Jihhograms

A bottom-up logography with dynamic allographs, distinctive typography, and historical spelling that plays with written space like a puzzle.

Contents

About the creator

On the internet, I am commonly known as Pynquee (read as “pink” or “pinky”) or PinkTreasure on Reddit. I’ve been interested in neography since I first discovered conlanging. I’ve always had a fascination towards writing systems and how they function, and have thus researched quite a bit about different writing systems. I am currently studying Chinese in university, and learning hanzi has made a big impact on how I view logographic scripts.

To me neography is an art comparable to painting or music. It takes knowledge of calligraphy, handwriting, typography, linguistics, culture and so on to make a good writing system. I try to create more complex scripts that rely more heavily on either the reader or the writer, or where there is nuance in writing; this is what I believe brings a script to a different level.

1. What I wanted from the script

The script was always meant for a conlang I created called Jihhan, and I wanted it to fit that language like a glove, so much that it would almost always break when trying to write any other language.

First, the script was supposed to be complicated: hard for both the reader and the writer to figure out how to read or write. Secondly, it was supposed to feel refined, something that is highly structured yet flexible. And lastly, it had to become my magnum opus, something that I could be proud of, something original and creative which, of course, is quite the challenge.

Jihhan is supposed to be a prestigious language of a powerful empire, and the script has to convey that air of culture. Its complexity and nuance was meant to be a deliberate barrier between the upper class and the lower class within society.

2. Predecessor script

My main attempt before arriving at Jihhograms was Dukrung. Dukrung is a dynamic script where each primary glyph has multiple readings, and the intended reading is determined by complement glyphs that go before or above the primary glyph.

Dukrung wasn’t the final stop was because it started feeling bothersome to write. A lot of times, you’d need to spell out the syllables with the use of complements and other diacritics, which meant that the original idea of having confusing and complex reading system was disappearing. Having to use complements a lot also diluted their uniqueness.

Any syllable required writing at least two glyphs, which is exactly what I did not want. With a simpler syllable structure, this idea might work better, but I was making the script fit the language instead of making the language fit the script!

3. Classical logography problem

One of the first problems I encountered when approaching making logograms is that they often don’t look unique. There aren’t that many logographies on Earth to get inspiration from. There are huge amounts of alphabets, syllabaries, abugidas, etc, however for logographies, we have only so little that remain in the modern day: CJK characters or also known as hanzi, kanji and hanja. Other often-referenced logographies are Mesoamerican writing and Egyptian hieroglyphs.

I wanted to make a noticeably different script. A lot of times, I ended up doing characters created with Chinese-like strokes. The problem with this approach is that they inevitably end up looking somewhat like Chinese.

4. Finding a new look

I was first inspired by the way Egyptian hieroglyphs don’t have a fixed direction and can be written left-to-right, right-to-left, or top-to-bottom. But also, glyphs aren’t written in a straightforward line as they are in Chinese; instead the writing space is ordered based on the shapes of the glyphs.

For example, when a big vertical glyph is followed by two smaller glyphs, the smaller glyphs are stacked on top of eachother to match the height of the larger glyph. Like how the beetle and mouth signs are placed in the spelling of Khepri in Egyptian hieroglyphs below. I found this very interesting and didn’t find anyone else who had done such a thing. That was the first piece of the puzzle.

The second piece to finding a new look was from the shapes and lines that the glyphs are built from. I was inspired by Khmer script, especially its serif designs.

Those serif designs created the basis for the aesthetic that my script was going to deliver. Initially I relied quite a bit on those serifs, but through making variants of glyphs (on that later) and newer glyphs later on, the vibe of the script morphed from the initial Khmer inspiration to something distinct with its own identity.

5. Evolution method

Jihhograms are a part of a conworlding project called Sahar. The world of Sahar is meant to be realistic, thus a writing system cannot come into being just randomly. It all starts from an older stage of writing, something of a proto-writing to early writing. These initial glyphs are simple and convey general ideas. Since these are pictograms and there are thousands of them, let’s follow the evolution of a select few of these glyphs for now: tree, person, father, cloud and mountain:

These pictograms gave me a reasonably clean slate to work with. Then I decided to go for something more hieroglyph-esque. These characters are called “Darimic characters”. Instead of simplifying these already quite simple glyphs, I made them far more complex and artistic. Usually when going for the evolution method of making glyphs, you’d simplify glyphs, but that’s not necessarily the only way forward. Depending on the usage of the script, it can become even more complex, especially when the amount of glyphs in the writing system gets bigger.

