Through Lines 167

This new single, Fake Happy from Hannah Georgas’ forthcoming album has been a slow-burn for me but now that I’ve had time to sit with it properly, I can say it’s a fave.

• Related to the above, a stripped down version of Robotic from 69 Vintage in 2013.
• And speaking of good music, I’m digging Tired of Being Alone from the masters of jangle pop, Teenage Fanclub’s forthcoming release, Nothing Lasts Forever.
• If the report on the cancellation of Quest Pro and Quest 2 devices is true, I for one, will not lament the death of Mark’s truly awful Metaverse.
• “Companies took over the web, but that doesn’t mean they get to keep it. ” What would the internet of people look like now?
• I learned about Bookwyrm, a fediverse-enabled, non-corporate (ahem, Amazon) service akin to Goodreads which has been kind of a hot mess basically forever. You can import everything from Goodreads there too which makes switching easy.
• Coinciding with Dark Side of the Moon's 50th anniversary, Roger Waters’ redux will be out on October 6th. Money, the first single, is not the song you remember.
• Why virtue is key to your happiness. Timely as I consider what’s next for me.
• The Creator looks like it will be an intense and thrilling film from Gareth Edwards.
• Will AI Change our Memories is like asking if water is wet. It already is, and we should be asking a lot more deep existential questions about what we consider real and how we even define things like photographs.
• Inside the abandoned The Bell Labs Holmdel Complex. The Abandoned America site is quite the rabbit hole to venture down.
• I have no real recollection of Dogstar from the 90s, but their new single Everything Turns Around is enough to make me interested to hear the rest of their new album.
• How to Redeem Social Media. They may not have to repeat past mistakes, but it’s a safe bet they will do just that and probably worse in the process.
• Speaking of Meta, The Walrus is spot on about Threads.
• Archives.design collects graphic design items available through the Internet Archive.
• Might be time for a new baseball cap.
• Sweden's brand identity guide. Including a custom typeface.
• Timeline of the Far Future. Goodbye weekend.

Notable Type Releases

• Esltob is an intriguing open-source variable typeface based on type from the Oxford University Press in the 17th and 18th Centuries.
• Ohno Type Co has further extended their Degular family with Degular Mono. As the site says, “it’s like Degular, but doing a robot voice.” Who’s to argue with that? Not I. Also, don’t miss the always great process details from Ohno.
• Spades is a modern Baroque typeface that mixes seemingly contradictory historial influences and contemporary design devices such as inktraps as an ornate feature rather than a practical solution.
• Bonto from Blaze Type takes the idea of a geometric typeface and does some funky things that give it a totally unique spin on what otherwise can be a stiff and uninspired approach. In this case, just weird enough to work.
• Duong Tran’s Loes mixes elegant sophistication, a distinct sharpness throughout the serifs and a high waist to produce a typeface well-suited for display and text needs.
• Type Mates industrial Dockland puts a fashionable spin on the usually rugged slab serif. It feels solid and stable — built to handle the heaviest work you can throw at it.
• The aptly named Condensed from Monokrom has an x-height that might be like wearing a belt around your neck, but remains highly readable at display sizes.