Studio Notes #43

Good morrow, fellow beings. Here's issue #43 of Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday.

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An incredibly-deep-dive into all the faux brands and logos found in the new Mario Kart World game. A perfect example of why the internet is amazing. He breaks it all down by industry and gives great critiques of all the branding around the tracks. Also, being a fake logo designer for Nintendo must be a hell of a lot of fun. (Hat tip to No Plan Studio)

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Last week I shared some mini surfboards and Mathew Smith wrote in to share these finger surfboards that let you "surf the air" out a car window. I love this idea! And the wrist leash seems...critical.

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I'm halfway through HBO's new documentary on Billy Joel. It's wonderful. One of my first concerts back in the 80s was seeing Billy at the Worcester Centrum and it left quite a mark on me—even at almost 40 years ago, I knew every song then and was also fixated on Liberty DeVitto's drumming. Joel's music was always quintessentially New York to me, as a non-New Yorker kid from New England. Couple things that have stood out thus far: How important his first wife, Elizabeth Weber Small, was to his success in that first decade of his career. And how dismissive he was of Just The Way You Are as a single, while Paul McCartney counts it as the one song he'd wished he had written himself. And damn...that Rhodes piano.

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I can't remember how I ended up here, but the story of The Guildhall in Windsor, England is a funny commentary on the designer/client relationship. Built in 1687, the design of the hall had a large, open area underneath a second floor. The town council demanded four pillars be added to help support the ceiling in the middle of the room, and to "prove a point" the builder added them—but left a gap of several inches at the top so that most wouldn't notice the pillars were offering zero help in holding up the structure. Remember this little tale the next time a client is stubborn about adding something unnecessary ;)

What are you working on?

For subscribers (that's you) I posted some found type from a quick trip to Maine. I'm planning on doing more of these adventures to various New England coastal towns to share what I find. Work also continues on the next typeface, Turbeau, and it's already getting close to a v1. I'll be sharing a free version with Gold members first, so consider this a sneaky upgrade pitch.

Have a great first-weekend-in-August, and see you back here next Friday. I may also drop another quick note about some new hats and tees early next week. Until then...

Cheers,

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