Various styles

[masako]

a) Epigraphic
b) Handwritten
c) Billboard (3D)
d) Kufic
e) Text / Typed

So there are a few styles of Omyatloko. Which one do you prefer?

[Travis B.]

They are all nice, but I am in particular a fan of the handwritten style.

[Pedant]

They are all nice, but I am in particular a fan of the handwritten style.

Ditto!

[bradrn]

I really like both the handwritten (B) and textual (E) style. I can definitely see how one is used for handwriting and the other for more formal, printed documents.

As for the other styles:

• Epigraphic (A) and billboard (C) just look like different variations/fonts of E — I'm struggling to even process them as their own styles rather than just a variation of E.
• Kufic (D) seems unnecessarily hard to read. I could see it as having marginal use in highly decorative scenarios, but not outside that.

(BTW, I really like the brush effect for the handwriting! Did you actually get a brush and scan it in, or did you use some kind of software to make it?)

[Xwtek]

I also have a problem with B style. It's actually handwrititg-hostile. There's simply too many strokes to make a glyph. You should try to slur it into fewer strokes as possible.

[zompist]

I also have a problem with B style. It's actually handwrititg-hostile. There's simply too many strokes to make a glyph. You should try to slur it into fewer strokes as possible.

Hmm? It's obviously modelled on kaishu, down to the way of writing squares.

However, you may have a point: I'd like to see more caishu-like versions. As it's a syllabary, you could probably simplify syllables quite a bit before the glyphs become hard to read.

[bradrn]

I also have a problem with B style. It's actually handwrititg-hostile. There's simply too many strokes to make a glyph. You should try to slur it into fewer strokes as possible.

I don't think so — it's no more complex than Hanzi or Yi, for instance (cf. some random glyphs from those: 體書薦薛颜ꁟꆙꆗꊑꎴꑵ). In fact, I just got out a piece of paper and tried writing the sample text given, and it was incredibly easy; it was certainly easier than writing any of the Chinese/Yi glyphs I copied. I do think the letters would be simplified slightly, but only in handwriting and no more than any other script.

[M Mira]

I also have a problem with B style. It's actually handwrititg-hostile. There's simply too many strokes to make a glyph. You should try to slur it into fewer strokes as possible.

And I shall introduce you to the Tangut script:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangut_script

The [Tangut] language is remarkable for being written in one of the most inconvenient of all scripts, a collection of nearly 5,800 characters of the same kind as Chinese characters but rather more complicated; very few are made up of as few as four strokes and most are made up of a good many more, in some cases nearly twenty. It is extremely difficult to remember them, since there are few recognizable indications of sound and meaning in the constituent parts of a character, and in some cases characters which differ from one another only in minor details of shape or by one or two strokes have completely different sounds and meanings.

[Pabappa]

Sure, but we can do better than Tangut. We could hardly do worse.... it's notoriously bad.

I like all the scripts about equally...they're similar enough that I could see all five being in use for different artistic purposes. Though I'd wonder .... what do people do when they just have ordinary pens, pencils, and crayons? If such things exist.

[Vijay]

Aww, I like Tangut!

But yeah, I'm leaning towards B myself.

[quinterbeck]

Looking at E (typed), I wonder: if the users of this script were to develop movable type, perhaps they would manufacture blocks for the glyph components rather than whole glyphs, e.g. 'dot', ' short line', 'long line', 'square' etc. and arrange them into the glyphs on the forme?

Then suppose they invented the typewriter and transposed the same approach. Would it even be feasible? If so that would probably result in some very interesting mechanisms

But yes, B is my favourite. I love the shape of the squares and rectangles

[zompist]

I hope masako won't mind if I put up a more cursive interpretation. The idea, if it's not clear, is that a discontinuity is replaced by a squiggle, so you can tell where graphemes were merged.

[alice]

I prefer B, too.

This suggests an easy way to generate raw proto-glyphs which can then be handwritten to turn them into something more naturalistic: just start with a (small) rectangular array of dots and explore the ways they can be joined together. An array of three rows of two columns has the interesting property that it's isomorphic with the characters you can show on a 7-segment LED display.

