# Baybayin Revival Graphics

> The revival of baybayin, the precolonial Tagalog abugida, as a mark of Filipino identity. Its compact glyphs of hooks, bowls and loops, with kudlit marks above or below to change the vowel, rarely run as text: one character or a short word sits alone in an agency seal or a rayed sun, beside Latin on a peso note, or on a shirt, pendant or tattoo, in one ink, written with brush or pen, cut angular as if on bamboo, or redrawn as even-stroked digital type. Spread by free fonts online from the late 1990s and by Unicode from 2002, it is carried by state emblems and by diaspora calligraphers.

- Period: 1963–present
- Where: Southeast Asia, North America
- Origin: The Philippines and the Filipino diaspora, above all in the United States. Baybayin, the precolonial abugida of Tagalog and neighbouring lowland languages, is first attested in print in the Doctrina Christiana (Manila, 1593), printed from hand-carved wood blocks, and had fallen out of common use by the 18th century. Paul Versoza coined the name 'alibata' in 1914, spread it in public lectures from 1921 and published Pangbansang Titik nang Pilipinas ('national script of the Philippines') in 1939. A baybayin ka inside a rayed sun is on a red flag attributed to the Katipunan's Magdalo or Magdiwang faction (Cavite, 1896), though the historian Xiao Chua finds no evidence that that set of revolutionary flags was used. Panitik Silangan printed its front page of September 1963 mostly in baybayin. The Cultural Center of the Philippines (founded 1966) carries a triple-ka logo styled on a Katipunan design, which the Philippine Daily Inquirer calls 'a remnant of the New Society' of its founder Imelda Marcos, and the emblems of other cultural agencies use ka, pa or a short word. Bayani Mendoza de Leon published a manual of a modernised baybayin in New Jersey in 1992, Paul Morrow's free fonts went online in the late 1990s, and Unicode 3.2 (March 2002) encoded the Tagalog block with 20 characters; Unicode 14.0 (2021) added ra and the pamudpod virama. The script then appeared on the e-passport (2009) and the New Generation peso notes (2010), in Gboard's 'Filipino (Baybayin)' keyboard (1 August 2019), in tattoos, apparel and workshops, and in bills: a 'National Script Act of 2011' (refiled as House Bill 160 in 2013), House Bill 1022 of 2016, approved in committee in April 2018, and House Bill 10657, passed by the House in February 2022, which widened the aim to baybayin 'and other indigenous and traditional writing systems'; none had been signed into law by 2024. The start year is the earliest firmly dated revival graphic found, the Panitik Silangan front page of September 1963; the Katipunan ka is the precedent.
- Branch: Traditions & vernacular
- Also known as: Baybayin, Modern Baybayin, PreFilipino script (Kristian Kabuay's term, 2011), Alibata (a 20th-century misnomer)
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/baybayin-revival/

## Use it with care

Baybayin is shared heritage, but its revival touches living Indigenous scripts and contested claims. Hanunóo, Buhid and Tagbanwa are still written by their communities, the Mangyan of Mindoro and the Tagbanwa and Pala'wan of Palawan, and their documents are on UNESCO's Memory of the World register (1999, 'Philippine Paleographs'); do not use their letters, ambahan verses or community signage as generic 'baybayin', and work with the communities and bodies such as the Mangyan Heritage Center when their scripts are involved. Baybayin wrote Tagalog and neighbouring lowland languages, and Kapampangan Kulitan has its own form and keepers, so do not present baybayin as the old writing of every Filipino people; even the bills moved in 2022 from a baybayin-only national script to baybayin 'and other indigenous and traditional writing systems'. 'Alibata', coined by Paul Versoza in 1914 from the Arabic alif-ba-ta, is a misnomer. Have every word spelled by a reader of the script: it writes syllables, so English spelled letter by letter, wrong or missing kudlit, mirrored glyphs and invented letters read as nonsense, and a tattoo makes the error permanent; write personal and organisation names in Latin unless the bearer has chosen a baybayin spelling. Image models cannot write baybayin and invent glyphs: leave the sign blank or set real text in a Unicode font (one that covers ra and the pamudpod, with the text entered as Unicode, not typed on Latin keys mapped to glyphs), and never present generated pseudo-script as genuine. Some of the best-known baybayin emblems carry politics: the CCP's triple ka is, in the Inquirer's words, a remnant of the Marcos New Society, and the ka in a rayed sun, attributed to the Katipunan, was flown by the July 2003 mutineers the press called the Magdalo Group and is the logo of the Magdalo party-list; do not use them as neutral Filipino marks. Agency seals, state insignia and the peso notes are official marks, so draw new emblems instead of copying them. Baybayin tattoos sit beside batok, the Indigenous hand-tapped tattooing whose patterns, placements and rituals belong to particular ethnolinguistic groups and their practitioners: a baybayin word does not license batok patterns or hand-tapping outside those lineages, and invented tribal motifs must not pass as Indigenous designs. Credit or commission Filipino calligraphers, type designers and tattoo artists.

