Writing depicts language graphically. It is a human invention, an artifact. Nevertheless, there is a lot of nature in it: Used by humans for thousands of years, the world’s scripts are marked by their biological, cognitive and social nature. One example: At first, the forms of characters were very pictorial and visually resembled the objects that were to be written down – because this made them easier to invent and remember. But why are characters today largely abstract? Because pictorial signs are often visually complex and therefore difficult to write, and people strive to write with as little effort as possible. In this short lecture, we will use examples to show how human nature has made writing what it is today.