Back in September, shortly after the spontaneous photostroll in Asheville, I spent a day wandering around the valley city of Roanoke, Virginia. I’d been there many times before, but only with a camera once (in 2018) — and said, at the time, that I’d like to plan to spend a minute documenting this interesting Southern city.
I finally had the chance.
Greenery in (City) View, Franklin Rd SE and S Jefferson St
It took longer than hoped. But I’m really pleased with the results.
Roanoke Vity Market Building, 100 Campbell Ave SE
Unlike Asheville, with its Art Deco vibes, Roanoke is more a mix of older, more traditional brick and ’70s/80s concrete and glass — with some more modern, exciting architecture on display.
Taubman Art Museum (Building Detail #1), 110 Salem Ave SEColonial American Bank (Clock), Campbell Ave SE and S Jefferson St(Not) Electric Charging Post, 102 Market St SE
Downtown is also surprisingly vertical. While there’s really only one skyscraper — the Wells Fargo tower — there’s a several-block radius that really says, “city.”
Skyward Amongst Buildings, 301 1st St SWAngled Windows Detail (#2), First Citizen’s Bank Building, 110 Church Ave SW
Which makes sense; by nature of its location, Roanoke benefits from being the largest metropolitan area in quite a little circumference, and is the only actual city in southwestern Virginia. And given its history, it’s heartening to see that there’s still a major railroading presence in the city.
Amtrak Roanoke #2, 55 Norfolk Ave SWConference and Higher Education Centers, from Hotel Roanoke Circle, 110 Shenandoah Ave NE
I’m glad to have spent this warm and beautiful day photographing Roanoke. Enjoy this preview, and please check back for part two — and the link to the full gallery of ninety selected photographs — on Thursday.
Usually, I try to limit the Briefed posts to ~30 photographs. Today, you get fifty-four. So, unlike some months, where I encourage just any beverage….
Also, if you’ve not seen, I recently had a few-hour layover in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina. There was a camera involved.
This month’s Spine
Duke University Press. Cover design by Matthew Tauch with calligraphy by Md. Zahid Hasan; art director, Dave Rainey.
“According to Islamic tradition, God has at least ninety-nine names,” the description says. But it’s the flower on the cover — a mosaic of script, best described as a “calligraphic gift” — that catapults this to the fore. Combined with a simple and classic title treatment, only one characterization is needed: brilliant.
Now in its 46th year, the PRINT Awards “continue a legacy of recognizing creative excellence across the design industry,” recognizing “89 winners whose work represents some of the most exciting, innovative, and thoughtful design today.”
The award for best book package is not actually called, “The Mighty Paw PRINT.”
One defining quality stood out across this year’s winning work, reflecting a theme that continues to emerge throughout the history of the PRINT Awards: the power of design as a form of expression, activism, and reflection of the world around us.
— The PRINT Awards jury
The item above exemplifies this: The Mighty Paw is a “visually striking illustrated book that uses the story of a lone cat surviving an ‘Era of the Great Hate’ to explore themes of identity, displacement, war, and intolerance.”
“Reelizer is a personal project by Roger Erik Tinch,” Jason Kottke writes, “that is a collection of movie art: prints, posters, illustrations, albums, books, covers, etc. Careful, you can lose hours here . . . Tinch has a great eye.”
Special bonus #2: Nathan Yau, at Flowing Data, writes: “OKpalette is a tool to grab a color palette from an image. Load the image in the browser, set the number of colors, and define a region in the image and you get a collection of shades. Images stay on your computer and the color picking is in-browser. Nifty.” Bonus movie poster content in their example images — awesome.
Yes, that’s The Motion Picture . . . in Japanese. Note the dots — and corresponding colors on the left.
Type
Creative Boom‘s post is also a honker this month, with 23 choices. My favorites:
Puerile Grotesque
Puerile Grotesque, from Applied Systems.
Social media isn’t a part of my life, but you can bet I heard about Instagram’s redesign; the Style Set 01 variant of a new typeface from Applied Systems feels like the same branch — just slightly farther out. Perhaps amongst the leaves.
“Alister Shapley at Applied Systems Design Studio has been thinking about what ‘play’ actually means in typography,” CreativeBoom writes. “Puerile Grotesque is his answer. While his earlier font, Puerile Display, explored ornament and expressive forms, Puerile Grotesque questions the underlying structure of letterforms. Together, they form a complementary, convention-busting family.”
Pen by DDOTT
What happens when a pen pauses on paper? “Those small drops of ink … form the core concept of Pen, a new typeface from DDOTT, developed in collaboration with Morula,” CreativeBoom writes.
Pen, by DDOTT in conjunction with Morula.
“Pen turns a pause into a mark,” DDOTT writes. “Inspired by the small accumulations of ink left when a pen pauses on paper, it turns these human moments of hesitation, correction, and decision into visible features of the letterform. What would normally be treated as an error becomes part of the design.”
“Pen’s roots lie in standardised lettering systems that accompanied industrialisation, when technical lettering became increasingly regulated and executed through mechanical and digital systems such as plotters and printers. Based on the tradition of round-pen lettering, Pen follows a monoline skeleton without stroke contrast or optical correction, drawing its underlying forms from neo-grotesque models.”
Hyperspace Cargo by Swell Type
Hyperspace Cargo, by Swell Type
“Hyperspace Cargo looks exactly like its name,” CreativeBoom writes (and I agree). “Derived from the earlier Hyperspace Race, it’s an all-caps, stencil typeface available in a range of weights from Light to Heavy.”
