Studio Notes #70

Howdy, Fine People. Here's issue #70 of Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday.

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This book is an instant add-to-cart: Hotel Retro: Vintage Luggage Labels from Tokyo to Buenos Aires is a forthcoming hardcover from the Letterform Archive that collects 330 travel stickers from the late nineteenth century’s so called, “Golden Age of Travel”. Tons of great type, illustration, color, and design inspiration in here. And the best part? Each reproduction is an actual removable sticker.

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I came away with some thoughts (all positive) about the new reboot special of The Muppet Show. Maybe it's Old Guy Nostalgia kicking in, but it does feel like right now is a perfect time to bring back show as a series—and I really hope they do. Something I always loved about the Muppets (and anything Jim Henson made, really) is that it brought families together to watch something funny and genuinely entertaining. The formula is a winner, and this new special was right in line with the original. Part of that formula is that there's always something that goes horribly wrong with the show (often self-inflicted) but in the end (no more than 32 mins) the characters work through it and humor and humility persevere. It's a nice message we need more of these days. ★★★★★

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Look, I don't have a pressing need for balloon arches—but if I did I'd probably look at this (horribly-named?) product, Totali EZ. And I swear I'm not being paid to mention them. I just thought, “This really is a genius way of blowing up a giant archway of balloons all at once”. Like there's no other way I'd want to create one of these celebratory structures. If I needed to. More than once. Bravo to invention.

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Punch is, “a curated directory of the web's finest Indie Type Foundries”. A well-designed collection of independent type makers that isn't associated with a large conglomerate looking to monopolize font-buying? Heck yes, I love this. Great resource for finding and supporting indie foundries!

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What are you working on?

Surprise, surprise...Work begins on another typeface. I'm calling this one Beeswacks, named for its inspiration: A vintage package of Columbia Wax Works candles. This one could be a nice companion to Parkly. And hey, wow, I'm doing lowercase right out of the gate! Though it might be a quick and simple, single weight at first release.

Hope you find some time to chill and just “be” this weekend. See you next week!

Cheers,