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FEATURE 03 · LETTERS & SIGNALS

How Information Takes Shape

There are rules even where there are no letters.

Letters alone do not make a message. Explore the spaces, directions, colors and extra information that help us read.

Start by comparing

Read the spaces, too.

Start by tracing the gaps between short signals. Follow the choices that shape communication, from the way a book opens to printing colors and QR Codes.

Your observation station / Compare on equal terms

Same dot and dash, different gaps?

If a dot lasts 1 unit, a dash lasts 3. Gaps with no signal also carry distinctions, lasting 1, 3, or 7 units.

AWithin one character

Dot 1 + gap 1 + dash 3

ETTwo characters

Dot 1 + gap 3 + dash 3

E TWord boundary

Dot 1 + gap 7 + dash 3

All three diagrams use the same unit width. The signals are identical, but the gap length changes the boundary. E T is an explanatory example with a word boundary between E and T.

Compare the whole sequence

A: dot 1 + gap within the character 1 + dash 3 = 5 units.

Example A

Total 5units Signal 4 + gaps 1

A・ −

Character duration: 5 units

End of example

The upper row shows one character at a time. Every diagram uses the same unit width, and the gaps before the next character or word are given as numbers below. Line wrapping and the space between cards do not represent transmission time.

Dot
1 unit
Dash
3 units
Gap within a character
1 unit
Gap between characters
3 units
Gap between words
7 units

The units and codes used here

This exhibit compares duration ratios using International Morse code for Latin letters. It does not assign a number of seconds to 1 unit; you move through the diagram manually. It does not cover Japanese Morse code, listening to signals, real communication procedures, or noise.

The 3-unit character gap and 7-unit word gap are the full lengths of those gaps. Do not add the 1-unit gap used within a character to make them 4 or 8. No extra gaps are added before or after an example.

The model’s basis and links to original sources

After comparing, connect the ideas through reading

A reading path through 5 chapters.

Each article gives you a reason to continue. You can also begin with whichever chapter interests you.

  1. The next questionTake the characters arranged in time and place them on paper.

  2. The next questionOnce the line is ready, open the book. Which way does the reader go?

  3. The next questionAfter direction, consider color. Compare color on paper with color on a screen.

  4. The next questionFinally, consider what happens when part of the pattern is lost. How can the information still get through?

Take one question with you before you leave

Readers and makers rely on shared conventions. Look at boundaries and arrangements as well as character shapes.

  1. Where does one readable unit begin and end?
  2. How are direction and order communicated?
  3. What materials are used, and under what conditions might information be lost?

The next time you look at something familiar, try recalling one of these three questions.