CHAPTER 01 | Type & Language

22 'magic signs'

• Phoenician characters which developed into what was to become the basis of the modern Latin alphabet

• Alphabet widely used in Slavic languages (Russian, Ukrainian, etc.) is based on Glagolitic and Greek.

• Written and read from top to bottom.

• A graphic element that represents an idea or a concept.

Ampersand

• u

• A ligature of the letters of the Latin word et, which means ‘and’.

• Phoenician characters which developed into what was to become the basis of the modern Latin alphabet

• Based on the 22 consonants of the Phoenician alphabet with an optional marking of vowels using diacritics.

Arabic

• Developed from Phoenician, it is a Semitic language and a precursor for Arabic and Hebrew

• Written and read from top to bottom

• Based on the 22 consonants of the Phoenician alphabet with an optional marking of vowels using diacritics.

• u

Arabic calligraphy

• A ligature of the letters of the Latin word et, which means ‘and’.

• u

• Phoenician characters which developed into what was to become the basis of the modern Latin alphabet

• Written and read from right to left.

Aramaic

• A mark or glyph (symbol) used in an alphabetic writing system to indicate a sound.

• Developed from Phoenician, it is a Semitic language and a precursor for Arabic and Hebrew.

• u

• A graphic element that represents an object, person or something else.

Boustrophedon (Greek)

• u

• Written and read from right to left and from left to right in alternate lines.

• u

• Developed in ancient Mesopotamia, it is one of the earliest standardized writing systems.

Chinese ideograms

• Developed in ancient Mesopotamia, it is one of the earliest standardized writing systems.

• A graphic element that represents an object, person or something else.

• u

• Written and read from top to bottom.

Cyrillic

• u

• Alphabet widely used in Slavic languages (Russian, Ukrainian, etc.) is based on Glagolitic and Greek.

• Written and read from right to left, left to right, or downwards, depending on the direction the objects face.

• Written and read from top to bottom

Cuneiform

• A mark or glyph (symbol) used in an alphabetic writing system to indicate a sound.

• Developed in ancient Mesopotamia, it is one of the earliest standardized writing systems.

• u

• A ligature of the letters of the Latin word et, which means ‘and’.

The Greeks

• A graphic element that represents an object, person or something else.

• Adopted from the Phoenician system and developed vowels to created a complete phonetic alphabet.

• u

• Developed in India and introduced to the West by Arab scholars.