Unknown Alphabets

-Invent a Writing System (Alphabet/code) for an imaginary Civilisation, Subculture or Private Language.
Research:


Pictographic/Ideographic Writing Systems

Intial thoughts to this brief led me back to when i took a trip to Turkey, my fascination for Arabic and Turkish scriptures has grown. Here are few pictures that i took at the Topkapi Palace where the Sultan resided. Absolutely stunning golden scriptures carved on to the palace really inspired me to want to create some sort of writing system that resembled arabic. 

Turkish is written using a modified version of the Latin alphabet introduced in 1928 by Atatürk to replace the Arabic-based Ottoman Turkish alphabet. The Ottoman alphabet marked only three different vowels—long ā, ū and ī—and included several redundant consonants, such as variants of z (which were distinguished in Arabic but not in Turkish). The omission of short vowels in the Arabic script was claimed to make it particularly unsuitable for Turkish, which has eight vowels.

The reform of the script was an important step in the cultural reforms of the period. The task of preparing the new alphabet and selecting the necessary modifications for sounds specific to Turkish was entrusted to a Language Commission composed of prominent linguists, academics, and writers. The introduction of the new Turkish alphabet was supported by public education centers opened throughout the country, cooperation with publishing companies, and encouragement by Atatürk himself, who toured the country teaching the new letters to the public. As a result, there was a dramatic increase in literacy from its original Third World levels.

Trying my own little experiments by placing the top half of the Roman Alphabet on the same line as the bottom half, hoping to look like some sort of arabic or turkish language.

Looking at dimensions:

These dimensions are pretty trippy, i can imagine one enjoying them if they were high. 

Here i've combined my sliced roman alphabet with arabic to make a new language, looks pretty trippy, might be suitable for stoners. 

Here i've combined the english roman alphabet letters to form an arabic alphabet, which acts as a juxtapose as this language can be interpreted either way. Possibly the joining of cultures? 


However I am not sure where this writing system is going as it hasn't exactly got a logical meaning as to why i decided to place the top half of the roman alphabet next to the bottom half purely besides my wanna be arabic/turkish language. Although I do like the dimensions, maybe i will try and incorporate that somehow in whatever i end up doing. Thus my research continues.....


I was just thinking that people communicate messages all the time using body languages, it might be interesting to look at different body languages and make symbols from them? It would be using a language that already exists except it would have a written form? Its interesting to look at each posture would signifying different emotions and feelings. 

I just found this small pictogram of different gestures conveying different emotions, and below i will try creating symbols using the gesture above. 

Before taking my own pictures, I started interpreting my own symbols according to the gestures above. I think my symbols are obvious that they are stick men doing something, maybe not useful to communicate a secret message? maybe i need to simplify my drawings more to make it look more symbol-like then stick men. 

Here I've taken my own images of body language, conveying 8 different body gestures that represent different emotions. I can try making symbols using these images.

I decided to explore undeciphered systems, something more abstract which would give me more freedom to think out of the box for my writing system. Undeciphered systems which may be writing are: 

• Byblos syllabary – the city of Byblos
• Isthmian (apparently logosyllabic)
• Indus – Indus Valley Civilization
• Quipu – Inca Empire (probably numerical only)
• Khitan small script – Khitan
• Cretan hieroglyphs
• Linear A (a syllabary) – Minoan
• Mixtec – Mixtec (perhaps pictographic)
• Olmec – Olmec civilization (possibly the oldest Mesoamerican script)
• Phaistos Disc (a unique text, very possibly not writing)
• Proto-Elamite – Elam (nearly as old as Sumerian)
• Rongorongo – Rapa Nui (perhaps a syllabary)
• Proto-Sinaitic (likely an abjad)
• Zapotec – Zapotec (another old Mesoamerican script)
• Banpo symbols  – Yangshao culture (perhaps proto-writing)
• Jiahu symbols  – Peiligang culture (perhaps proto-writing)

Talking Knots

Quipu or ‘Talking Knots’ is the nickname for a truly unique way to ‘write down’ information: knots tied into strings. Used by the Inca, this is the only known writing system of pre-Columbian America, and dates back at least 4,600 years. ‘Talking knots’ were widely used for taxation, census taking, historical information, astronomy, and possibly even maps.

