For you beer snobs out there, I know it’s sacrilege to drink out of cans instead of bottles. However, my favorite beer happens to be Boddingtons which is only sold in a can in the retail stores around here. Funny thing about that beer is that I first became attracted to it because of it’s simple design and coloring, and then I tasted it. I fell in love since. So anyway, here is where you start to make your holy beer coaster of awesomeness:

Supplies

• Beer can (or your favorite canned beverage if you’re not a fan of beer, or just simply don’t feel like using a beer can at all)
• Sharpie
• Pencil
• A good, strong pair of scissors
• Xacto knife (optional)
• Ruler
• Rubber cement
• Illustration board/matte board/cardboard/poster board
• Flat, heavy object of some sort

Step 1: Stab the can

First and foremost, you want to be able to get the can nice and flat so you need to somehow cut off the top and bottom portions of the can. Also please be sure that you washed out the can and let it dry before you do this to prevent from having a stale beer smell to your coaster. Now you want to make sure that the can stays in place before you stab it with your pair of scissors. Do NOT hold it in your hand while stabbing. What I did was I took my ruler and placed the can next to the ruler so it stayed in its position. Then what you need to do is figure out what part of the can you want to be used for the coaster. Next you roll the can over on its opposite end, take your scissors and then stab the can. Doing this prevents from damaging the area you want to show for your coaster.

Step 2: Cut the can

Stabbing the can helps create a hole which allows you to start cutting through the can. The directions you want to first start cutting is up and down. Once you do that, start cutting all the way around just before the top and bottom sections of the can start bending. Once the top and bottom sections are cut off, trim the edges of the rectangle you just made so the angles are nice and perpendicular (this makes future measuring and cutting easier if you are a perfectionist like I am).

Step 3: Flatten out your rectangle

Your rectangle will be in a bending position once the top and bottom sections are cut off due to constantly being shaped as a cylinder. To help flatten it out, you just simply do what you would to a wrinkled dollar bill that was rejected by a vending machine: grab both ends and start rubbing the opposite side of the bend up against a corner/edge. Be careful what you rub the rectangle up against because since it’s made of metal, you might possibly scratch or mark the surface of the edge or the rectangle itself.

Step 4: Measure twice, cut once

Many of us have heard that phrase before because, to be honest, I actually messed up on cutting out this coaster but it turned out to be fine in the end anyway.

A coaster measures to roughly a 3 1/2″ square. If you have a favorite beer mug where the bottom measures bigger than that, then you can measure a square that fits the size of the bottom of the mug. Just keep in mind that your basic 12oz. can has the measurements of 4.5″high x 2.375″ wide x 8″ circumference. Now what you want to do is eye out the area you want to show, and then start measuring the areas you want to cut off with your ruler. When you have the areas measured, take your ruler and your sharpie and start marking the back of the rectangle. This will create your guides.

After you create your guides, start cutting.

Next, grab your board. This can be poster board, matte board, cardboard, etc. The reason for this is so you can create a smooth base for your coaster, and also add thickness and durability to it too. As for me, I had scrap illustration board on hand so I decided to use it for my base. Now instead of recreating the square that you just measured out by measuring out again, you can simply trace around the square you just cut out with your can with a pencil. I made sure that I traced around the back end of the illustration board so markings will not show in the final product. And then because of the thickness of the illustration board, I took my ruler and my Xacto knife to cut it out.

Afterwards, cut!

Step 5: Paste it and put some weight on it

After you finally have your two squares, take your rubber cement and cover the entire surface of the back of your two squares, then put them together. The reason why I chose rubber cement and not your basic, everyday glue is because we are trying to attach metal to a surface so we want to make sure that it sticks. Rubber cement will definitely make things stick.

Since rubber cement takes a little while to dry, grab your flat, heavy object and put it on your coaster. This will make sure that your squares do stick together and will also make sure that your square cut from the can will not start to roll back up.

After about 30 minutes, your holy beer coaster of awesomeness is ready for use!

Typography, in a nut shell, is not just about fonts. The literal definition is “the study of type”. It is about creating, modifying, arranging, and using type. Today I made you an interactive flash piece on the anatomy of type so you can help understand the small details of typography and letterforms.

The anatomy of typefaces only cover a portion of what typography is all about. Of course, maybe one day I will cover the rest in another post or two.

For the creation of this Flash piece, credit goes to:

• Andrew Cornell Robinson Studio
• Todd Roeth
• Precision Intermedia Marketing Agency
• FontShop

Step 1: Research

To begin this assignment, I had to do research because I did not have any previous experience in designing ambigrams. Luckily my professor was able to help me out by forwarding me two very helpful websites:

• Ambiblog
• “Typographic Doppelgängers” by John Langdon

I read through them and studied all of the images that were posted on these two sites. While studying the images, I have noticed that many of these ambigrams have a blackletter look to them so I kept that in mind.

Step 2: Thinking… And a lot of it

When I decided that I was going to go forward with the project, I had to figure out what word I wanted to spell out. In my head I went through the letters of the alphabet and grouped together those that look similar or have a very good possibility of looking similar after careful manipulation (because in the end one letter has to match its opposite letter when rotated):

• A – B – H
• B – E – F – G – H – K – P – R
• C – D – G – J – O – Q – S – U – V
• I – J – L – T – Y
• M – N – V – W – X – Y – Z
• S – Z
• a – b – d – g – h – p – q
• c – e – o
• f – h – t
• i – j – l – t
• k – x
• m – n – r – u – v – w – y
• s – z

Of course all of these letter groupings can vary depending on the overall look of the ambigram, but this was just a general observation.

After going through the alphabet, I tried to think of my word. Since this was my first ambigram, I had to remind myself that the word must stay simple, preferably a one-syllable word. After running through ideas in my head and becoming frustrated for failing to come up with a word, I cursed at myself and thought “creating an ambigram is a bitch!”

A light shined.

Step 3: To the drawing board

Well… Not really the drawing board, but to Adobe Illustrator. I did not have any patience to draw in my sketchbook which would then be drawn again with my Wacom tablet. But, remember when I noticed that many of the ambigrams looked like they were in a blackletter style? What I did is I went through all of the blackletter typefaces that were available on the computer being used (Linotext™ Std, San Marco™ Std, Wilhelm Klingspor Gotisch™ Std, and Wittenberger Fraktur™ Std), and started to pair up the rotations of the word.

Linotext™ Std

San Marco™ Std

Wilhelm Klingspor Gotisch™ Std

Wittenberger Fraktur™ Std

I was sold on basing my ambigram off of Linotext™ Std due to its legibility and having the most similarity between the five letters used out of the four typefaces I tested with. What I also like about the typeface is that the “i” already has serifs coming out that can almost look like a “c”, so I felt like using this typeface was a good way to start. Then came the evolution of my ambigram:

So after much thinking and careful planning, I started from a blackletter typeface and turned it into an ambigram that has color and more of a tribal look to it, thus making it my own unique design.

"BitcH" ambigram from start to finish.

I do not read much, but I will read Dan Brown’s books. Thanks to reading Angels & Demons I have now been inspired to explore through a typographical design movement that is very complicated and challenging to begin with, which I have successfully accomplished in doing.