## How it works

- Use the script as an emblem: one character or a short word, set alone or inside a roundel, not as running text.
- Build each glyph from hooks, bowls and loops with a brush or pen stroke, strip it to angular base strokes as if incised on bamboo, or redraw it as an even monoline, and keep the kudlit marks above (e/i) and below (o/u) the base character.
- Spell by syllable in a Philippine language, never letter by letter from English, and choose deliberately between the precolonial form without a vowel-cancelling mark and the krus-kudlit or x-shaped virama.
- Print in one ink: black on paper or skin, white or gold on a dark ground, with the flag's blue and red only as accents.
- Set a Latin name or transliteration as a quiet second line, so the old letters carry identity while the Latin carries the reading.
- Leave open space around the sign so it reads as a mark of origin, not as decoration.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Isolated object](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/isolated-object/) (defining)
- [Radial & concentric](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/radial-and-concentric/) (characteristic)
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (characteristic)
- [Dynamic asymmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dynamic-asymmetry/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (characteristic)
- [Generous white space](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/generous-white-space/) (characteristic)
- [Layered information](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/layered-information/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Brush & pen calligraphy](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/brush-and-pen-calligraphy/) (characteristic)
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (characteristic)
- [Type as image](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/type-as-image/) (characteristic)
- [Geometric sans](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-sans/) (occasional)
- [Rotated & vertical setting](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rotated-and-vertical-setting/) (occasional)
- [Experimental & distorted](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/experimental-and-distorted/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (defining)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (characteristic)
- [Dark ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dark-ground/) (occasional)
- [Jewel & metallic](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/jewel-and-metallic/) (occasional)
- [Earth & mineral](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/earth-and-mineral/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Biomorphic curves](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/biomorphic-curves/) (characteristic)
- [Non-representational](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/non-representational/) (characteristic)
- [Geometric primitives](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-primitives/) (occasional)
- [Angular & zigzag](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/angular-and-zigzag/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)
- [Painterly brushwork](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-brushwork/) (characteristic)

### Ornament
- [Emblems & badges](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/emblems-and-badges/) (defining)
- [Restrained accents](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/restrained-accents/) (characteristic)
- [Folk & sacred symbols](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/folk-and-sacred-symbols/) (characteristic)
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (occasional)
- [Cosmic & celestial](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/cosmic-and-celestial/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Typography only](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/typography-only/) (defining)
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Pen, brush & ink](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pen-brush-and-ink/) (characteristic)
- [Screen printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/screen-printing/) (characteristic)
- [Web & CSS](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/web-and-css/) (occasional)
- [App & OS interface](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/app-and-os-interface/) (occasional)
- [Offset printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/offset-printing/) (occasional)
- [Textile & craft](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/textile-and-craft/) (occasional)
- [Architecture & signage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/architecture-and-signage/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Nostalgic & retro](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/nostalgic-and-retro/) (defining)
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (characteristic)
- [Authoritative & institutional](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/authoritative-and-institutional/) (characteristic)
- [Rebellious & subversive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rebellious-and-subversive/) (occasional)
- [Spiritual & sacred](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/spiritual-and-sacred/) (occasional)

Avoids: Abundant decoration, Horror vacui, All-over field, Full polychrome, Fluorescent & neon, Naturalistic depiction, Straight photography, Gloss & highlights

