Through Lines 261

It only took (checks notes) 47 years (!!!), but the Talking Heads finally released a music video for Psycho Killer and starring the inimitable Saoirse Ronan and directed by Mike Mills (not the R.E.M. one mind you).

Art & Design

  • Apparently it’s impossible to escape the specter of the imfamous Book of Hack. There are five versions and I may be the only person to have all of them (and all the original files to boot).
  • A masterclass on icon design from Jon Hicks for the V&A East. I especially appreciate the challenge of pairing iconography with an established typeface and considerations for viewing size/distance.
  • Call it What It Is. I’m pretty sure I have the original printed Emigre specimen book that this essay by John Downer originates from kicking around in my archives. Might be time to dig it out.
  • What does success look like to other creatives? It's probably not what you think. My own take on this has evolved as I’ve aged, but mostly is focused on freedom and expression outside of how I earn a living because these two things can happily co-exist.
  • Makers Knowledge underpins how and why I make things and is directly connected to why that approach is so personally fulfilling.
  • This essay on Designing a Life is also not unrelated to the above.
  • I like the look of what Colly's cooking up here.

Type of Note

  • With its origins at the TypeMedia MA Type Design program in The Hague, QueerType’s in-progress Antiphony explores the extremes of expression and typographic harmony. This is one to keep an eye on.
  • A poetic pair, Roman du Roi and Le Grand combines rational geometric elegance and modern craftsmanship across an extensive variable text family with it’s signature finial of the lowercase ‘l’ and sculptural headline companion.
  • Cyrus Highsmith’s almost boxy Occupant Modern and Occupant Modern Text explore and expand the traditions and delicate details of the classic Didone. This is not your father’s Bodoni.
  • Discovery from Fontador gathers inspiration from visions of the future from the last millennium alongside film titles and record sleeves. The matching 3d layers give it even further-reaching character and opportunities for creative uses.
  • I’m a sucker for the chunky serifs in Caterina Santullo’s Lei Sola which always feel somewhat eccentric and quirky to me but is also what makes such faces so comfortable to read.

Technology

  • Technology should only ever do exactly what we have explicitly given it our consent to do. The institutions that don’t understand that basic principle need to start paying a heavy cost for their transgressions. Anil Dash on The Internet of Consent.
  • Will there come a point when it’s no longer possible to work in our industry without opting in? Jason makes a point I haven’t properly considered related to AI, but could be equally applied to other facets of modern work.
  • Of course it’s possible to train an AI on ethically sourced data even if the big tech companies would have you believe it’s completely unreasonable.
  • Bounce, a new app for moving between Mastodon and Bluesky seems promising. Will be keeping an eye on this.

Humanities

  • Manu Prakash is my kinda scientist. Aside from inventing the world's cheapest microscope, he’s a pioneer in the field of recreational biology, a concept we might be wise to adopt in more fields because Awe and wonder are wired in our brains.
  • I’d never heard the term DARVO (Deny, attack, reverse victim and offender) before but have definitely experienced the behavior described. A defense against gaslighting sociopaths.
  • If this prototype device from Aircela can actually do what it says and produce gasoline directly from air and is scalable, then wow, that’s some wild science.
  • A short list of Things to do While Waiting that are not about staring at the glowing rectangle in your hand/pocket.

Music & Film

  • I’m not sure whether I should read the book first before seeing The Life of Chuck but I’m looking forward to this based on everything I’ve seen about it so far.
  • Kathleen Edwards has a new full-length album coming in August called Billionaire produced by Jason Isbell and Gena Johnson and backed by the 400 Unit. The first two tracks are excellent. Signed copies and more available via Dualtone Records.
  • A pretty cracking live performance of Bonnet of Pins by Matt Berninger and his solo band on Fallon.

One More Thing

  • RIP Bill Atkinson, whom anyone who’s ever used a Mac (especially) owes an immense debt of gratitude for his incredible creative contributions to computing.

Space was not something I appreciated earlier in life, especially in the myriad of forms it might take — physical space (and distance), mental space, emotional space, creative space. Today I find it’s essential for the mind and the heart. Work is concrete and steel. Home is trees and the sound of birds. Home is a different kind of creative space with expectations that are free of pretense and where all options are on the table. The space between these two places serves as an equally important transitional plane where good things can be exchanged and accumulated towards something new. This is a reminder for myself more than anything.