Inversions / Scott Kim (180 degree rotation, 1981)

Title lettering for book published by Byte Books, a division of McGraw Hill, currently out of print.

This inversion has become my signature image, literally. For my book Inversions I wanted the title to turn into my name. Titles have to be very legible, so I worked hard and went through dozens of drafts before I arrived at this solution. I also use it on my business card and many things I do.

A few things to notice. The calligraphic style, with its generous serifs, helps mask some of the compromises I had to make in the letter shapes. Notice how the serifs at the bottoms of the I and N at the beginning of "Inversions" are essential for making the M at the end of "Scott Kim". The O and N at the end of "Inversions" run together to make what is called in typeface design a ligature. All the capitalization is correct, an ideal I strive for but do not always achieve. Often inversions end up mixing upper and lower case.