We introduce a new method to generate feature vectors to be used in symbol recognition. We propose a new exploitation of the Radon transform to generate relevant features. The Radon transform is essentially a transformation of an image into a transform plane (p, θ) represented by an accumulator in the discrete case. From the accumulator array we extract a signature (R-signature) which provides a global information of a binary shape whatever its type and its form. The signature allows to keep fundamental geometrical transformation like scale, translation and rotation.