The Language of Icons: A Global Code
The male/female silhouette on a bathroom door and the Wi-Fi symbol on a café window are part of a global, visual language designed for instant decryption. But have you ever…
Unlocking the Universe of Languages
The male/female silhouette on a bathroom door and the Wi-Fi symbol on a café window are part of a global, visual language designed for instant decryption. But have you ever…
Ever dreamed of creating your own alphabet? This guide delves into the art and science of script creation, exploring the cognitive principles that make a writing system successful. Learn the…
Arabizi is the internet’s hybrid Arabic script, an ingenious solution to typing Arabic sounds on Latin keyboards using numbers like '3' for 'ﻉ' and '7' for 'ﺡ'. What began as…
In the 13th century, Kublai Khan commissioned a single, official script to unite the vast, multilingual Mongol Empire. The result was Phags-pa, a unique, vertically-written alphabet designed to write everything…
In the 1960s, a radical new alphabet for English was born, bankrolled by the will of playwright George Bernard Shaw. Designed to be perfectly logical and efficient, the Shavian alphabet…
In the 1830s, an illiterate Vai man in West Africa named Momolu Duwalu Bukele had a vivid dream where he was shown a book of symbols. Inspired by this vision…
Long before a language falls silent, its unique writing system can fade into obscurity. This post explores ten beautiful and endangered scripts, from the vertical Mongolian alphabet to the Philippines'…