Week 8 Workshop: Writing it down

You design a script and then test it by hand — writing the same sentence three times, at speed

15 April 2027

Before the session#

Watch The Return of the King. Bring a pen that you like and more paper than you think you need.

In the session#

An hour of design, starting from your phonology rather than from how the letters look. It is tempting to draw attractive glyphs and then work out what they stand for; everybody who does this ends up with a script that cannot write their own language.

Then the speed test, which takes up most of the session. You write one sentence three times, fast, and compare the three. Letters that are distinct when drawn carefully and identical when written quickly are a design fault — real scripts either remove those pairs or develop a cursive form that keeps them apart. You will find at least one.

Afterwards#

You now have a language that can be both spoken and written, which is further than most screen languages get.

The next two weeks are given to the essay rather than to building. Read the essay brief before Monday; the film is one you have already seen, and you will be watching it differently.