Through Lines 178

I’ve seen Theo Jansen’s engineered creatures before, but they never cease to leave me mesmerized and utterly delighted. A true feat of engineering and creativity.

• A very useful (and thorough) guide. How to Write Alt Text and Image Descriptions.
• Adobe and partners are looking to introduce a new symbol to tag AI-generated artwork. I think this is a reasonable thing but I’m withholding judgement until we really see how this might play out.
• “You can’t prove your value to someone whose business model relies on not seeing it.” I needed to step away after reading this.
• Artist David Spriggs and the Art of I/o. A look behind the scenes with one of the artists behind the artwork that accompanies new tracks from Peter Gabriel. David’s work is really outstanding and right up my alley. More at his site.
• One Revolution per Minute looks at what it would be like to travel on a large circular, rotating space station. Disorientingly cool.
• I love the idea of urban dense micro-forests, something more cities would be wise to invest in for both aesthetic but also obvious environmental reasons.
• Antonio Cavedoni, Chris Wilson: Unexpected Baskerville — the Story of LoveFrom Serif. TIL that Peter Saville was also involved in this which I didn’t know. Also, wow to be introduced by Johnny Ive.
• Go a step further and outlaw data brokers entirely, that would be the real slam dunk.
• A Full Moon with Earth’s Blue Glow Beneath it. A stunning image from NASA.
• “We picked the right asteroid — and not only that, we brought back the right sample.” A first look at what NASA brought back from that asteroid.
• Some feedback on your feedback. This hits home.
• See — just get off Twitter already.

Notable Type Releases

• Brigada is a curious calligraphic, monoline cursive rooted in broad nib drawing. It’s layers create an unusual but lovely visual texture.
• Trust is a collection of 144 (!!!) styles across 9 display faces from Jeremy Mickel covering a full breadth of sans through serif varieties with its origins in US currency and classics like Friz Quadrata, Optima, Kabel, and Serif Gothic among others.
• The squarish yet comfortable Aldgate Serif from Dalton Maag delivers a readable, contemporary type family that covers a lot of ground across its 3 variable axes.
• Arrow Type’s Name Sans represents a reinterpretation of the NYC subway system’s geometric/grotesque mosaic station tiles while filling in gaps, optical corrections and such to transform them into a logical type system.
• The preview of Emma Marichal’s forthcoming Ploquine (to be released in 2024) looks to be a gorgeous workhorse suitable for all manner of uses from editorial to branding. I’m swooning over those italics.
• Malutzki Initials Fonts is the creation of designer Lena Schmidt worked closely with original artist Peter Malutzki to transform his delightful and enigmatic figurative alphabet into a color typeface offering single or multiple color options.