For almost all of these glyphs, I gave them more detail and character. These were done purely by artistic choice instead of writing speed. This complexity not only gives this stage of the script more character, but also allows for more ways to simplify the glyphs into several daughter scripts. This is also when glyphs start to have multiple variants for the same meaning. The glyph for “person” for example has two ways to write it:

Both of these mean the same thing, the only difference is size. The writing is incredibly flexible and supports any direction that the scribe can think of. The differently sized versions of the glyphs help to fill gaps and make it pretty, even if that makes it harder to read or write.

The next stage of evolving the script was to simplify it again. This means making the glyphs more abstract. In this stage, writing carried a dominating and heavy feeling; monolithic and imposing characters on big stone obelisks:

The imposing and structured visuals also grant this stage of the script its name: Monolithic Ybon. The meaning of some glyphs change in this stage. From our selected glyphs “father” now means “parent”. Furthermore, the sizes of glyphs were more defined and standardised, and the writing layout was set in stone (haha).

This layout is a block, like Korean Hangul, where individual alphabetic pieces are put together in a singular block to create a syllable. In this writing system though, instead of alphabetic pieces you have logograms like Chinese. These restrictions, combined with the earlier evolution of variant glyphs, create a unique system where one logogram had multiple variants, which makes writing without gaps possible. For example, the logogram for “person” has three variants:

All of these three variants mean “person”. At this stage, the writing direction was set as a bottom to top, since these were written on big obelisks and it was more comfortable to start writing from the bottom and go upwards. It was also easier for the reader to start at eye level, which naturally led the eye upwards, focusing attention to the whole structure rather than just the writing.

The final stage, the evolution of Jihhograms, iterated on the idea of having multiple variants, writing things in a block, but also transitioning from a sans serif monolithic script to a serif-filled intricate script:

6. Coming up with the designs

Now, let’s talk about how I actually came up with the characters and how it all started. The creative process is never as clean as I had described it to be in the previous section. My process often includes a massive amount of iteration.

First I began with the hieroglyphic-esque script called Darimic characters that I had already made. I did indeed evolve the final script from that, but not quite as smoothly. After months and maybe even years of frustration, I decided to make a logography instead of the abugidas and syllabaries I had made before. I didn’t really want to make a logography at first since writing anything would require me to keep making new characters almost every time, and I was way too lazy for that. But I still decided to give it a try since I wasn’t satisfied with earlier attempts.

The first step was to simplify the Darimic characters into simpler shapes. I always start on paper:

As you can see, a few of my initial tries were influenced by Chinese Hanzi, which also made the script feel more CJK-esque, which was something I really did not want. Thus I decided to go with ones I had written with a marker.

From there I decided to concentrate my attention on those few characters. This is where the iteration truly begins:

Loads and loads of different versions of the same few characters. Exploring the shapes of strokes in the characters I liked, writing characters in more of a calligraphic fashion, using different methods, etc. All of this is a crucial stage of any script making. I played around with holding my brush-pen differently, applying pressure at different times. I experimented with smooth rounded shapes and strong angular shapes, with lineweight and possible serifs. I decided that I liked the strong angular look the most.

From here onwards I focused more on the shape language and uniformity:

You don’t really have to keep your iteration process neat and orderly. I usually randomly write stuff anywhere on the paper and then mess around with different styles whilst writing that same character over and over. What helps me in particular is also writing (drawing really) real scripts on the same page while I’m figuring out the script. I feel like I do that when I get frustrated when I can’t make anything I like. Comparing scripts like this can also make your own scripts feel more grounded and “real”.

After finding a style I was happy with, I decided to figure out how the mechanics of the script work:

Here you can see the blocks I made. By this point I already knew that I wanted the script to be put together like Tetris. But I had to figure out which shapes I needed to make for each character, which also expanded the scope of each character.

After having the style I want and the mechanics of it worked out, it was time to put the two together (and also play around with the style more because that’s fun):

As said before: iteration, iteration, iteration. I was quite happy with this stage, however, I wanted the modern script to be intricate and fancy, for it to exude high culture. Thus I looked for aesthetic inspiration that would give me this vibe. And I landed on Khmer script, especially one particular shape from the Khmer script:

I tried to write the characters using this piece and then matching other strokes with it:

7. Cohering the shape language

Having finally found the style, I began digitalizing it, since I knew I wanted to use the script in different kinds of infographics, maps, posters etc. It’s also easier to keep track of all the characters on a computer. Not only that, but compiling characters from pre-existing parts of other characters makes my life easier, and it will keep the script cohesive.I basically just reused that exact upper part of រ (rô) for my script but as I kept making glyphs, I needed a few more shapes, which I based around that particular shape. This resulted in the vertical strokes getting this slanted serif look

Reusing these shapes creates a cohesive look, but can also cause monotony and make it hard to read and frankly boring to look at. So when making more complicated characters, I add a few more shapes. Technically this breaks the limitations I had already set, but this introduces interest and also creates more varied glyphs:

Not only does it introduce more visually interesting shapes, it also distances my script from the Khmer script. Still, I didn’t want to make the strokes too different from pre-existing strokes. So when creating new shapes, I use the same logic and other already-made pieces which, while very different, keep that cohesive look without looking boring.

8. Constructing Jihhograms

When making new characters, I always try to derive them instead of making them up from thin air.

Let’s make a character from scratch for the word harbour: “kyíeḷ” /kiə̯ɭ˦/. First I make a Darimic character for it. This I either just draw as how it was seen back in like 2500 BCE (comparable to Earth), or using multiple symbols that add up to suggest the meaning of the character. The latter is what I did for the word “bay”; at the top I used the sign for water, then a “U” shape to indicate the shape of a bay, and at the bottom I placed the sign for “ground”, basically drawing out the meaning. Notice that the word is “bay” back then and later shifted into meaning “harbour”.

After Darimic characters comes Monolithic Ybon. This one is characterised by thick lines, 90 degree angles, curves, and circles. I usually just simplify what I see from the Darimic characters. This is also when I make variants of the glyphs, usually just stretching them out or squishing them down, or even using analogy with other glyphs: basically imagining what the scribes from that period might’ve used to replace parts of the glyph for either aesthetics, convenience or injecting more meaning into the glyphs by using parts from other glyphs.

For this glyph I just simplified it. Since the Darimic character is already quite simple, this was pretty easy to do. I also made two variants, just because I know I will need more than one variant when writing, so I’d rather at least two per character every time.

Now comes the most interesting part. I have to make two variants for one character: a medium sized one and a thin horizontal one. So instead of making one logogram, I have to make two.

The very first step is always to look at other glyphs I’ve already made and see if any similar parts would fit the new one. The first things that instantly grab my attention are the bottom parts of the glyphs; the horizontal rectangle for the bigger one and the horizontal line for the smaller one. I see that I have multiple glyphs with a horizontal line at the bottom that I can reuse for the smaller glyph, but I don’t have a proper rectangle that would fit the bigger one. So I decided to reuse a part from the glyph for “west” because the lines (red) look similar and could evolve to be written as such. The inner part of the bigger variant (blue) stands for water, so I just reused the glyph for water.

The smaller variant is harder to make since it has a more unique shape that I have not dealt with before. So first I tried using a horizontal line at the bottom and an “U”-ish shape on top of that.

Even though I haven’t made the whole glyph yet, I didn’t like the shape, so I decided to scrap this version. After thinking a bit, I realise that this shape and the same part of the bigger’s shape are very similar, so I could use the same shape as the bigger variant.

Now to add the three dots. I just decided to add three very short vertical lines to fill in the gap, corresponding directly with the Monumental Ybon character. I am quite satisfied with the results and feel like they fit in very well with other glyphs.

For a more complicated view on how I make the Jihhograms, I use loads of individual shapes to build up bigger shapes. Let’s use the bigger variant for the word “harbour” as an example. This glyph consists of two bigger pieces: the water glyph and the “U” shape with a rectangle at the bottom. These are two obvious shapes making the bigger full glyph. Let’s look at the “U” shape more closely. Actually clicking on the shape makes it immediately known that the shape consists of multiple other shapes.

Let’s unpiece it for a better understanding of what the shapes consist of.

As we can see, it is actually made of six different basic shapes (or three if you don’t count stretching and mirroring) which I have just stitched together to create a bigger shape. I recommend doing this when creating more intricate scripts, especially ones with a lot of serifs, such as the Jihhograms. All of the Jihhograms consist of these basic shapes and sometimes special shapes that are only used in specific glyphs.

Here I’ve disassembled the glyph for god or deity: “ǹkyeu” /ᵑkou̯˨/. This one consists of 21 pieces and features a lot of common pieces found in other glyphs. This method makes glyph creation way easier, since I don’t have to remake the shapes every time or worry about them looking the same. This method basically guarantees uniformity and forces the use of the same shape language.

Even though logically some shapes may not make sense considering the writing instrument, the constant use and same shape language allow it to pass by the viewer’s eyes and remain aesthetically pleasant, sometimes even adding in uniqueness that creates interest.

9. Semantics and determinatives

One of the reasons why I didn’t want to make a logographic script was that you need to make a lot of glyphs. I felt like making glyphs every time I wanted to write anything was too much. I still somewhat think so, however I found a way around this, kinda. I created two systems that allow me to make fewer logograms than what you’d normally need.