Most archeologists think that the knotting system contains both numbers and words, but only the numbers have ever been deciphered by modern scholars. The color, position and spacing of the knots might also contribute to their meaning. We don’t know, because talking knots were suppressed by Spanish conquerors in the sixteenth century in an effort to prevent communication of secret messages.

Less than eight hundred quipu, or collections of these knotted strings, survive today. They’re often found inside graves, and archeologists have theorized that they might tell the story of the dead person they were interred with.

Each cluster of knots is a digit, and there are three main types of knots: simple overhand knots, long knots, consisting of an overhand knot with one or more additional turns and figure of eight knots. In the Ascher’s system, a fourth type of know - figutre of eight knot with an extra twist - is reffered to as “EE”. 

Thoroughly fascinated by this system, would be interesting if i could make some sort of simpler version of an alphabet using an interesting medium. These Knots remind me of HAIR..... they look like dreadlocks to me, i wonder if i could make some sort of language or writing system using hair. 

Using HAIR to communicate a Message

So after looking at Quipu, or ‘talking knots’ it just reminded me of hair strands. I thought what if i made a system by using plaits to communicate a message.

These images making me want to start assigning meanings or alphabets to different sorts of plaits and maybe look at making a plait dictionary before starting off my own plait language? or would i be communicating a trend or mood according to the plait?

A braid symbolized earlier, which was woven from three strands of the unity of body, mind and soul. He also stood for the influences that started an adolescent girl and the specific self-image as a woman. In dreams a braid also represents femininity and sensitivity. Braid also can be exhort to concentrate power and energy to a target. 

Psychologically:

Braided hair was once the symbol of order and cleanliness. Braiding hair of ribbons or knitting – are available to weave dreaming, which means, that the influences of life going into a coherent whole. Who in a dream weaves a braid, in waking life defends itself against progress.

Spiritually:

Very subtle influences come into play when the dreamer begins to evolve spiritually. A braid of the crown on his head refers to spiritual power.

I need to decide what sort of meaning I want my braids to portray, and assign meanings to the different braids. Maybe i should start but looking at at different braids and understanding my meaning from those braids and looking at different names of braids.

TESTING BRAIDS WITH COLOUR AND MAKING DIFFERENT SHAPES 

After experimenting with different plaits positions to create different symbols, i wondered whether communicating a message with hair would work as a form of communication. 


- What does the RED thread mean?
- Should i try using different colours, and if so what do those colours represent?
- What do the shapes with the braids mean? 


- WHO would use hair to communicate a message?

Small braids making up different shapes and incorporating colour reminds me of  HIPPIES 


Thus i must research the both cultures, if I'm going to make some sort of writing system that they would use, and decide which subculture would most likely and logically use hair to communicate a message and what sort of messages would they communicate using their hair?Would they be communicating political views? Religion? 




Hippie Culture


Hippies represent the counterculture of the 1960’s. Their lifestyle is usually associated with rock music, hallucinogenic drugs, and long, flowy hair and clothing. They were seen by some as disrespectful and dirty and a disgrace to society, but to many they are a reminder of a more peaceful, carefree part of America’s history. Hippies were strongly against violence and supported liberal policies and freedom of personal expression, their lifestyles centering around the concepts of peace, freedom, and harmony for all people.

Generally, counterculture is used to describe the culture of a group of people whose morals, values, core ideals, and lifestyle differs, contradicts, or is polar to those of mainstream society at the time. Culturally, it is often described as a social equivalent to extremely liberal politics and radicalism.

The hippies of the 1960’s were the teenagers of the baby boom generation, so they were found in large numbers. They were generally Caucasian, middle-class, white teenagers between the ages of 15-25 who were tired of the restrictions put on them by society and their conservative parents. Most lived in urban areas or came from an urban background. They were tired of conforming and began to express themselves in a radical way. Hippies didn’t care about money and worked as little as possible. Instead, many of them shared what they had and lived together in large communes, while others simply lived in poverty by choice. They had very liberal political views and strongly protested the government and the war. The lifestyle of a hippie centered around non-conformity, because hippie culture is all about embracing who you really are and rejecting the need to conform to their society or authorities. 
Some of the main ideas of hippie culture are listed below:
-Do not conform to society.
-Materialism is wrong.
-Technology is unnecessary and oftentimes dehumanizing.
-Be your own person, not who anyone else wants you to be.
Although each hippie embraced his or her own ideals as a part of their new culture, the stereotypical hippie:
-Used hallucinogenic drugs.
-Practiced or were interested in Eastern Religions
-Had very liberal political views.
-Peace and love instead of hate and war.
-Expressed extreme tolerance and on the subject of sexuality and sex.
-Live life to the fullest
-Embrace the peace and love expressed by music, as well as the unification it creates among people, usually rock and roll.








