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Studio Notes #83

Hello, Very Fine People. Here are this week’s Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. I'm writing today from Chicago, where I was chair for the Society of Typographic Arts STA 100 competition. Shout out to judges Lauren Hom, Lisa McCormick, Damian Orellana, and Simon

Studio Notes #82

Greetings, Friends. Here are this week’s Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. 🏊‍♂️ Lithuanian artist, Ray Bartkus’, Floating World art installation had me stop in my tracks this week. The idea of painting an upside down mural on the side of a building so that it shows

Studio Notes #81

Happy April 24th, Y’all. Here are this week’s Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. 🕹️ Current MIT students paid homage to a legendary 2012 “hack” by recreating a playable Tetris game on a 21-story building on the university's campus. The building's rooms

Studio Notes #80

Good Morning, Good People. Here are this week’s Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. ♟️ I've had a very on/off relationship with chess. Learned it young, never great at it, but always had an interest in it. Both of my kids had short stints

Studio Notes #79

Howdy, my friends. Here are this week’s Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. 🐥 I haven't watched the whole documentary yet, but this clip explaining how Carrol Spinney operated Big Bird by himself is remarkable. One hand for the mouth, but a pinky of that

Studio Notes #78

Hello hello, and greetings to you, beloved reader. Here are this week’s Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. 🎻 Charles Brooks takes beautiful photos from the inside of various musical instruments, revealing hidden architecture and insanely detailed miniature "rooms". The mood and lighting captured in

Studio Notes #77

Howdy, folks. Here are this week’s Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. 🧳 I love Antiques Roadshow. And the best segments of the show are the ones where the owner is genuinely shocked about the value of what they've brought in. Usually it's

Studio Notes #76

Greetings, friends. Here are this week’s Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. 🔥 Yet another briefly-engaged-in hobby I had growing up: Collecting matchbooks. Even when I was a clueless middle schooler I was drawn to the designs, the type, printing techniques, etc. and started a little collection.

Studio Notes #75

Hello hello, and greetings to you. Here's issue #75 of Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. 🍋 I came across a new-to-me band that made me temporarily feel better about the world. They're called The Lemon Twigs. And boy did it make me smile

Studio Notes #74

Grand Risings, my friends. Here's issue #74 of Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. 🚙 Seeing the illustration style of British artist, Tommy Spencer, made me smile this week. It reminds me of record covers and picture books from the 1970s and I'm loving

Studio Notes #73

Hello, amigos. Here's issue #73 of Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. 🧱 French street artist, le cyclop, paints bollards to make them look like LEGO heads. I love that they use one-eyed stickers to keep the faces on brand. And the stencil to make it

Studio Notes #72

Hello, Hypertext Penpals. Here's issue #72 of Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. 🍎 I ended up backing a new Kickstarter this week for Coin, a tiny “knife” that’s the size of a quarter. Fits on a keyring, has a bottle-opener. That cool-looking, swirly steel

Studio Notes #71

Greetings, Warriors of the World. Here's issue #71 of Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. 🏄‍♂️ Today's visual meditation is a non-narrated, lamination and glassing of a Timpone surfboard in their Maui workshop. The craft is on full display here and everything is finessed

Studio Notes #70

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

Studio Notes #69

Hi Folks, Normally we'd deliver quick bits to you, as we do every Friday. Today however, we are essentially closed for business; standing in solidarity with the people of Minnesota and all people who oppose an authoritarian administration hell-bent on eroding the Constitution and dividing the world. We&

Studio Notes #68

Happy Friday, Friends. Here's issue #68 of Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. 📞 I'm one of those people that really dislikes talking on the phone. But perhaps this throwback USB handset would help, taking me back to the days when it was the

Studio Notes #67

Happy Friday, Design Folks. Here's issue #67 of Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. 🏄‍♂️ ORION is a short film about Orion Miller, a surfer in Montréal who braves frigid winter temps to ride the infinite waves of the St. Lawrence River. It's beautifully

Studio Notes #66

Greetings, my friends. Here's issue #66 of Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. 🧑‍🚀 MTV Rewind is an ad-free website that collected over 35,000 music videos navigable by decade or category, with quick prev/next buttons and other nostalgia. A gift to any of us

Studio Notes #65

Happy New Year, folks! Here's issue #65 of Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. 🥔 Got mesmerized by these weaved Pringles photos. Art is everywhere! I'm going to try and find new ways to create with everyday, out-of-the-ordinary, temporary media this year. 🎥 My deep

Studio Notes #64

Happy Holidays, Friends! Here's issue #64 of Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. This week's issue is an abbreviated one, while we're recovering from holiday shenanigans and festivities. I hope you're wrapping up 2025 with good vibes and peace.

Studio Notes #63

Happy Friday, Folks. Here's issue #63 of Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. ✍️ This website is marketing-y as heck, but I have to imagine I'd have a lot of fun with an engraving pen. Drawing on glass bottles and guitar picks and...Macbooks?

Studio Notes #62

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.

Studio Notes #61

Greetings, Crafty Crew. Here's issue #61 of Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. 📏 I wasn't familiar with Dimensions, but it's a sort of like a giant, visual Wikipedia for, well, the dimensions of things. The measurements of anything. Things like a

Studio Notes #60

Hello E-Commerce-Email-Wading Friends. Here's issue #60 of Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. I realize you're getting emails from every single company you've ever corresponded with today. I apologize, but here's another one 😄 Everything here is on sale as

Studio Notes #58

Greetings, Design Pals. Here's issue #58 of Studio Notes™—quick bits delivered to you each Friday. 🗡️ Artist Julien Curi is making another animated film called Knight and the Snail made entirely out of paper. His stop-motion work is mind-bogglingly detailed and incredible, and you can contribute to the