Helmut Stief was dissatisfied with the Deutsche Einheitskurzschrift so he created a much simpler alternative system.
According to Stief the eponymous shorthand system Stiefografie can be quickly learned within a very short time.
Vowels in the beginning or in the middle of words are represented symbolically by varying the position of the following consonant signs.
Stiefografie does not employ shading (variation of thickness of strokes) to distinguish vowel symbols.
Shading is nowadays difficult to achieve with a ballpoint pen, a stylus or finger input for smart phones or tablet computers.