Through Lines 200

There’s such a wealth of inspiring, useful and informative recordings from past lectures from the Type@Cooper program on Vimeo, and this hour-long lecture from Doug Clouse is no exception, especially as he taps into a bunch of things that intersect with own my personal interests.

• “And what are we diverting ourselves from? Who we actually are. Ultimately, the biggest public health problem is [that] you end up being remote from yourself.” One of many wise observations on an increasingly lonely world and the radical nature of modern mindfulness from researcher Jon Kabat-Zinn.
• Geddy Lee's My Effin Life with guest host Alex Lifeson live at Massy Hall. It’s fun just to watch these two BFFs banter and tease each other and of course speak so highly of their lost bandmate and brother, Peke.
• “Cigarettes trapped individual smokers with a biological addiction. Social media has trapped an entire generation in a collective-action problem.” Jonathan Haidt on the The Terrible Cost of a Phone-Based Childhood.
• Ottawa Design Club call for Zine 0007 submissions. Well, this is right up my alley.
• Where you give your energy. This echoes a number of moments during my time at Facebook/Meta and also hits on things I’ve been contemplating the last few months.
• Despite mixed feelings about AI in general, I do appreciate conversations like this one between Golan Levin and Claire Hentschker from the Creative Dialogues series.
• We need more people who are as kind, considerate, and genuinely empathetic about the nature and impact of design on the world as Maurice Woods and the critical work he’s done for so many years through the Inneract Project.
• I think it’d be cool if NASA made replicas of the commemorative plate from the Europa Clipper spacecraft — not quite a new golden record, but a good start.
• TIL that tomorrow is World Digital Cleanup Day. Digital isn’t as free as we think.
• The Anxious Generation is going to be a tough but important read.
• I’ve got a lot of reading to do over at the AI Now Institute.
• Be kind, be cool. Especially the first part.
• Grid World. So, so, so good.
• RIP Phil Baines. And my friend and Meta colleague, Tuan.

Notable Type Releases

• LL Supremus, a highly graphic companion to the existing LL Supreme families brings modular, geometric components into a form that builds on ideas that took form in Paul Renner’s still bemusing Futura Black.
• Kukulkan Sans, the newly released companion to Kukulkan further blend inspiration from an idealized pre-Hispanic Mayan culture with modern nuance while extending the utility of a growing family of styles beyond the original serif family.
• Anisha Latin and Arabic continue the gooey-ish trend, blending display and text uses into a very friendly, casual family that would feel right at home on menus, packaging, as well as in editorial uses. Full of fantastic swash alternates throughout as well.
• Sofia Mohr’s Amostra uses weight and contrast to give it a soft, almost gummi-like vibe. Perfect for packaging and editorial uses.
• Personally, I’m not that into broad nibbed type like Ben Jones’ Census, but nevertheless, this elegant, contrast-y and fresh take on the style is quite lovely.