Through Lines 154

Feist’s outstanding Multitudes is out now, and this mini three-song concert is a good taste of the 2022 tour if you can imagine yourself sitting just a couple feet away entirely surrounding that little tiny stage. It was magic.

• Speaking of Feist, this interview in the Guardian fills in the backstory of Multitudes. As she says, “And I remember that songs are part of how we remember to be ourselves and make it through our actual real lives.”
• Duct Tape and Dreams: The Wild History of SFMOMA's Famous Soapbox Derby is a short documentary film about the recent revival of the derby in 2022. Joey!
• I’m glad I didn’t hesitate and grabbed some of the experimental Reclaimed Blue 600 Polaroid film when it was released last week since it’s already sold out.
• PassGAN and other AI tools should give you pause about the quality of the passwords you’re using and how fast those tools can crack them.
• You Call This Flexible Work? This essay from Stanford’s Fred Turner covers a lot of ground including the history of work, how we measure time, and much more. This should be required reading for all of us at this moment in time.
• The Canadian Typography Archives is a new resource dedicated to recording the history of type and typography from my native land.
• Getting even more excited for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny after finally having time to sit down and soak in the second trailer.
• Volume 2 of the animated Star Wars: Visions series looks wonderful. I’m stupidly excited for the Wallace and Gromit team to take on the galaxy far far away.
• “The moment you sit down to draw, previous success means nothing.” A brilliant and ever-insightful interview with the imitable Christoph Neimann.
• The process behind the creation of Rick Rubin's The Creative Act with Paula Scher.
• Make Something Wonderful: Steve Jobs in His Own Words collects speeches, interviews, and correspondences into a beautiful little book. The Steve Jobs Archive logo is also [chef’s kiss] perfect.
• Vanishing Point: How the Light Grid Defined 1980s Futurism. And it still seems to have something that fully represents the next great technological leap.
• Valuable, and arguably spot-on observations about life from Naz.
• Alex Miller’s Grid World… so amazing. Love love love.
• This super lightweight paint sounds kind of amazing.
• No more staplers! The end of tech perks… can confirm.
• Related: life in tech limbo. No comment.
• The Twitter saga takes a new turn.

Notable Type Releases

• Melindrosa from Flavia Zimbardi re-interprets the lettering of Brazilian Art Deco master, J. Carlos. The double-wide A and high-waisted Ns are particularly lovely.
• The flared serifs of Auroc immediately reminded me of Wolpe Tempest’s chiseled forms. The included decorative patterns and figures reinforce that further still.
• I was immediately enamored by the large x-height and sculpted forms of Manic Type’s Palmetto which has been expanded with new weights and alternates throughout.
• NCND (Neither Confirm Nor Deny) is a completely reengineered version of the classic typewriter family formerly known as FF Trixie.
• The Nouveau-inspired Major and Minor weights of Regrets from OhNo Type Co is yet another stunner. Bonus points for the suite of floral decoration, borders and tiles.
• Gosh has that aw shucks, golly charm, like an old friend come home for the summer. It’s blocky and solid yet also full of little curves that make it warm and personable.
• Avril from Blaze Type is a loopy, low-contrast, semi-connected script family that mimics the character of handwriting and 50s-era sign painting.
• The almost bubble letter Abstrakt fits the bill for geometric avant garde and precursor to 80s pop. Its narrow, bulbous forms are fun and just a little funky.
• Mobile by Anne Seseke features distinctive horizontal and vertical cuts, like ink traps in its rounded, puffy, almost modular forms.