PICTIQ

Minimal visual protocol for short messages across language barriers.

Pictiq is designed for pointing, quick signs, stickers, portable communication surfaces, and short composable phrases. It is not intended to replace natural language or long-form writing.

All lexicon words are designed as framed tiles (rounded-square frame). The Pictiq logo is not a tile.

Project site

• English landing: pictiq.abvx.xyz
• Pictiq mode: pictiq.abvx.xyz/?mode=pictiq
• Composer — build, preview, and export short Pictiq messages
• Lexicon — browse canonical ordinary concepts and separate Entity Symbols
• Free handbook — PDF and EPUB files

Pictiq Handbook v1.0

Pictiq: A Visual Protocol for Short Messages by Anton Biletskyi-Volokh

A free 95-page illustrated field guide covering:

• protocol rules and the Core lexicon
• context packs and the Paris case
• shirts, wallet cards, lighter, luggage-tag, and phone-lockscreen layouts
• visual storytelling and poetry experiments
• computer-vision and language-model concepts

Core idea

• Zero-intent: pointing at an object tile is a valid message by default (“this / need this / where is this”).
• Meaning is amplified using punctuation tiles and context.
• Negation is expressed as X + logic_no (and logic_no can be a standalone answer).
• Some nouns may act as actions depending on context (e.g., transport = ride, coins = pay).

Canonical overview

Point to a tile. Add punct_question to ask, punct_exclaim for urgency, and logic_no to negate. The current canonical registry contains 87 ordinary icons, including lexical tiles, evaluation modifiers, quantities, relational operators, surface_wavy, state_dead, the five accepted Odyssey Stress Test 03 Stage 2A primitives, the post-audit food_meat primitive, the accepted Core action_change primitive, and the landing-driven Core actions action_combine, action_learn, and action_write. Canonical does not mean Core: the accepted classification separates Core, Standalone Core, Contextual, Specialized, and Mechanism roles.

Printable PDF: docs/overview/pictiq-core-grid.pdf

Start here

• Handbook: books/handbook-v1/
• Protocol rules (EN): spec/PROTOCOL.md
• Icon drawing brief (EN): spec/ICON_DEFINITIONS.md
• Emoji bridge policy: spec/EMOJI_BRIDGE.md
• Protocol rules (RU): spec/PROTOCOL.ru.md
• Icon drawing brief (RU): spec/ICON_DEFINITIONS.ru.md
• Style spec: spec/ICON_SPEC.md
• Grammar spec: spec/GRAMMAR.md
• Message Format: spec/PICTIQ_MESSAGE_SCHEMA.md and spec/pictiq-message.schema.json
• Human shorthand: spec/PICTIQ_SHORTHAND.md
• Renderer v0.1: docs/renderer/README.md, tools/pictiq_render.py, and pictiq_renderer/
• Numeric notation: spec/NUMERIC_NOTATION.md and notation/numeric/index.json
• Silhouette input rules: spec/SILHOUETTE_INPUTS.md
• Logo and branding assets: branding/
• Lexicon registry: lexicon/icon-index.json
• Vocabulary classification: lexicon/vocabulary-classification.json and spec/VOCABULARY_CLASSIFICATION.md
• Vocabulary governance: spec/VOCABULARY_GOVERNANCE.md records NEED-BEFORE-VOCABULARY and DEFERRED_UNTIL_NEEDED.
• Entity-symbol registry: entities/entity-index.json
• Packs: packs/universal-core.json, packs/universal-v1.json
• Static dictionary site (GitHub Pages): docs/

Canonical overview artifacts: docs/overview/pictiq-core-grid.png and docs/overview/pictiq-core-grid.pdf (historical filename retained). Core protocol release: v1.0.0-core

Perceptual design (v1.0.1)

Pictiq treats technical SVG validity and perceptual recognition as separate requirements. The perceptual design principles and visual QA workflow guide evaluation at multiple scales and in representative layouts.

