Studio Notes

Hello, Bon Vivants. Here's issue #23 of Studio Notes—quick bits delivered to you each Friday.

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I've never used one of these, nor do I even read books all that often, but the (horrendously-named) Bookie Rookie looks like a genuinely useful product for combating hand cramping while holding a book open. Especially a thick paperback.

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Here's an example of a perfectly designed website. The domain, the logo, the clear navigation, the FAQ—it is what is says it is and nothing more. May I present to you, Owls in Towels. We need more websites like this in these Dark Times.

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Creative Geekery 3D-printed a working replica of The Board Speaker from Severance. He documents the meticulous process of making it a perfect match to the prop used on the show including a mini MP3 player that plays sound bites and a camera to record reactions. He then brings the finished product into the real office building where Severance is filmed in New Jersey. This rabbit hole Inspired by this Thread by Jason Beaird.

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I watched Episode 1 of CNN's Breaking The Bird series about the history of Twitter. It was fun to see those early days chronicled officially with current interviews along with old photos and video from 2005/6/7. Saw a lot of familiar faces in the SXSW footage from 2007. That era, for me, was damned exciting. I had been working remotely with Ev and Biz and Rabble and Noah and Jack on the design of Odeo, A reporter from the BBC reached out a few months ago and the only story I could think to add, personally, was when I stupidly turned down an offer from the team to help design "twttr" as they were just pivoting to the idea that would later become Twitter. But I was also an early user (something like #3000) and immediately was drawn to its simplicity and being able to stay up to date with all my web design friends around the globe. This documentary series is proving to be a sad reminder of what was once an incredible service that I owe a lot of career success to.

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Hello, Design Buddies. Here's issue #22 of Studio Notes—quick bits delivered to you each Friday.

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A London studio was vandalized, so the owners made a free font out of the sloppy graffiti. This is how to do revenge type! (via Secret Type Club member, Chris Perrins)

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Katie McKinstry Stylos takes used climbing rope and upcycles it into cool, colorful, outdoorsy art. What a neat use of something that's so storied and well-traveled.

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Brock Davis makes some stunningly simple photo art pieces. Clever and smile-inducing. The kind of content we need right about now. I'm always amazed by talented folks with a large following that offer no other info on their profile! Give me a URL to discover more :)

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When my kids were babies and toddlers, I played a lot of ukulele. It was light, easily accessible, and I could noodle while they were crawling around or on my lap. I used to make up little tunes on it, and last year I was playing one of those little tunes and my son Jack (now 19) said, "Did you write that? Can you send me a recording of it?". For Christmas, he gave me a song he produced that has my little uke sample in it (he makes beats and produces underground hip hop tracks). Today, he released an EP (with the uke sample on track 4). I am a proud dad. And don't sleep on the ukulele as an easy way to tinker with music around the house.

What are you working on?

I mentioned a new sticker vendor we landed on a while back and finally have these new decals in the shop. They're decals (and not stickers) because they're higher-quality and silkscreen printed with a split backing! Important stuff, folks. You can buy them individually, or grab the new Decal + Mystery Pack where you'll get all 4 decals plus some extra mystery merch that I'll throw in for free. Decals in 2025. Earth-shaking things are happening.

Have a restful weekend!

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Hello, Good Folks. Here's issue #21 of Studio Notes—quick bits delivered to you each Friday.

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Today! We, Other Brother Darryl, released our debut full-length album, Roll Shine Roll. I'm extremely proud of this record that's been in the works for years. It's an honor to play drums and a little banjo with the Brothers. These songs pried me out of a 20 year musical retirement and I'm so grateful for that. If you dig "cosmic canyon" Americana folk rock with big 70s harmonies, check us out. And if you're in Boston on March 8, we're playing a record release show at the Lizard Lounge.

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Vocalist, ESSE, has been posting "harmony build" videos where she sings 4-part harmony covers showing how each part works on its own. It's amazing to hear how intricate the parts can be and how the final versions blend. Really fun to watch these. Also see Get Around by The Beach Boys, which is pretty magical when it all comes together.

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Music nerds can easily deep dive on guitar pedals, and I love all the tiny companies that spring up and make interesting sounds. Not to mention the design of the pedals themselves. If you like music and design, pedals are a sweet spot to rabbit hole on. Late night YouTube surfing brought me to the history of JHS Pedals, where owner Josh Scott walks through his company's lore in Alabama and then Kansas City. One part stood out to me: The DIY-ness of his hand-stamping the metal enclosures with rubber stamps he found. Those minimal icons shaped the brand, making it stand out and still informs the designs today as one of the more popular pedal companies. The JHS Show is extremely well produced and full of knowledge-sharing about all pedal brands.

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I have a real soft spot for the 80s movie, North Shore. And visiting those famous surf breaks on O‘ahu remains atop the bucket list. This interview with Matt Adler looking back at the legacy of the film hits all the nostalgia points for me. Next week, let's talk about its BMX counterpart, the classic movie, RAD.

What are you working on?

I'm waist-deep in the next type release, Scorekard, and doing some simple specimens. A few years ago, I made t-shirts that simply said, "STAY SALTY" in our Vault Alarm font. I love the ocean and anything salt water related. A few months passed and I got a cease and desist from a company claiming trademark on the words, Stay Salty. I reluctantly took the shirt down. However, every time I'm in a coastal town's gift shop and see hundreds of horribly-designed things with that phrase on them, I'm baffled by the spotty trademark enforcing of such a simple phrase. I've been searching for a replacement sentiment, but perhaps just SALT WATER is enough? Unless someone owns that as well.

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Hello, Very Fine People™. Here's issue #20 of Studio Notes—quick bits delivered to you each Friday.

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First up, a cool little video about how Suzanne Ciani created the iconic "pop and pour" audio logo for Coca-Cola in the 70s using only analog synths. You can read more about Suzanne and see her demo synths on David Letterman in 1980 in this Guardian article from 2017. I think all great brands should have an audio logo.

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Incredibly thorough and impressive article about the Gorton font, in which Marcin Wichary discovers its history and omnipresence. A monoline typeface found almost literally everywhere for a century that not many folks talk about. Coincidentally, It was most likely Gorton that I saw on the Martha's Vineyard ferry sign that inspired our Ships Whistle typeface. Marcin also rounds up all the various Gorton recreations including SW. (via Jan-Paul Koudstaal sharing this in the Secret Type Club Slack)

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There are many shows and movies that win tons of awards and for some reason ignore them for a long stretch. Only to finally watch and then understand completely why they've been applauded. In other words, I'm often late to the game. The latest example is the HBO show, Hacks. It's wonderful. Funny, heartwarming, difficult. Great writing. And, IMO, an entertaining  illustration of the struggle and attempted balance of creative work and life. If you're a fan of Ted Lasso and/or Shrinking, you'll probably love this show.

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I'm loving this collection of deliberately inconvenient
everyday objects by Athens-based architect Katerina Kamprani.

What are you working on?

The other day I saw a headline, "The Earth's Core Is Changing", and if that didn't sum up the all-encompassing vibe on the surface of the Earth the past year or three, I don't know what. To distract, I chip away at alphabets. The intentionally-imperfect Scorekard is coming along with A-Z and 0-9 mostly complete—at least a first pass.

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