Typographica

Typographica

@typographica.org

A review of #lettering and #typography. Since 2002. Posts by editor @stewf.com. Primarily on Mastodon with many from the type community: https://typo.social/@typographica

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Typographica
@typographica.org

Bluesky is a good alternative to X for the general public and some specific topics, especially politics. But for many communities and fields, a critical mass remains exclusively on Mastodon. Type designers and fans, for instance, have their own server with 679 active users: typo.social/directory.

typo.socialtypo.socialWelcome to Typo.social! This is a Mastodon instance open to any typo and type enthusiastic. We are offering this service out of sheer courtesy without being held responsible for any disadvantages.

Typographica reposted

Letterform Archive
@letterformarchive.org

Dreamed up in Barcelona at the end of the 1930s, Super-Veloz was a system of metal type forms that could be joined up to design almost anything. Our latest book tells its story while guiding readers through some of the most requested material in our collection. letterformarchive.org/shop/super-v...

letterformarchive.orgSuper-Veloz: Joan Trochut’s Modular Modernism and the Dream of Typographic Abundance in Spain, 1930–1955 | Letterform ArchiveThe richly illustrated story of a design marvel that made printers into artists and brought movement to moveable type In late-1930s Barcelona, young designer Joan Trochut and his father, a visionary p...
Typographica
@typographica.org

The Crucible is one of the few places in the world where you can take neon classes. The only other way to truly learn the craft is the rare apprenticeship.

Stephen Coles@stewf.com

SF bathes in tech wealth while yet another arts org is in trouble. The Crucible Faces Abrupt “Temporary Closure” by Board of Directors Closure of Treasured Oakland Arts Institution Leaves Employees, Students and Artists Uncertain of Future docs.google.com/document/d/1... #SFBA #Oakland #TheCrucible

docs.google.comCrucible Closure Press ReleaseAbove: Crucible staff and faculty holding up signs reading “Dedicated Cru” (The Crucible’s Union Title) and “Cut Metal, Not Jobs!” in response to management’s layoff and reduction proposal. FOR IMMED...
Typographica
@typographica.org

On last week’s trip to LA we stayed in Boyle Heights. It reminded me so much of the Mission in SF before gentrification. Predominantly Spanish-speaking. Mostly independent shops with fronts right at the street. So many handmade signs! Here are a few goodies. More: www.flickr.com/photos/stewf...

Typographica reposted

Christopher Hawthorne
@hawthorne.bsky.social

I hope you'll read and share this one. On the Eames Institute and its hardline MAGA backer, Joe Gebbia, whose X feed mixes aphorisms from Charles Eames with praise for Alex Jones and the John Birch Society www.punchlistmag.com/p/the-eames-...

punchlistmag.comThe Eames Institute has a Joe Gebbia problemWhat would Charles and Ray make of his praise for Alex Jones and the John Birch Society? For that matter, what would they make of Edward “Big Balls” Coristine? Plus: the Stahl House struggles to find ...

Typographica reposted

Letterform Archive
@letterformarchive.org

Our latest full-length title is the first-ever trade publication about the celebrated modular letterpress system Super-Veloz. Now through Oct, 8, 2026, members automatically receive 20% off preorders of the book. letterformarchive.org/shop/super-v...

letterformarchive.orgSuper-Veloz: Joan Trochut’s Modular Modernism and the Dream of Typographic Abundance in Spain, 1930–1955 | Letterform ArchiveThe richly illustrated story of a design marvel that made printers into artists and brought movement to moveable type In late-1930s Barcelona, young designer Joan Trochut and his father, a visionary p...

Typographica reposted

Christopher Slye
@slye.bsky.social

As a former Type West instructor (and current Letterform Archive board member), I’m incredibly happy about the growth of this program and the quality of the student work over the years. I’ll be there tonight and I’m looking forward to celebrating this milestone with everyone!

letterformarchive.orgType For All! Ten Years of Type West | Letterform ArchiveCome celebrate our students from 31 countries and their quirky, beautiful, and (yes!) practical typefaces.

Typographica reposted

Letterform Archive
@letterformarchive.org

New from Letterform Archive Books, the first of a new line featuring reproductions of our favorite collections: Creative Papers. letterformarchive.org/shop/wood-ty... #WoodType #HarrildAndSons #Stationery #GiftWrap #TypeSpecimens #Typography

letterformarchive.orgWood Type Creative Papers: Nineteenth-Century Letterforms on Display (For Gift Wrap, Crafting, Decor & more) | Letterform Archive16 oversize sheets featuring the bold letters and vibrant colors designed to captivate audiences near and far In the 1800s, as people migrated to urban centers, and the walls of the city increasingly ...
Typographica
@typographica.org

Smartest thing It’s Nice That has done: hire @goodspeed.bsky.social. Dumbest thing It’s Nice That has done: take Meta money to do an advertorial puff piece on the IG rebrand. Anyway, here’s another good Goodspeed article: www.itsnicethat.com/articles/eli...

itsnicethat.comElizabeth Goodspeed on the branding challenge behind Mayor Zohran’s new municipal grocery storesEveryone wants to know who will win New York City’s grocery store RFP – the more interesting question is what public identities should actually do.