Communication modes (v1.0.2)

Pictiq now distinguishes Embodied Communication from Standalone Communication. Live pointing, gaze, gesture, voice, visible objects, and shared context can make a tile unnecessary; signs, cards, stickers, screens, and remote instructions must preserve the same meaning after the communicator is gone.

Meaning may enter a message through lexical tiles, modifiers/operators, parametric tiles, entity symbols, or embodied references. Standalone Batches A, B, and C are implemented and accepted; parametric COLOR remains under evaluation, and entity symbols now have an accepted pilot registry.

The single canonical lexicon can be selected through an Embodied Profile for person-present communication or a Standalone Profile for durable/remote communication. Context packs layer on either profile; they are not separate icon libraries.

Pictiq currently scales through five distinct layers: the 87-identifier ordinary canonical registry, the 86 active ordinary semantic concepts retained after compatibility cleanup, Core vocabulary, context packs/profiles, and the 11-example entity registry for specific named entities or visual proper names. Entity registry growth does not increase the ordinary vocabulary count.

Research

• Toki Pona interoperability research compares the 120-word Toki Pona core vocabulary, sitelen pona, sitelen emoji, and the current Pictiq lexicon as a semantic and interoperability stress test—not as evidence of historical influence or lexical equivalence.
• Historical reference: Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert’s British road-sign programme, identified after Pictiq v1.0.
• Related systems: docs/research/related-systems.md
• Emoji bridge: docs/research/emoji-bridge.md
• Tiny Languages Protocol note: docs/research/tiny-languages-protocol.md
• Inclusive-design and application-domain harvest: docs/book-materials/research/perplexity-inclusive-design-and-use-cases-harvest-2026-09.md

Repository structure

• /books — published handbook editions and release artwork
• /spec — protocol rules, grammar, and icon design definitions
• /lexicon — icon registry (metadata index + schema)
• /entities — scoped visual proper-name examples and registry
• /packs — curated icon packs (core and extensions)
• /icons — canonical SVG icons + exported PNGs
• /layouts — reusable content profiles and physical representations
• /profiles — recommended Embodied and Standalone vocabulary profiles
• /templates — tile template for icon authoring
• /tools — validation and SVG→PNG rendering scripts
• /docs — static dictionary site (GitHub Pages-ready)
• /releases — release-note sources

Tooling & CI

• tools/validate_lexicon.py validates lexicon metadata, packs, profiles, SVG references, and i18n data.
• tools/validate_vocabulary_classification.py validates vocabulary role classification against the canonical lexicon and separate entity registry.
• tools/validate_numeric_notation.py validates the numeric notation registry and path-based digit/number SVG assets.
• tools/validate_message_schema.py validates Pictiq Message Format v0.1 JSON fixtures.
• tools/pictiq_render.py renders or normalizes Pictiq Message Format v0.1 JSON and Shorthand v0.1 inputs.
• tools/validate_svg.py validates canonical SVG rules, including the standard viewBox and currentColor use.
• tools/validate_entities.py validates scoped entity-symbol metadata and SVG assets.
• Layout generators produce wallet cards, luggage tags, phone lockscreens, lighter artwork, and documentation overviews from content profiles.
• GitHub Actions runs validation on push and pull requests.

Licensing (summary)

• Personal use is allowed.
• Non-commercial use is allowed under LICENSE (CC BY-NC 4.0).
• Commercial use requires a separate agreement: see COMMERCIAL_LICENSE.md.

Status

The Core protocol and the first Pictiq Handbook are published. The lexicon, context packs, profiles, layouts, and machine-readable experiments remain under active development.

ABVX ecosystem

• toki-pona-translator — Links to the optional Toki Pona crosswalk without changing the canonical protocol. Current release: v1.1.0.
• AGENTS.md_generator — Keeps repository guidance and machine-readable context current. Current release: v0.5.1.
• abvx-shortener — Uses stable short links for public campaigns and QR destinations. Current release: v0.4.0.
• abvx-agent-skills — Uses shared, reviewable agent capabilities during maintenance. Current release: v0.15.0.

This block is generated from the reviewed ABVX ecosystem registry.