Developing communication using HAIR


After looking at body language, and different gestures and emotions, i realized i could combine emotions with communicating a message using hair. My language could consist of the 10 most common emotions which i would create 10 different hairstyles for. I could have some sort of small catalogue with the 10 different hairstyles and the meaning, and a women could carry this catalogue in her handbag and do her hair according to her mood. 


10 Hairstyles

I just drew out possible hair designs that women could use to communicate a message.

Here are possible front covers for the small catalogue that can go in a women's handbag.

A hairstyle is a result of evolution from simple threads upon a person’s head into a fashion statement, nothing short of a brand of self-expression. Braids are one of such styles adorned by women lest they never find opportunity to speak one’s mind or heart. Braiding is of a mark of their emotion, their testament, their forbidden message, their untold story and a way to communicate that story of how they truly feel. Braiding is an encrypted message used to convey meanings behind hidden emotions.

I feel that the different hairstyles in this concertina might be too DIFFERENT to communicate such emotions, therefore I was thinking to look at the pictures I took that communicate body language, and using the symbols I made, braid the postures on to hair and that would be the way to communicate emotions.

Experimenting

Graphology/Handwriting Analysis

Another reason as why it handwriting is good, is because besides the beauty of the art, there's a lot of character, personality, meaning and sentimentality behind one's handwriting. After reading "The Graphologist Alphabet" which i found very interesting where Graphology of today claim many meanings for each person's tendencies in handwriting. I decided to further explore this outlook of handwriting.

I found this picture below where the 'y' loop tells a lot about what you will be like in bed.

Through this image you can clearly get the idea where you land up in bed. A person can be aggressive, normal, exaggerated or unsatisfied in bed. By this you can reveal a person's most secretive characteristic which only the bed partner knows.

Here is a Handwriting Analysis deck of 64 connected, illustrated cards that teaches you handwriting analysis as you use it.

Niour Diab Yunes looks at Culture Distinctions and Associations in Handwriting

Nour Diab Yunes proves through graphology that there is a human consensus in commodifying elements from remote cultures, and that identity is determined in national, social and occupational systems within culture itself. 

More research and initial ideas

I thought I'd make notebook covers with four different era's in different colours to show the evolution of penmanship. After drawing the images and making the covers I realised that this possible idea would not serve a good purpose as it wouldn't really be promoting or encouraging handwriting. If i choose to make a promotional item for handwriting, this may not be a solid enough idea. 

I need to decide whether I want to PROMOTE handwriting again, or encourage it to those who don't handwrite as much.

Meanwhile, I started researching different pens - Over time handwriting started getting more technical and handwriting became more of a SPEED thing to get something done fast as oppose to an art. It's where a pre-historic time transforms into the roaring IT era.

Evolution of Pens - Uses and Benefits 


- Stress Relief 
- Emotional
- Therapy
- Sincerity in Letters 
- Human
- Freehand Writing 
- Calligraphy - Freehand, Doodle, Pen Sketches

History

4000BC - Man scratches surface of moist clay tablet with bronze or bone.


3000BC - Egyptians developed a form of writing with pictures. For writing on papyrus scroll scribes used thin reed brushes or reed pens.


1300BC - Romans have been developing a form of writing, where they scribed into thin sheets of wax (on wooden tablets). Romans used a metal stylus. When they no longer needed the writing, they rubbed it out with the flat end of a stylus.


600 - 1800s - The Europeans found that writing on parchment with a quill pen alter the style of their writing. At first they used to use capital letters all the time, but later they developed faster styles with small letters. Quill pens were the writing instrument from 600 - 1800AD


1800 - 1850s - A metal pen point has been patented in 1803, but patent was not commercially exploited. By 1850, the Quill Pen usage was fading and the quality of steel ribs had been improved by tipping them with hard alloys of iridium, rhodium and osmium.


