Studio Notes #86

Good morning, my friends. Here are this week’s Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday.

📼

The day after Stephen Colbert's final Late Show, he filmed an hour long special in Monroe, Michigan on their local public access cable channel. “It’s been an excruciating 23 hours without being on TV, so I am grateful to be able to be here on Monroe Community Media before they also get acquired by Paramount.” Guests included Jack White as musical director, Jeff Daniels, Eminem, and Steve Buscemi.

📏

Craighill's Metrolog Ruler looks to be a handy tool for the studio. Sturdy ruler and straight edge, with an ingenious telescoping action that does the work of measuring calipers. Looks like it's available for pre-order but not shipping until August.

📷

Reuben Wu creates incredible images using lighted drones and long-exposure photography to create otherworldly scenes. He's also doing some insanely cool things by photographing trains in beautiful surroundings. Artificially lighting large landscapes with flying lights and lasers is one heckuva interesting concept.

🐊

Lacoste has updated their visual identity and it reminded me of a beloved polo shirt I had in elementary school with that famed crocodile on it. We didn't have much money growing up, so it always baffled me how I was able to wear this famous French fashion brand in small town Vermont in 1983. It turns out, American brand IZOD licensed the crocodile for its own shirts in the U.S. for a limited time in the 70s and 80s using cheaper materials, of course. Fashion mystery solved.

And this rebrand leads us to the poll question of the week...

This Week’s Poll

Last week, I asked which brand should lean into a previous version of their logo, and Taco Bell in 1984 took the win. I can't argue with that one. Apple's short-lived Newton-esque illustration that would be a nightmare at small sizes took a surprising second place.

What are you working on?

Some typefaces move along quicker than others and they end up taking over the release schedule [Ed. note: Let's be real there is no schedule]. That's been the case with Kyroh, one of the current WIP fonts happening around here. Leaning into Egyptian things has been fun.

Our big 35% off Goods for non-special reasons sale has been going great thus far—thank you for the orders coming in! It's still happening through next Wednesday, so grab a tee, decal, hat, etc. with code SPECIAL at checkout.

Have a fantastic weekend and see you back here in June.

Cheers,