Contour Code

Contour Code is a system that encodes text in compositions of shapes. To read a composition, shapes are traced to produce a sequence of straight, concave, and convex sides, and that sequence is interpreted as letters using a system like Morse Code. Click any of the pieces below to see a diagram of this process. (Full explanation coming soon!)

Gallery

Risograph print, wider than it is tall. In the center is a symbol in teal composed of two solid shapes. The bottom shape is a stylized bird; its outline is made of a few nearly-geometric arcs and straight lines; it flies swiftly to the right. Above it, nearly touching, is a comet-like shape: a small circle, nearly above the bird’s head, with a long, wedge-shaped tail extending as far back as the bird’s tail.

Risograph print, taller than it is wide. In the center is a symbol in teal composed of four solid shapes; they are layered around each other like rose petals. At the very center of the symbol is a small circle, which is nestled into a sideways heart-like shape with a large round opening between the lobes. This shape is held in turn by two other shapes above and below it, like open claws or pistachio shells.

Risograph print, taller than it is wide. In the center is a symbol in teal composed of five solid shapes, resembling a right hand. The bottom shape is a thick arch; the fingers are arranged on top of it. The thumb and index finger are joined into one shape. The middle finger is flat on the left side, while the right side resembles two large curved teeth of a saw blade. The ring finger is like an elongated peanut with two lobes; the little finger is like a thin pie slice pointing outward.

Risograph print, wider than it is tall. In the center is a symbol in black composed of five solid shapes of similar size. A heart, a pie slice, two different water drops, and an isosceles triangle are arranged with their points nearly touching each other in the center, so that the whole symbol resembles an irregular asterisk.

Risograph print, wider than it is tall. In the center is a black spiky shape with a circular hole in the middle. Each of the seven spikes has a different shape: some are curved on one side and stright on the other; some are curved on both sides; some are straight on both sides; one is curved like a smile or a sickle. The shape rests on two of these spikes, as if it is walking.

Risograph print, taller than it is wide. Two black symbols are arranged on top of each other. The top symbol resembles a symmetrical hand whose fingers are all equally short. The fingers farther to the edge are lower, so the shape as a whole resembles a house with a pointed roof. This shape has a circular hole in the middle. The bottom symbol is formed from four simple shapes of similar size arranged like an X around a central point; their curved sides are facing inward, and their points are facing outward.