1884 - Lewis Edson Waterman, insurance broken invent the first proper fountain pen.


1888 - 1916 - The Principle of a ballpoint pen actually dates from the late 19th century when John Loud took out patents in 1888 for a product to mark leather and in 1916 by Van Vechten Riesberg.


1940s - 1943 the first commercial models were made of the Biro Ball Point Pen. The Ballpoint pen is more rugged than the fountain pen.


1953 - First inexpensive ballpoint pens were available when the french Baron, Bich, developed the industrial process for manufacturing ball point pens that lowered the cost unit dramatically.


1960s - Papermate's Flair was among the first felt-tip pens to hit the U.S. market in the 1960's. Following the initial success with felt-tips, manufacturers branched out with a variety of fibre - tipped instruments.


1980 - 1990 - Rollerball pens employ a mobile ball and a liquid ink to produce a smoother line.


Present - Rubberized writing instruments are commonly used by the companies to reduce the grip.


All this information on the evolution of pens is really fascinating and interesting.

Researching the impact of writing using different pens


Handwriting has turned into more of a speed issue where people just want to write something quick as oppose to it being an art where your thoughts just flow. I started looking at different pens and found that the type of pen you use has a huge impact on your writing speed, stamina and style. The chart below describes the pros and cons of the three main types of pens:

As you can see, fountain or rollerball pens are more difficult to use and cost more, but you'll experience the least amount of friction and have the smoothest glide. This equates to faster writing time, less strain and longer endurance. In my experience, i can write almost 10% faster when using a fountain pen over a ball pen.

Thus was looking at possibly making a series of notebooks that come with a specific pens. After researching the different speeds of pens, i realised it would be interesting to use a combination of speed and some sort of evolution of pens.

The 4 pens I've decide i could provide

-The Quill with an ink bottle
- Fountain pen
- Ball Point
- Gel

Supplying a pen would have two functionalities. Supplying a pen and blank paper enforces using it and writing in it. Secondly what if the user was to find different fun facts and useful information about that particular pen and uses and benefits of handwriting? 

Is Handwriting a Dying Art?

I am a huge lover of hand calligraphy, even though most people would say that it, along with paper correspondence, is a dying breed. While that may be sadly true in some respects,I still think handwriting/type is one of the oldest and most beautiful art forms.

Here are a few articles that suggest that it is a dying art.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7907888.stm

http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2011/10/handwriting

http://www.mamamia.com.au/social/letter-writing-is-a-dying-art-says-baroness-greenfield/

After looking at these articles that suggest that handwriting is replaced by typing as its faster, legible and neater. I decided to go back into the history of writing.

History of Writing

The history of writing records the development of expressing language by letters or other marks.^[1] In the history of how systems of representation of language through graphic means have evolved in different human civilizations, more complete writing systems were preceded by proto-writing, systems of ideographic and/or early mnemonic symbol. True writing, in which the entire content of a linguistic utterance is encoded so that another reader can reconstruct, with a fair degree of accuracy, the exact utterance written down, is a later development, and is distinguished from proto-writing in that the latter typically avoids encoding grammatical words and affixes, making it difficult or impossible to confidently reconstruct the exact meaning intended by the writer unless a great deal of context is already known in advance.

Writing Systems 

Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that one must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to comprehend the text. By contrast, other possible symbolic systems such as information signs, painting, maps, and mathematics often do not require prior knowledge of a spoken language. Every human community possesses language, a feature regarded by many as an innate and defining condition of mankind (see Origin of language). However the development of writing systems, and the process by which they have supplanted traditional oral systems of communication has been sporadic, uneven and slow. Once established, writing systems on the whole change more slowly than their spoken counterparts, and often preserve features and expressions which are no longer current in the spoken language. The great benefit of writing systems is their ability to maintain a persistent record of information expressed in a language, which can be retrieved independently of the initial act of formulation.

The invention of writing was not a one-time event, but a long evolution preceded by the appearance of symbols, possibly first for cultic purposes. Canadian researchers from the University of Victoria suggest that symbolism was used by cave painters of the Neolithic Age. ".

