdon painted this figure-ground ambigram, which he titled Us, way back in 1996. What is the first thing that you see when you look at this painting? Do you see the words Me or You? It’s impossible to see both at once since the word You occupies the negative space inside the word Me. […]
What is the first word that you see in this figure/ground painting from John Langdon? Do you see the question or the answer? Can you find both? To see a similar painting from John Langdon, revisit his painting titled Love. (via John Langdon)
We featured a post last year about ambiguous metal sculptures that can be created using photographs of your own face. The sculptures can either look like two faces looking at each other, or a vase (or candlestick if you have a look at the post referenced above). The design is based on psychologist Edgar Rubin’s […]
Many organizations incorporate some sort of optical illusion or other deceptive element into the very logos that they build their identity around. For example, did you know that the FedEx logo includes a hidden graphical message? The white space between the E and the X is an arrow pointing to the right. This arrow is […]
In the early 20th century, psychologist Edgar Rubin developed the figure-ground vase (also known as Rubin’s vase). This ambiguous figure can be interpreted as either a vase or two faces looking at each other. Metal Portraits, a company based in Suwanee, Georgia, has taken the figure-ground vase concept to an entirely new level by creating […]
What word do you see below? Do you see one word or two words? There are two distinct words, that happen to be polar opposites of one another within this figure-ground ambigram. Perhaps the word that you see first says something about your personality or current state of happiness.
When you look at the following ambigram, do you first see FACT or FICTION? Or do you see another word? Oftentimes, it seems like the two are indistinguishable. The designer of this work, Michigan State University professor Punya Mishra, ponders: “The question is… is that fact and fiction or is it making a meta statement […]