Palette: #141414, #f2ece0, #c9a23a, #0038a8, #ce1126, #7a4f2a

Typefaces: The woodblock letterforms of the Doctrina Christiana (Manila, 1593), the model most modern baybayin fonts follow, Noto Sans Tagalog (Google Noto, SIL Open Font License; the 2022 build covers the Unicode 14 additions ra U+170D and pamudpod U+1715), the safe choice for real Unicode text, Norman de los Santos's (Nordenx) 'modern' baybayin fonts, with hollow kudlit for e/o, solid kudlit for i/u, the x-shaped virama and an embellished ra; the fonts in his 2014 paper also put glyphs on Latin keys (the round ba on V, the loop-less ya on Y), and text typed that way is Latin-coded, not Unicode baybayin, Paul Morrow's free fonts digitised from historical typefaces and old baybayin signatures, online from the late 1990s, BayBayan (TBWA\Santiago Mangada Puno, 2019), a typeface combining baybayin with the Roman alphabet, the Cultural Center of the Philippines' official font, Brush and pen calligraphy as practised and taught by Kristian Kabuay, who applies calligraphy and graffiti methods to the script

Known for: Panitik Silangan, September 1963: a front page printed mostly in baybayin; Cultural Center of the Philippines logo: three rotated baybayin ka for katotohanan, kagandahan and kabutihan (truth, beauty, goodness), styled on a Katipunan design; in the Philippine Daily Inquirer's words 'a remnant of the New Society' of the centre's founder, Imelda Marcos; Emblems of Philippine cultural institutions: the NCCA logo (a ka drawn as an eternal flame), the National Historical Commission seal (ka and pa), the National Library logo (a word for wisdom), the National Museum logo (pa), the Order of Lakandula insignia and the National Living Treasures Award logo ('Manlilikha ng Bayan'); Philippine e-passport (issued from 11 August 2009): 'Ang katuwiran ay nagpapadakila sa isang bayan' ('Righteousness exalts a nation', Proverbs 14:34) in baybayin on the odd pages 3–43; Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, New Generation Currency notes (2010): a see-through mark at the lower right of the face of each note writes 'Pilipino' in baybayin, seen complete only against the light; BayBayan (2019), a typeface by TBWA\Santiago Mangada Puno for the Cultural Center of the Philippines' 50th anniversary that 'combines pre-colonial Baybayin scripts with the modern alphabet'; the CCP's official font for corporate documents and signage from September 2019; Doctrina Christiana en lengua española y tagala (Manila, 1593), printed from carved wood blocks; the only known copy is in the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, Library of Congress, and its letterforms are the model most revival fonts follow; Norman de los Santos (Nordenx), 'modern' baybayin fonts and calligraphic art, with an embellished ra, hollow and solid kudlit, and a 'Baybayin Kufic' font tattooed in 2014; downloads of his fonts passed one million by 2013

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Alike in its design choices: [Chinese Calligraphy & Seal Carving (Shufa & Zhuanke)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/chinese-calligraphy-seal.md) (c. 0–present), 68% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Mongol Bichig Calligraphy & Ugalz Ornament](https://stylogeny.com/styles/mongol-bichig-ornament.md) (c. 1204–present), 65% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Ottoman Tughra & Dîvânî Chancery Calligraphy](https://stylogeny.com/styles/ottoman-tughra-divani.md) (c. 1324–present), 64% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Republican Chinese Book Cover Design (Lu Xun & Tao Yuanqing)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/republican-china-book-design.md) (1923–1949), 62% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Atelier Populaire (May '68 Screenprint Poster)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/atelier-populaire.md) (1968), 62% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Iranian Modernist Graphic Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/persian-modernism.md) (1960–present), 62% alike

