Studio Notes #63

Season's Greetings, Friends. Here's issue #62 of Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday.

🍝

I don't make fresh pasta—but I certainly eat it. If I was going to make it from scratch though, I would absolutely pay attention to Mateo Kitchen. If the recipes are as good as the branding and design of his website, then, well, we should all make them. The ravioli-serrated-edge motif and M mark is such a cohesive victory. The design here is not trendy, or trying too hard—it just works so perfectly.

🗽

Loved reading the storied history of the Gotham typeface on its 25th anniversary. Originally a commission from GQ magazine, hearing that Tobias Frere-Jones' inspiration came from a limited set of letters found on NYC Port Authority signage hit home for me. I love type projects that aim to "fill in the blanks" from historical, in-the-wild subjects. Trying to imagine what the rest of an alphabet might be from a small set is such a fun "puzzle" to solve, and one of the reasons I've come to enjoy type design so much. Anyhow, congrats to Tobias on creating such an instant classic that has gone on to represent so many important things.

🍺

This is a few years old, but made me smile. Guiness Foot Pints are (were?) winter boots that create perfect pint icons in the snow to lead you to the pub. Brilliant marketing.

🏒

Trent Buhler builds Old Time Table Hockey games with an incredible amount of detail and nostalgia. Even recreating the old Boston Garden in its entirety and famous scenes from classic NHL matchups. Photographed beautifully. I loved those tabletop twist hockey games as a kid. The Bruins vs. Flyers edition when no one even wore helmets and the puck would constantly get stuck in the corner.

• • •

• • •

What are you working on?

I had been playing with our latest typeface, Turbeau, riffing on some Grand Prix puns for probably too long and ended up ordering some decals. Coming soon to the shop for the approximately half-dozen people out there that love the cross-section of motorsports and typography.

Also! Today at 1pm ET the Secret Club™ is holding its 2nd-Friday-of-the-Month Secret Meeting over Zoom. We'll be talking about our favorite typefaces released in 2025. There's still time to join us 😄.

Have a fantastic weekend, and we'll see you back here next Friday ✌️

Cheers,