Developmental stages

A conventional "proto-writing to true writing" system follows a general series of developmental stages:^[9]

• Picture writing system: glyphs directly represent objects and ideas or objective and ideational situations. In connection with this the following substages may be distinguished:
  1. The mnemonic: glyphs primarily a reminder;
  2. The pictographic (pictography): glyphs represent directly an object or an objective situation such as (A) chronological, (B) notices, (C) communications, (D) totems, titles, and names, (E) religious, (F) customs, (G) historical, and (H) biographical;
  3. The ideographic (ideography): glyphs represent directly an idea or an ideational situation.
• Transitional system: glyphs refer not only to the object or idea which it represents but to its name as well.
• Phonetic system: glyphs refer to sounds or spoken symbols irrespective of their meanings. This resolves itself into the following substages:
1. The verbal: glyph (logogram) represents a whole word;
2. The syllabic: glyph represent a syllable;
3. The alphabetic: glyph represent an elementary sound.

Modern writing

The nature of writing has been constantly evolving, particularly due to the development of new technologies over the centuries. The pen, the printing press, the computer and the mobile phone are all technological developments which have altered what is written, and the medium through which the written word is produced. Particularly with the advent of digital technologies, namely the computer and the mobile phone, characters can be formed by the press of a button, rather than making the physical motion with the hand.

The nature of the written word had evolved over time to make way for an informal, colloquial written style, where an everyday conversation can occur through writing rather than speaking. Written communication can also be delivered with minimal time delay (e-mail, SMS), and in some cases, with an imperceptible time delay (instant messaging). Writing creates the possibility to break spatial boundaries and travel through time,^{[citation needed]} since a word normally spoken could only exist in the time and space it is spoken in. It creates a certain immortality, that could not be experienced without writing. Socially, writing is seen as an authoritative means of communication, from legal documentation, law and the media all produced through the medium. The growth of multimedia literacy can be seen as the first steps toward a postliterate society.

An info graphic that i found showing that text msgs (SMS) majority are sent by youngsters aged 13 - 17, showing that we rely heavily on technology to communicate as oppose to the basics. 

History of Writing Instruments 

Ancient Writing Instruments - Quills, bamboo, pen sharpeners, fountain pens, pencils, brushes

The history of writing instruments by which humans have recorded and conveyed thought, feelings and grocery lists, is the history of civilisation itself. This is how we know the story of us, by draw ins, signs and words we have recorded. 

The cave man's first inventions were the hunting club (not the auto security device) and the handy sharpened stone, the all purpose skinning and killing tool. The latter was adapted into the first writing instrument. The cave man scratched pictures with the sharpened stone tools onto the walls of his cave dwelling. The cave drawings represented events in daily life such as planting of crops or hunting victories. 

Florian Hardwig has researched the forms of school scripts and various models that are used for teaching children how to write. 

The poster that came with the three books above - "On Air Lines, Flame Bows, Speed Loops" - dialects of handwriting 


Express yourself through Handwriting

Han na Jung's project encourages people to use their handwriting rather than digital typefaces.
Handwriting represents designers’ emotion and themselves. During the digital era, advertising, campaigns,
and branding are increasingly adopting the rough-hewn style of manually created typography. Although
people are welcome to technology and new devices, some of them prefer traditional communications
methods, such as books, face-to-face conversation, and physical mail. An overload of technology might
make people miss the valuable communication ways.

After looking at Han na Jung's Project which portrays different moods and feelings through handwriting, I thought would be quite cool to make my own font - as oppose to having "Bold, Italic, Light, Underline etc" which usually comes with each font you purchase... it would come with "happy, sad, angry etc" which means people could portray their mood and feelings through their writing. 


I need to do a survey to see what people's opinion is, in regards to handwriting being a dying art. 


Possible Questions to ask: 
- How often do you write?
- When was the last time you actually wrote, and what or why were you writing? 
- Do you prefer writing or typing, and why?
- At what age were you taught handwriting?
- If you are writing in print, when was the last time you wrote in cursive?

After looking at handwriting, i started to look at the FOUR ERA's of Penmanship


- The Quill 
- Printing Press 
- Typewriter 
- The computer


Inspiration:

LOVE LOVE LOVE these notebook covers - such a cute idea and concept , i could try doing something similar. 


Here I've just done some drawings to start experimenting with initial ideas