## Sources

- Doctrina Christiana: The First Book Printed in the Philippines, Manila, 1593. A facsimile of the copy in the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, Library of Congress, with an introductory essay by Edwin Wolf 2nd (1947), Project Gutenberg edition ('printed throughout by the xylographic method', each page 'from one wood-block which was carved by hand'; Spanish, romanised Tagalog and Tagalog characters): https://gutenberg.org/files/16119/16119-h/16119-h.htm
- Maja Gratia L. Malic and Nenette E. Malabrigo, 'The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' New Generation Currency Notes: Safeguarding the Integrity of the Philippine Currency', Bangko Sentral Review 2010 (see-through mark: 'The pre-Hispanic script (Baybayin) at the lower right corner of the face of the note', which 'means "PILIPINO"'): https://www.bsp.gov.ph/Media_And_Research/Publications/BS10_A2.pdf
- Unicode Standard Annex #28, Unicode 3.2.0 (27 March 2002; new characters include several Philippine scripts, Tagalog, Hanunóo, Buhid and Tagbanwa, the last three described as living scripts): https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr28/tr28-3.html
- Wikipedia, 'Tagalog (Unicode block)' (20 code points in Unicode 3.2, U+1700–170C and U+170E–1714; RA U+170D, ARCHAIC RA U+171F and PAMUDPOD U+1715 added in Unicode 14.0, 2021, after Fredrick R. Brennan's proposals L2/19-258R and L2/20-272): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_(Unicode_block)
- Norman de los Santos, 'Saving Endangered Philippine Native Scripts in a Modern Digital World Through Typography, Technology, and Standardization', International Symposium and Workshop, ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 2014 (Versoza's 1914 coinage of 'alibata', his public lectures from 1921 and Pangbansang Titik nang Pilipinas, 1939; Bayani Mendoza de Leon's modernised baybayin, 'Baybayin, The Ancient Script of the Philippines, A Concise Manual', New Jersey, 1992; Paul Morrow's website of free historic-typeface fonts, 1999–2014, and 'very little Internet presence regarding Baybáyin prior to the early 2000's'; Doctrina Christiana letterforms as the model for modern fonts; his own modern fonts, hollow and solid kudlit, x-virama, the round ba assigned to the 'V' key and the loop-less ya to the 'Y' key, over a million downloads; Kristian Kabuay's Baybayin.com; tattoo resurgence and a 'Baybayin Kufic' tattoo; Bayani Art merchandise; Malaya Designs pendants; Mangyan Heritage Center signage; names in Latin unless the bearer chooses otherwise): https://lingdy.aa-ken.jp/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/140227-intl-symp-and-ws_norman_de_los_santos_paper.pdf
- Wikipedia, 'Baybayin' (kudlit; krus-kudlit introduced by Francisco López in 1620; Unicode Tagalog block U+1700–U+171F; Panitik Silangan front page 'mostly printed in Baybayin, September 1963'; flag of the Katipunan Magdiwang faction 'with the Baybayin letter ka'; e-passport issued from 11 August 2009 with Proverbs 14:34 on the odd pages 3–43; New Generation notes with 'Pilipino'; emblems of the NHCP, National Library, National Museum, CCP, NCCA, Order of Lakandula and National Living Treasures Award, with the characters each uses; House Bill 1022 and Senate Bill 433 of July 2016; Gboard's Filipino (Baybayin) layout, 1 August 2019): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baybayin; and Wikimedia Commons, 'Panitik Silangan, September 1963' (photograph by Kristoffer Pasion): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Panitik_Silangan,_September_1963.png
- Flags of the World, 'Philippines: Historical Flags' (Aguinaldo's Magdalo flag of 1896 with 'the letter "K" from the pre-Hispanic Philippine alphabet', 'the Tagalog script letter ka', in a rayed sun; the same flag 'used by the mutineers in July 2003'): https://crwflags.com/FOTW/flags/ph-histo.html; and Wikipedia, 'Evolution of the Philippine Flag' (the ka-in-sun flag is a 'purported flag of the Magdiwang faction ... also sometimes attributed to the Magdalo faction'; Xiao Chua notes 'no evidence supporting the historical usage of three of the flags in the set'): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_the_Philippine_Flag
- Wikipedia, 'Magdalo Group' (dissident soldiers of the 2003 Oakwood mutiny, calling themselves 'Bagong Katipuneros', flag with a ka in a rayed sun; whose civilian group Samahang Magdalo established the Magdalo Party-List): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalo_Group; and Wikipedia, 'Magdalo Party-List' (Magdalo Para sa Pilipino; logo with a ka in a rayed sun): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalo_Party-List
- Wikipedia, 'Cultural Center of the Philippines' (founded 1966; logo 'derived from the Baybayin character Ka and styled based on a Katipunan design', representing katotohanan, kagandahan and kabutihan): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Center_of_the_Philippines; and Cultural Center of the Philippines, About (the values of katotohanan, kagandahan and kabutihan): https://www.culturalcenter.gov.ph/about
