John Langdon ’64 is a true innovator in the world of art and design, known for his pioneering work with ambigrams—ingenious word designs that can be read from multiple perspectives. Throughout a career spanning decades, John has seamlessly blended art, philosophy, language, and typography, creating works that inspire, challenge, and captivate.
John was a lifer at EA, where his father, George, taught in the Lower School. While at EA, he was a member of the Art Club, Scholium, and contributed to the Tabula. He also pursued various sports, including swimming, basketball, baseball, and soccer, and served as captain of the soccer team his senior year. John continued at Dickinson College, combining his academic and athletic passions, playing soccer all four years, studying studio painting, and majoring in English. A largely self-taught artist, he sought higher education to further develop his intellectual and creative interests.
Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, John established a thriving freelance career, specializing in custom typography, lettering, and occasional logo design for ad agencies in Philadelphia and New York. Simultaneously, he blended his fascination with the yin/yang symbol, psychedelic poster art, the mind-bending work of M.C. Escher, and his typography expertise to create what would become known as "ambigrams"—symmetrical word designs readable from multiple perspectives. An early success came when he sold an ambigram to Jefferson Starship, which appeared on the label of their 1976 Spitfire album.
In 1992, John published his first book, Wordplay, with Three Rivers Press. The book showcased his ambigrams, paired with philosophical essays exploring themes like symmetry, illusion, and meaning. Shortly after its release, John was contacted by math professor Dick Brown, who admired his craft. Brown initially commissioned an ambigram design for his son Dan Brown's album Angels and Demons. Though Dan’s music career didn’t take off, years later he asked John to create ambigrams for his novel Angels & Demons. This collaboration not only led to the global recognition of John's ambigrams but also sparked a friendship with Dan Brown, who partially based the fictional Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, the protagonist of Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code, on John.
John also contributed to the cinematic adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, designing the animated title sequence and the logo for the fictional Depository Bank of Zurich. A second edition of Wordplay was released in 2005, solidifying John’s reputation as a master of visual-verbal art.
In 2007, John and fellow graphic artist Hal Taylor won an award from the Type Directors Club for their font Flexion. Two years later, he co-founded Typedia, a wiki-style font library, alongside Jason Santa Maria, Khoi Vinh, Liz Danzico, and Dan Cederholm. In 2012, John held an exhibition showcasing word paintings based on Rorschach tests, further demonstrating his ongoing exploration of the intersection between typography, language, and visual art.
Throughout his career, John has worked with high-profile clients such as John Mayer, Aerosmith, Sony Pictures, DirecTV, Nike, and Will Shortz. His work has been featured in U&lc Magazine, Letter Arts Review, and the Type Directors Club Annual, as well as in galleries across the country, including the New Britain Museum of American Art, the Type Directors Club, and Drexel University. He has contributed design critiques to magazines like Critique, written forewords for books including The Art of Deception by Brad Honeycutt, and penned prefaces for works like Calligraffiti by Niels Shoe Meulman.
John’s dedication to his craft extended into education, where he inspired countless students during his 27 years as a professor of typography at Drexel University’s College of Media Arts and Design before retiring in 2015. A member of the Type Directors Club, the Society of Scribes, and The One Club, John’s work is deeply influenced by artists such as Salvador Dalí, M.C. Escher, and René Magritte, as well as Taoist philosophy and the yin/yang symbol.
From corporate logos to fine art, and from philosophical essays to inspiring a literary hero, John Langdon has left an indelible mark on both his field and popular culture.
John now resides in Atascadero, CA.