A bracket spanning a gap between two bars

Two horizontal bars, stacked, starting from the same point on the left.

The top one stops short of the bottom one. A small bracket spans the distance between their two ends, with a short arrow pointing at it.

No numbers, no divisions, no labels on either bar.

Why are the two bars left unlabelled?

Because the shape works without them — a shorter bar next to a longer one already reads as "less" next to "more".

Labelling the bars would turn the drawing into a chart explaining a specific transaction, which isn't what this is. Without labels, it reads as a comparison in general — one quantity falling short of another — which is closer to what the gap actually represents: a difference that shows up again and again, not a single figure from a single sale.

What is the bracket actually measuring?

The distance between what a copy cost to make and what it brought in when it was sold.

The two bars are set to the same starting point on purpose, so only the difference between their ends is doing any work. The bracket isolates that difference and puts an arrow on it, the way a technical drawing marks a dimension it wants a reader to notice rather than skim past. It's the one part of the whole image drawn to be looked at directly — the same role a total circled twice on a working-out page plays against the rows above it.

Why does the gap matter more than either bar on its own?

Because the gap is what repeats — it's fixed to each copy, not to the run as a whole.

A run that costs more overall because it's bigger isn't the same problem as a run where each copy individually costs more to make than it sells for. In the second case, making more copies doesn't spread the cost out — it multiplies it. That's the piece of arithmetic the drawing is actually about: the shorter bar doesn't catch up by adding more of both bars. It falls further behind.

Doesn't a bigger run always bring the per-copy cost down?

Usually, yes — but only up to the price it's sold at, and the drawing is about what happens past that point.

Bulk discounts lower the cost of making each copy as the run gets bigger. They don't guarantee that lowered cost drops below the price somebody will actually pay for it. When it doesn't, every additional copy printed adds another gap the same size as the last one, which is the opposite of what a bigger run is supposed to do for the maker.

Why print the run at all, if every copy loses on that arithmetic?

Because the gap being real doesn't mean the run wasn't worth making.

A physical object existing, being sold at a price people will actually pay, and reaching more people than a smaller run would have — those are reasons on their own, separate from whether the unit cost fully clears. Choosing to absorb a per-copy gap is a decision, made with the arithmetic in view, not a mistake that happened without anyone noticing — even though what doesn't sell still has to go somewhere afterwards.

Can I use two bars and a bracket for a different comparison?

Yes — the shape is a general way of drawing "this fell short of that", not tied to any one figure.

Nothing about two plain bars and a bracket belongs to anyone. It's a drawing convention, the same one used on a technical diagram to mark a dimension, applied here to a cost that happened to be about print runs. Your own comparison, at your own scale, drawn the same way, is entirely yours.

Does it work for a subject other than printing costs?

Yes — anything with two comparable quantities and a difference worth pointing at works the same way.

A run's exact number, hand-written rather than drawn as a bar, covers the count itself; this covers what each unit in that count actually cost against what it returned. Two different measurements of the same run, worth keeping separate rather than folding into one drawing.

Does it print well?

Yes — flat colour, hard edges, and only three shapes to register correctly.

Chalk white keeps the two bars and the bracket reading as distinct without needing a gradient anywhere. Because there's no fine text and no numerals to reproduce, this holds up at a smaller chest size better than a document-style print would, and it needs only one or two inks depending on whether the bars and the bracket are the same colour.

How do I get one made?

Describe the comparison at JustOG — what the two bars are measuring and how wide the gap should read. Pick a direction, drag the crop frame, see it composited on the real garment, and it's made to order and shipped.

Designs other people have published are in the shop.

The bottom bar got paid. The top one is still short of it.