The first system is that almost all logograms (except newer words) have a secondary reading. This technically evolved from an earlier stage of the language, where the plural form of a word became too different from the singular word and got semantically shifted to a new meaning. However, that initial word was already written in logograms before this shift happened and that feature stayed, so both words get written with the same logogram. As this change happened, the plural marker also shifted to a new meaning as it was associated with the new shifted word’s meaning. So the plural marker turned into a “secondary meaning” marker, or sometimes called “historical plural” marker. So essentially, we have historical spelling in a logographic writing system.

For example, the logogram for face has two readings, one is “ǹkou” /ᵑkɒu̯˨/ which means face or front, and the secondary reading is “ǹkhớ” /ᵑkʰɒ˦/ which means authority.

This same concept also applies to verbs: main reading is “jeṣớng” /jə’ʂɒŋ˦/ which means to bleed, the secondary reading is “ṭóeṣ” /ʈoi̯ʂ˦/ which means wet or slippery.

However, some logograms don’t have secondary meanings just due to the fact that their old plural form merged with the singular form.

The second system I use to make fewer logograms is determinatives. Determinatives are separate glyphs that determine the meaning of the main glyph. You can think of these as like radicals in Chinese characters, but they are not part of the glyph itself. For example the word for county “ṛyeu” /ɻou̯˨/ is written using the “small object, piece” determinative and the character for “country, state”.

10. Assembling blocks

When working out the script mechanics, I simplified the placement feature of the hieroglyph-esque script into a standardised block system for the monumental script. However, I felt like the block system was a bit too complex for a logography and I was (and still am) too lazy to figure out that many logograms. So I simplified that even more into one block:

Which can have any of these sizes of characters in it to fill it:

Though technically you don’t have to fill the entire block. You only need to fill in a layer, which depends on writing direction.

“But how does that work?” you ask. Same as other scripts that use this method: you change the shape of the letter to fit the block. Jihhograms work the same way, except with logograms instead of letters. This also means that each logogram has multiple different variants. For example the logogram for “river” has three variants:

They all mean the same thing, but are used on different occasions depending on other words in the block, the balance of the block, and sometimes syllable stress when read phonetically.

For example “I have a dog” would be written as “I dog have” (SOV) with these characters (“I, me”, “dog”, “to have”):

However these three don’t fit inside a block without leaving blank spaces:

But we can use variants to figure out how to fit them into a single block. For example, the character for “I, me” has four variants:

But we still can’t quite make a full block. Let’s also look at the variants for “to have”:

With the variants, we can fill in an entire block without leaving blank spaces:

11. Reading order

Reading order is actually quite free. No matter the writing direction, reading order is generally bottom-to-top, but this can also be secondary reading order, eg. left-to-right then bottom-to-top. The general rule is that if the writing direction is bottom-to-top left-to-right, then in-block reading is either bottom-to-top left-to-right or left-to-right bottom-to-top. Furthermore, due to the nature of being written in blocks, the writing can be bottom-to-top, but also top-to-bottom and even left-to right and right-to-left. This incredibly flexible system allows for texts where both vertical and horizontal boustrophedon are used.

Generally, reading order in blocks is simple. It is either bottom-to-top then left-to-right, or left-to-right then bottom-to-top:

But in more complex blocks with more glyphs, the reading order can get quite convoluted as the reading order is less apparent:

The first example block is that of a normal bottom-to-top then left-to-right reading. The second example is that of a normal left-to-right then bottom-to-top. After that it gets more complex. In the third example, reading order is based on separating the block into further sections and then applying the reading order. In this example, the reader starts with a left-to-right then bottom-to-top approach, but only does this for the first two columns in the block. In the fourth example it is reversed. Fortunately though, this happens very rarely and is usually easily understandable by the fixed word order and grammatical markers.

Let’s look at another example, but this time we’re going to look at a longer and more complex sentence. With this we can also see the reading order on a bigger scale and how it favours the writer over the reader. Still, most texts will be comparatively straight-forward in terms of reading direction:

12. Conclusions & artwork

I think I have managed to achieve my original goal. Jihhograms is definitely a script that is hard to write, since you have to plan ahead when writing so as to not leave gaps. It is also hard on the reader since the reader has to memorise not only logograms but also combinations with determinatives and the secondary meanings of the characters. And as if that wasn’t hard enough, the reader also has to memorise multiple variants for each character.

I also like how it visually turned out. In the beginning, I was a bit afraid that it would look too Khmer-inspired, but with time the aesthetic evolved itself into something new and interesting. The direction of writing and block structure also adds to this effect, basically creating solid pillars that look distinct from any other writing systems. At least, those I’ve come across.

Overall I feel proud of this script and can safely say it’s the best script I have made. I can call this writing system my magnum opus.

But I can’t leave this showcase on an empty note so I’ll leave some examples of the script in use:

If you want to learn more about the Imperial Jigh, the world in which Jihhograms exist, check out the wiki on conworkshop.com!