- Constantino Tejero, 'The CCP at 45: Thriving, or struggling to survive?', Philippine Daily Inquirer, 8 December 2013 (the CCP logo is 'a remnant of the New Society, a stamp of the philosophy of the CCP founder, former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos'; the character derived from baybayin stands for Katotohanan, Kagandahan, Kabutihan): https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/141435/the-ccp-at-45-thriving-or-struggling-to-survive/
- 'Cultural Center of the Philippines and TBWA\Santiago Mangada Puno adapt oldest-known form of writing and incorporate it into the modern alphabet', Campaign Brief Asia, 22 April 2019 (BayBayan for the CCP's 50th anniversary; 'combines pre-colonial Baybayin scripts with the modern alphabet'; official font for corporate documents and major signage from September; CCO Melvin Mangada, designers John Ed De Vera, Patrick Gañas and Julian Vinzon): https://campaignbriefasia.com/2019/04/22/cultural-center-of-the-philippines-and-tbwasantiago-mangada-puno-adapt-oldest-known-form-of-writing-and-incorporates-it-into-the-modern-alphabet/
- House of Representatives, Sixteenth Congress, House Bill 160 by Rep. Leopoldo N. Bataoil, received 1 July 2013 ('An Act providing for the protection and conservation of Baybayin, and declaring Baybayin as the national script of the Philippines', to be known as the 'National Script Act of 2011'): https://web.archive.org/web/20140201135616/http://www.congress.gov.ph/download/basic_16/HB00160.pdf
- 'House panel approves use of Baybayin as country's national writing system', Philstar, 23 April 2018 (HB 1022 by Rep. Leopoldo Bataoil approved by the Committee on Basic Education and Culture; proposed baybayin on food labels, street and public-building signs and newspaper names): https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/04/23/1808717/house-panel-approves-use-baybayin-countrys-official-writing-system
- The Post, 7 February 2022 (House Bill 10657, the 'Philippine Indigenous and Traditional Writing Systems Act', to 'promote, protect and preserve' Baybayin and other indigenous and traditional writing systems, approved on third and final reading, 197–0): https://thepost.net.ph/?p=39053
- Wikipedia, 'Memory of the World Register – Asia and the Pacific' (Philippine Paleographs (Hanunoo, Buid, Tagbanua and Pala'wan), National Museum of the Philippines, inscribed 1999): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_of_the_World_Register_%E2%80%93_Asia_and_the_Pacific
- Wikipedia, 'Hanunoo script' (used by the Mangyan of southern Mindoro; ambahan poems on bamboo): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanunoo_script; and Wikipedia, 'Tagbanwa script' ('used by the Tagbanwa and the Palawan people as their ethnic writing system'): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagbanwa_script
- Wikipedia, 'Batok' (general terms for the indigenous tattoos of the Philippines; 'design and placement varied by ethnic group, affiliation, status, and gender'; a small hammer taps the hafted needle; copying old warriors' chest designs is taboo, and Butbut Kalinga 'tattoos of the past' are reserved for respected elders): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batok
- Kristian Kabuay, About ('an artist/entrepreneur/futurist specializing in endangered writing systems and tattoos from the Philippines'; 'I incorporate and deconstruct calligraphy and graffiti methods'; shirts since high school; coined 'PreFilipino script' in 2011): https://www.kabuay.com/about.html; and Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, 'Pre-Philippine Script Writing with Kristian Kabuay' (live demonstration for the Sama Sama Festival): https://calendar.asianart.org/?p=9047
- Lala Singian, Philippine Daily Inquirer, republished by Asia News Network, 22 August 2024, 'Thinking of getting a tattoo in pre-colonial Philippine script? Here's how to get it right' (baybayin often confused with 'Alibata'; Kabuay's renditions in the pre-colonial manner without the cancellation kudlit; his stripped-down, 'much more angular' tattoo hand 'as if it was scratched on bamboo'; his batok practice with alay offerings to ancestors, patterns and placements by ethnolinguistic group, and handmade tools of boar's tusk, thorns and stingray barb; the Baybayin Buhayin bill campaign of 2011 and a bill 'never been signed by the president'): https://asianews.network/?p=163080
- Google Fonts, Noto Sans Tagalog: https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Sans+Tagalog; Noto Tagalog repository (SIL Open Font License 1.1; the 2022 TTF covers U+170D, U+1714, U+1715, U+171F, U+1735 and U+1736): https://github.com/notofonts/tagalog

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Baybayin Revival Graphics”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/baybayin-revival/