[masako]

They are all nice, but I am in particular a fan of the handwritten style.

Ditto!

Thank you.

(BTW, I really like the brush effect for the handwriting! Did you actually get a brush and scan it in, or did you use some kind of software to make it?)

The initial brush strokes were scanned and then edited in Photoshop.

It's actually handwrititg-hostile.

Well, that's definitely the first time "hostile" has been used to describe one of my writing systems.

There's simply too many strokes to make a glyph. You should try to slur it into fewer strokes as possible.

The most complex Hanzi has 57 strokes. "想", which is one of the 100 most common Hanzi has 13 strokes. None of the syllables in the example has more than 6 strokes. Also, if you look at this page, under "Stroke Order", you'll see the ""that writing characters should be economical, with the fewest hand movements to write the most strokes possible"" is the guiding principle for the handwritten style.

I'd like to see more caishu-like versions.

I assume you mean "caoshu"? And I promise I'm not that talented.

I just got out a piece of paper and tried writing the sample text given, and it was incredibly easy; it was certainly easier than writing any of the Chinese/Yi glyphs I copied. I do think the letters would be simplified slightly, but only in handwriting and no more than any other script.

This makes me smile incredibly hugely.

I hope masako won't mind if I put up a more cursive interpretation. The idea, if it's not clear, is that a discontinuity is replaced by a squiggle, so you can tell where graphemes were merged.

Mind?! I'm honored. Also, if you look closely at zomp's well-done sample, you can begin to see the resemblance to the Hangul which inspired the script to begin with.

I prefer B, too.

Thank you.

[xxx]

my favorite remains the A, very specific...
the D is fine (but not in gray, too difficult to read)...
the B, is, for me, a little too Chinese-like...
Have you tried some occidental alphabet look (not sure I'dl prefer it)...
I enjoys your skills of calligrapher...

[masako]

Have you tried some occidental alphabet look (not sure I'dl prefer it)...

Could you be more specific?

If you're simply asking whether I've created an alphabet for Kala, no. That's primarily due to its strict CV syllable structure. Syllabaries and abugidas are the best options, by far.

the B, is, for me, a little too Chinese-like...

What level of "Chinese-like" would be acceptable? In your eyes...

[bradrn]

If you're simply asking whether I've created an alphabet for Kala, no. That's primarily due to its strict CV syllable structure. Syllabaries and abugidas are the best options, by far.

As someone with a keen interest in writing systems, I'd like to point out that 'best option' is almost never found in natural writing systems. Witness Japanese, with two syllabaries used for grammatical particles/affixes, and a complex logography used for the content words, resulting in a situation where you can read most of the sentence easily except for all the important bits. Or Linear B, which discards and merges sound willy-nilly. Or Cherokee, which has many almost identical glyphs. Or English, with its complex intersecting almost-regular rules. Or Thai, with its complex tone-determination-with-duplicate-letters system. Or... You probably get the point. In fact, I would personally say that these weird writing systems are the most interesting ones: there's only so much you can do with a perfectly regular, perfectly phonemic and perfectly compact system, but it's really interesting figuring out how much you can torture and bend the rules of the system to get it to express your language.

On the other hand, the script you already have is probably one of the prettiest conscripts I've seen, so by all means continue with it. I'm just pointing out something which I think is forgotten all too often.

[xxx]

Have you tried some occidental alphabet look (not sure I'dl prefer it)...

Could you be more specific?

I was talking about, in addition to a purely alphabetical system, this type of style where each sign is very identifiable separately, following sequences of curves and straight lines with a very horizontal character, and which often coexists with very arabic cursive writings, like Phoenician Greek Latin or Cyrillic ...

the B, is, for me, a little too Chinese-like...

What level of "Chinese-like" would be acceptable? In your eyes...

this resemblance seems forced to me, as could be the one with the Western alphabetic scriptures, quite acceptable, especially for the languages of its sphere of influence ...

[Qwynegold]

I like B the most and then A. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but by coincidence I've made a Latin font once that looked extremely similar to A.

[masako]

I like B the most and then A.

Thank you.