In the video I linked at the bottom of the IC, it is explained how two runes could be used to express how one letter sounds in modern English. Maybe I was wrong lol, I probably am. I was also mixing runes because I wanted to go with Younger Futhark because it was the runic alphabet used by the vikings but does not have enough characters to fill up the latin equivalents, therefore I was filling in with elder futhark. For consistency it might be better to go with all elder futhark. Thanks for pointing that out!
I wouldn't approach making a runic keyboard layout as an attempt to write English using runes. Instead, you're making a keyboard layout for a different language and a different writing system, just using QWERTY as a starting point for the positions of keys. Therefore, it makes sense to include all of the characters used in that writing system, but there's no need to make digraphs like ᚴᛋ to emulate English X.
The visual style of the current rune legends is good. I'd just switch to Elder Futhark to avoid issues like this and provide a consistent solution (and also because people voted for it). I'd do this despite the Vikings' Younger Futhark being the main inspiration for the set.
Speaking of Younger Futhark, I noticed some issues with the spelling of the novelty legends:
Current legend (wrong/missing underlined) | Corrected legend | Old Norse word | Younger Futhark spelling (reference) | Examples (runic inscriptions etc.) | Remarks |
ᛅᛋᛁᚱ | ᚬᛋᛁᛦ | æsir | ąsiʀ | video SlB 3 | R in grammatical endings is spelled with ᛦ/ʀ (Yr) instead of ᚱ/r (Raido). It is debatable whether æsir is spelled with ᚬ/ą or ᛅ/a, but ᚬ/ą appears to be more likely as the root word is nasal áss (ᚬᛋ/ąs). |
ᚼᚬᛚᚼ ᛁᛘᛅ | ᚼᛁᛚᚼᛅᛁᛘᛦ | Helheimr | hilhaimʀ | G 392 image | Just Hel is encountered more frequently than Helheimr. If you have trouble fitting this legend on the key, you can use ᚼᛁᛚᚼᛁᛘᛦ instead (without the ᛅ/a). This is also an acceptable spelling. |
ᛘᛁᛏᚴ ᚱᛏ | ᛘᛁᚦᚴᛅᚱᚦᛦ | Miðgarðr | miþkarþʀ | Sö 56 image | Shown in the dative form (Miðgarði “in Midgard”) in the inscription. The base, nominative form is Miðgarðr. |
You can use this chart as a quick reference when choosing the appropriate runes for your vowels:
Not shown here is ᚬ/ą, which is used for nasal vowels.
This page has more information.
Here's another useful chart: