Studio Notes
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Apr 18, 2025
Studio Notes #28
Greetings, Wonderful Folks. Here's issue #28 of Studio Notes—quick bits delivered to you each Friday.
🖼️
To celebrate their 10th anniversary, The Letterform Archive is putting together a special 10 × 10 for 10 exhibition where they're curating 100 of their "most beloved" graphic art artifacts. Iconic type specimens and ancient examples—I need to get back to San Francisco between the end of the month and October to see this in person.
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An oddly calming yet sad collection of photos of abandoned theaters across America. I don't recall where I saw this linked recently, but thank you to that person.
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Drew Struzan: The Man Behind Your Favorite Childhood Movie Posters. The Goonies, Blade Runner, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc. Drew's illustrative, painting style defined the way movies were advertised. Iconic! And still copied to this day. (via kottke.org)
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This little video of Hollywood actors, Deborah Ann Woll and Jon Bernthal, is maybe the best example of how Dungeons & Dragons works. I haven't played in a very long time, but if Deb is Dungeon Master—count me in.
What are you working on?
I've been working with a local printer on some new tees and hats because...healthy distraction. And they're almost ready! Watch this space for a tariff-free collection dropping soon.
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Apr 11, 2025
Studio Notes #27
Hello, Creative Amigos. Here's issue #27 of Studio Notes—quick bits delivered to you each Friday.
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Last month on the Women Designers You Should Know podcast, host Amber Asay talks to Amy & Jen Hood about the legendary Susan Kare. Susan's pioneering design work at Apple for the original Macintosh has always been such a massive inspiration to me. A big bonus is getting the Hoodzpah origin story as well, who continue to crank out amazing branding and type work.
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One of my top favorite movies is Interstellar. "Emotional sci-fi" is a genre I tend to gravitate to (pun intended). If you're also a fan, you might dig this faithful recreation of the watch that appeared in the movie on the wrist of main character Murph. With the word ‘Eureka’ printed in Morse code in lacquer on the seconds hand. It'd be neat if they intentionally made the seconds hand jump around randomly to make you think Cooper was trying to communicate you from the future.
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Crossover is a fun app from Robb Knight that lets you answer, "Where else have I seen that actor?" Pick two TV shows and it'll show you the actors that crossover both. There's even a version for medical shows, specifically.
🌊
This explanation of why we have ocean tides from Neil deGrasse Tyson kind of blew my mind. The tides don't actually come in or go out, but rather the Earth rotates into a fixed "bulge" between it and the moon.
What are you working on?
After finishing the Cartridge update, I'm now back chipping away at Scorekard. I dug up some old art and gave it new life to take a few of the letters for a spin. The knot, for those wondering, if the mighty Bowline Knot (pronounced boh-lynn). It's a classic sailing knot good for creating a super-strong loop.
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Apr 4, 2025
Studio Notes #26
Hello, Design Pals. Here's issue #26 of Studio Notes—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. This one is particularly media-heavy, which could be due to US news distraction efforts. Hold Fast, friends.
🏥
I'm somewhat of a hypochondriac, so it's puzzling why I would watch a hospital drama. I suppose I did enjoy ER and Grey's Anatomy. But those are feather-light in comparison to HBO's The Pitt, which covers a 15-hour shift at a fictional emergency room in Pittsburgh. It's pretty riveting television. Great writing, great acting—in particular Noah Wyle (who also starred in ER and could probably just be a real doctor at this point) and Taylor Deardon. What's remarkable about this show is how realistic and accurate it is in portraying how an emergency room feels. And it's relentless pace and the weaving of storylines into the cadence of patients coming and going. The realism goes into every part of the episodes. So, it can be a bit graphic. And the themes are tough. But if you can stomach it, these characters are worth it.
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Growing up, I always wanted to be a “comic book person”. It never really stuck though, except for a brief stint in the late 80s/early 90s when I got really into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Not the colorful, kids cartoony version, but the original, black + white, gritty, messily-drawn one. I loved the art style and line work, and the writing was smart and funny. Anyhow, fast forward to last week, when I finally popped in the 4K Blu-Ray of Mutant Mayhem I had bought a couple of years ago. What refreshing animation! Somehow connecting it more to the original comic than previous efforts. And the story is good, and genuinely funny. It's even rated PG. More of this style, please. ★★★★½
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Several issues back I mentioned one of my favorite 80s films, North Shore. I threatened to mention another gem from that era, Rad. Replace surfboards with BMX bikes and you're part of the way there. Just as satisfying to watch, great training montages, and quite possibly the best movie character name of all time: Cru Jones. Not to mention some of the best and most cringiest 80s soundtrack songs we've ever heard. I mention this legendary movie today because I was just made aware of the forthcoming, A Rad Documentary. I'll admit the trailer looks iffy. But they did manage to get most of the cast interviewed which might be worth the watch if you're a fan.
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And finally for this week, something that's not a movie or TV show: Puppets. Specifically a shout out to Blank Puppets, a company that makes high-quality puppets for professional productions, but also occasionally offers collections for sale (Puppet Drops?) when they have time to make them. My partner, Mel, was able to buy me a green one as an early birthday gift and we're now trying to come up with a name for him. The current frontrunner is "Gravy". Healing through puppets.
What are you working on?
I'm unexpectedly knee-deep into a major upgrade of our typeface, Cartridge. Cartridge 3 will be coming soon in a total of 5 weights! With some additional glyphs added, improved kerning, etc. Have a character you'd like to see added to the fonts? Let me know :)
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Mar 28, 2025
Studio Notes #25
Hello, Super Cool People. Here's issue #25 of Studio Notes—quick bits delivered to you each Friday.
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I feel like Apple is on a roll with the movies and shows they're putting out these days. So I'm more apt to give their new offerings a shot over other networks. Seth Rogen's The Studio looked like an interesting take on today's Hollywood with a deep cast. The first episode was great, largely due to Martin Scorsese's role as himself. But Episode 2 stands alone as a hilarious, one-take, short film. You could simply just dive into this on its own. Without giving anything away, it may be worth your time—especially if the series continues on that level.
☕️
Stumbled on the work of Adrian Hanft, who employs crafty, lo-fi tech to digital photography in neat ways. Specifically, his camera made out of 23,248 coffee stirrers creates some insanely artistic results. Soft of like an analog mosaic filter.
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I've just placed an order for a couple of pouches of Medly Wine. Their marketing and friendly branding worked on me: Organic, zero sugar, in pouches the equivalent of 4 bottles. I'll report on how they taste when they get here. Also grabbed their stemless, tumbler-esque glasses. Chunky glass and wine should be paired more often.
🎶
Shazam really still is incredible technology. I've become a little obsessed with Labi Siffre's, Cannock Chase which I Shazam'd recently but have no recollection of where I heard it first. Probably the end credits of a random show or movie. Anyhow, I wasn't familiar with Labi's ethereal folk from the 1970s. If you're a fan of reverb-y vocals a la Fleet Foxes or My Morning Jacket, you may love this song.
What are you working on?
Had a little outpatient surgery this week (I'm fine!) so it's been a low-productive week. I did manage to make this little badge for the back printing of a little sticker. It's the little things these days, folks.
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