An Intro to VEC's

Welcome to VECUSA, a unique writing system for English calligraphy. In this brief introduction, you'll learn what VEC's are, and how they work.

What is a VEC?

"VEC" stands for "Vertical English Character." It's a unique "English Character" writing system that combines eastern and western writing styles into “English Characters.”

In its most basic form, VEC's are simply English words written in a vertical layout. Each word is treated as an individual character that contains its own strokes and proportions. This creates a balanced and expressive visual style that cannot be achieved with traditional, horizontal calligraphy. 3 simple VEC's are shown below:

Why Can VEC's Be Created?

The western form of writing constructs words by connecting strings of individual letters of the alphabet. On the other hand, the eastern form of writing constructs words by connecting individual semantic elements known as radicals. If you think about the two systems of writing (letters vs. radicals), you'll find that letters and radicals serve the exact same function - they both work to build up individual words.

What Purpose Do VEC's Serve?

With the world becoming more connected, more people are curious of understanding different cultures. However, the systems of writing are so different in the East versus the West, that it is a huge barrier to appreciating the art of writing between different nations.

VEC’s were created to bridge this barrier by creating a unique style of "English Characters."

Where Can You Find VEC's?

VEC works have been featured and shared on many websites, and can also be found in books. Most recently, VEC's have been featured in the book: The Characters. Publisher: Gijutsu Hyohron Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan - May, 25, 2014.

Omniglot: the online encycolpedia of writing systems and languages. This site recevies ~70,000 views per day, and contains a wealth of information in over 600 languages.

For more information on how VEC's are written and organized, please read the Basic Rules & Structures.