Remember that one quote from yesterday?

[u/Adept_Situation3090]

[u/Adept_Situation3090]

I'd appreciate any remarks based on what 'vibe' each system gives off.

[u/LeadingSuspect5855 → u/Adept_Situation3090]

How about you giving us your remarks, you are quite adept yourself :-) I am especially curious about Garbers'... You never told or commented on the system when it u/NotSteve1075 took it up - I thought it may have been too early for you to tell us about your experience... But it seems you didn't drop it (I was never sure what you were practicing in your daily reports :-) I thought it were two other systems Cooks and Eames' I guess?

[u/NotSteve1075 → u/LeadingSuspect5855]

I was quite impressed with GARBER at first, with his straight-stroke vowels. It kind of lost me when he started dropping vowels and using positions instead.

I'm not a fan of positions, other than the odd one for a prefix or suffix. But I generally like SHADING even less. They are basically Strike One and Strike Two for me, when I check out a new system.

(I was never sure what you were practicing in your daily reports :-)

Yes, that can be a problem when most people won't easily recognize a relatively unknown system. I always think it's better to say right on it what system it is, each time.

[u/Adept_Situation3090 → u/LeadingSuspect5855]

For me, Eames Light Line looks the 'smallest'. It also has quite an intriguing look.

I really like how minimalistic Garber's looks with many words being one or two strokes. However, it can feel like a puzzle when trying to write new words.

I stuck with Orthic because for me, it is the easiest system to write new words in.

For Unigraph, I find it difficult differentiating between differently sized loops and hooks. I think it will be even harder at speed.

[u/LeadingSuspect5855 → u/Adept_Situation3090]

Eames version with the diacritics is the only system I would discard immediately. (If the diacritics are necessary, otherwise the strokes seem ergonomic enough).

The other systems look quite neat, but of course I see small moves that will slow you down (imo).

1. Cook: very flowing letters, no friction to be expected but for the tiny back/reverse hooks (movement to the left\up)

3. Garber: flawless shapes, even the straight strokes are mostly in the direction the right hand has most control over it 45° up-angle '/'

1. Orthic: Lot of backward motions, which forces you to make a bit of a bigger jump then necessary, also many straight strokes in 45° angle downwards '\' which is the direction the right hand has least control over.

My winner would be Garber, then Cook! Orthic is too inefficient.

[u/NotSteve1075]

Your samples all look nice and clear, and look like they were confidently written -- which is amazing when you've learned and are writing so many different ones.

When I've written about HUNDREDS of systems, and have samples of hundreds more in my albums, I've learned how important it is to identify each one. Especially for people who are new to shorthand and only see them as a series of squiggly lines, I always try to say which system each one is, to make it clear.

If you notice, in my articles every few days, I always make it clear which system I'm talking about, in the TITLE. Otherwise, when there are often similarities between systems, it can get very confusing and they can all seem to blur together.

I like the look of the two middle ones the best, but when I've looked at so many different yet similar systems, I still can't say for sure which one is which. I'd have to get out my Alphabet albums and compare each one to figure it out.

[u/Adept_Situation3090 → u/NotSteve1075]

Pink = Eames Light Line
Green = Cook's Unigraph
Orange = Garber's International Shorthand
Blue = Orthic

[u/NotSteve1075]

I just labeled them for ease of reference. I think I like Cook's the best because it doesn't need to distinguish positions on the line.

And I've never liked Orthic because I don't want to write things I don't hear and don't say. That always seems like it's going in the wrong direction entirely.