Alphanumeric display with 21-dot matrix format

An alphanumeric symbol generator having a five-by-five matrix of twenty-one pixels. The pixels are arranged such that there are no pixels at the points where the second and fourth columns intersect with the second and fourth rows. The pixels may be light emitting devices, such as light emitting diodes or liquid crystal displays. The pixels may also consist of the pins in a dot-matrix printer. The pixels in the five-by-five matrix are activated in response to electronic codes corresponding to alphanumeric characters. Typically, a series of 21-pixel matrices are aligned side-by-side to create a display that communicates multiple words, numbers, and symbols.