Formal Economy of Written Signs

Abstract

Those portions of a sign’s shape which are distinctive, yet in themselves valueless, can be viewed as forming a system. Such systems have ranged historically from the very loose to the very tight. When the possibilities of arranging these elements are also considered, the great range in economy of design becomes even more apparent. Our own roman script, in fact, is rather inefficient it these terms; Morse Code, on the other hand, is quite efficient, though not perfect. It might prove useful to develop other scripts based on these principles of internal economy. But economy of form is not the same as efficiency of use: it is merely one possible component of efficiency, and must be carefully distinguished as such.