Hasta La Ideas

San Francisco-based graphic designer Stephen Gose has a thing for the ampersand. “I think it is often the most attractive character of them all,” notes Gose on his blog, The Ampersand. Created in May 2008 as an attempt “to give this humble ligature the respect it deserves,” The Ampersand is a chronicle of ampersand sightings, whether on signage, book covers, tote bags, jewelry, cookies, pet cemetery gravestones, or a polo shirt worn by a waiter in the Galapagos Islands. Photos snapped by Gose and submitted by readers from around the world reveal backwards ampersands, graffitti ampersands, treble clefs masquerading as ampersands, and permanent ampersands—the freshly inked “&” tattoos of die-hard fans.

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