Typographica reposted

Stephen Coles
@stewf.com

If we happen to be in #SaltLakeCity during our wedding anniversary, of course I’m getting a bouquet at Art Floral, now celebrating their own 75th. Their neon sign went up in 1958 and they kept it glowing since. Get flowers & let ‘em know you love their sign! At night: flic.kr/p/pBzMd9 #Signs #Neon

Typographica
@typographica.org

The biggest neon shop in the San Francisco Bay Area also happens to be a dazzling showroom of vintage signs. But it’s only open to the public once a year: at the Neon Speaks Festival. Get tix before they sell out: www.eventbrite.com/e/neon-works... #NeonSigns #Neon #Signs #Oakland #SFBA #NeonSpeaks

eventbrite.comNeon Works Shop Tour 9/20Once-a-year chance to take the Neon Works shop tour. Includes photography, tube bending demo, and vintage neon sign boneyard.
Typographica
@typographica.org

On that note, Neon Speaks is traveling to Reno this year to celebrate the opening of the city’s Light Circus Nevada Neon Museum. Join me and a bunch of other sign geeks for three days of screenings, talks, tours. Sep 11–13, 2026. neonspeaks.org #NeonSigns #Neon #Signs #Reno #NeonSpeaks #Nevada

Typographica
@typographica.org

“The promise of generative AI is that it can learn the underlying meta-structures of the training data, so that it can recompose and extrapolate them in ways that are novel or not represented well in the training data.

Typographica
@typographica.org

I say that’s the ‘promise’ because in reality you'll find that generative AI actually does a pretty terrible job of producing truly novel outputs. This isn't to say that these models can’t interpolate between things represented in their training data; that they’re quite impressive at.

Typographica
@typographica.org

Q. Is it enjoyable to have to create multiple weight variations and italics for each font that you create? “This is the work. Is all of it equally enjoyable? No, but it is what trains skills and shapes us as people who make this particular class of thing.

Typographica
@typographica.org

I grew up around artists, and I came to realise — although I only found the words for it recently — that the art, in the sense of a product — a painting or a sculpture — was only part of what they were making, and not always the important part. They were making themselves as makers, which is what is

Typographica
@typographica.org

lost when expediencies, conveniences, or short cuts are employed. … removal of the human from the process of making unmakes or stunts the human, and reduces the made thing to a mere product, which is of course how the tech capitalists view everything.” — John Hudson typedrawers.com/discussion/c...

Typographica
@typographica.org

“One of the many truly offensive things to me about AI-driven artistic processes is that they divorce the ostensible artist from their influences. All art draws on and builds on previous work in one way or another, and an artist ought to be aware of their influences, and ideally share information

typedrawers.comCritique Request for Gothic Gumdrop (100% AI-generated submission to Google Fonts)Hi Everyone, The Google Fonts contributor guidelines pointed me to this forum as a safe place to get feedback on my type designs.
Typographica
@typographica.org

about their influences with those who see their art. When you use AI, it obfuscates the sources of the ideas it shows you, and as a result you release things completely severed from their history and context, which is bad for everyone involved.” — qwerasd typedrawers.com/discussion/c...

typedrawers.comCritique Request for Gothic Gumdrop (100% AI-generated submission to Google Fonts)Hi Everyone, The Google Fonts contributor guidelines pointed me to this forum as a safe place to get feedback on my type designs.
Typographica
@typographica.org

“When we started this, the designers were thinking: how am I going to stop running this business and still get paid for my intellectual property? And the only real option was to sell to Monotype. So our idea was to come up with a different kind of plan, where you could sell your foundry —

Typographica
@typographica.org

but continue to work. Your foundry would still have a place on the internet, its history would be preserved, and it could continue to grow even after the sale. We wanted to reassure designers that their legacy would continue.” IR: Will you theoretically sell to Monotype? SB: I would protest that.

Typographica
@typographica.org

Just when I thought I knew all the cool stuff about Winold Reiss, I learn about M.A.C. (Modern Art Collector), his 11-issue magazine about commercial art from 1915–1918. #WinoldReiss

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Typographica
@typographica.org

Of course, this lettering was already happening in Germany (Bernhard, Hohlwein, Oppenheim) picpile.stewf.com/381316 – but the fattest stuff wasn’t common until the ’20s, and no one had yet snagged the look for a typeface. (Schwere Block www.flickr.com/photos/stewf... didn’t arrive until 1920.)

flickr.comSchwere Block“Die Block Serie in der Akzidenz” H. Berthold AG, 1921 From the collection of Jan Tholenaar Published in Taschen’s Type, A Visual History of Typefaces and Graphic Styles Block fonts in use »
Typographica
@typographica.org

Just when I thought I knew all the cool stuff about Winold Reiss, I learn about M.A.C. (Modern Art Collector), his 11-issue magazine about commercial art from 1915–1918. #WinoldReiss

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Typographica
@typographica.org

A few of spreads from that issue. (Unfortunately, this is the only one online, and it’s butchered by a Google Books scan. Will be visiting it the library soon.)

Typographica
@typographica.org

Just when I thought I knew all the cool stuff about Winold Reiss, I learn about M.A.C. (Modern Art Collector), his 11-issue magazine about commercial art from 1915–1918. #WinoldReiss

Typographica
@typographica.org

In the opening number, two years after he emigrated to New York from Munich, he praises the standard set in Germany (Sachplakat) and Austria (Secession) and calls on Americans to create their own modern design. There is also this good advice:

Typographica
@typographica.org

Another from Eugene, Oregon: www.flickr.com/photos/stewf... Quiet and respectable during the day. At night, neon in four colors: blue, white, red, yellow. Love a small apartment building that is willing to go hard with their sign. #Signs #Neon #NeonSigns #EugeneOR

flickr.comMarion Apartments sign, Eugene, ORQuiet and respectable during the day. At night, neon in four colors: blue, white, red, yellow (www.zillow.com/apartments/eugene-or/1263-oak-st/CpQSSW/). Love a small apartment building that is willing...

Typographica reposted

Typographica
@typographica.org

There should be a type history scholarship or award named after Nicolete Gray. Can’t count the times I’ve found a long-sought answer or a fascinating new question in her books. Not only “19th century ornamented typefaces”, but also “History of Lettering” w/ its appendix charts.