“Horizontal-line Stylistic Alternates add further variety, and it also supports Cyrillic, Greek and Vietnamese. The variable version offers Weight and Roundness axes for extra flexibility.”
Special bonus #3: “Bastardica is ‘a foundry for bastard web fonts. Mix, stretch and/or squish them.’ E.g. Nervous Sans: ‘Arial is stacked five times, pseudo-randomly twitching out of line.’” Kottke finds the best stuff.
You’ve no doubt heard of utilizing various AI systems to create code, known as “vibe-coding.” The same systems can reverse-engineer, too, a software version of those sites that run new iPhones through X-ray machines to see what’s inside. Fair turnabout, I suppose.
But what happens when you do the same to, say, Adobe’s Creative Cloud? Microsoft Office?
It’s clean-sheet, which is to say using completely new code. It’s open-source. And, as of this writing, it’s three weeks old and Adobe hasn’t sued — yet. “That practice has generally been found legally acceptable,” Ars reminds us, but “the ArtCraft apps could still face legal trouble if their “trade dress” too closely mimics Adobe’s familiar appearance and interface.”
Here’s the interface for LightCraft, which is only superficially similar to Adobe’s.
AI lets us take back tech and set the clock back to the pre-shitty era. But now you can just create 1:1 functional equivalents, clean room, that are highly performant and cross-platform. Nothing is stopping you. We’ll replace Google Search; we’ll build our own smartphones; we’ll build better infra. We’ll remove all the ads and de-enshittify the entire tech world.
Big tech sowed the seeds of their own commodification with AI. It’s all going to come down to this now that we can rebuild everything without toiling for years to even get close to scaling software capability moats. The internet is going to reset to 1990-2004 (pre-Facebook / “Web 2.0” era). The indie web era. Everything is going to be reborn as open source. We’re going to own it all.
“The swagger is immense,” Tom May remarks at Creative Boom.. But the same article wonders whether software is facing a Napster moment — and they might be on to something.
As a profession, we’ve become used to the idea that developing creative software requires thousands of highly paid programmers and decades of work. That serves as a moat for a company like Adobe: few others can afford to build anything on the scale of the Creative Cloud. But will AI bring all that crashing down around them?
— Tom May, Creative Boom
“It’s one thing to make a huge promise like this and another thing entirely to actually deliver,” Jeremy Gray at PetaPixelcomments. “An app is more than just its codebase; it is also its stability, performance, functionality, and ability to handle the extreme edge cases that make or break professional success.”
“If you’re worried this is just some one-off flash in the pan that will die, it isn’t,” Thomas promises.
Time will tell.
Special bonus #5: On the subject of AI: “Apple, Content Authenticity, and the War to Prove What’s Real,” from PetaPixel, details Apple’s new Reference Image technology. Different from other content authentication systems, for sure, taking advantage of Apple’s ownership of the entire pipeline from camera to output — but of course limited to Apple cameras.
PetaPixel’s header image for the article is awesome.
Special bonus #6: The ongoing Getty/Shutterstock saga/failed merger fallout continues — Getty’s declared bankruptcy. Looks like they’re clearing the road for an equity grab private ownership; together with the Getty family, the Koch bros are involved. Ug. MacFolishas an overview, or PetaPixelhasmoredetail (3 links there).
Automotive
McLaren and Vauxhall
New branding from, shall we say, opposite ends of the automotive spectrum. Let’s start on the high end.
A detail — marketing image, really — of McLaren’s 2026 logo update, highlighting the underlined “c.”
The Internet, in its infinite wisdom, doesn’t like it, suggesting that the new wordmark is more upscale food item than sports car. I disagree — the swoosh/arrow is still very much there, it’s just that the name is styled differently; since it’ll be rolled out with redesigned models, it should serve them well into the next decade. The new look debuts on the M6 GT I drooled oncovered last month.
The M6 GT, highlighted here on Foreword in August, wearing the new wordmark.
Meanwhile, Vauxhall, part of the sprawling Stellantis empire, has redone the whole brand — griffin, wordmark, and stores:
Before, left; after, right.
This one I’m going to have to mark as less successful. With each change, the creature looks less like its namesake and more . . . well, they’ve got the “bird head” thing kinda right, but the wing, the talons, and the whole “lion thing” are tragically missing in action.
“In the latest update, [the] previous flat logo introduced in 2020 was further simplified,” Dezeen writes,1Dezeen, too, has “new” written all over it — while the logo is the same, the website has been refreshed, simultaneously making its homepage both less readable and more difficult to tell what’s new. Not all bad news, though: the posts themselves feel more modern and are still filled with interesting stuff. “with the griffin made more angular. In particular, the mythical creature’s neck hair was simplified while its beak was closed.”
Also, “for the first time in the logo’s 121-year history, the flag depicting the letter V no longer forms part of the logo.”
I mentioned it only in passing in 2020; this time, not so much. Take a look at the progression pictured above. Is this the best it’s ever been? Better than ’71 or ’89? I’m honestly surprised the corporate executives evaluated those, looked at the new proposal, and said, “yes.” (See their press release for some “reasons,” along with a few more images.)
The Jaguar Type 01
On the subject of the Internet’s wisdom, as you know, Jaguar’s Type 00 concept car landed with what could be best described as a “thud.”
But wait: that’s not the concept — that’s the production version.
It still lacks a rear window, and it’s still festooned with the new logo that may or may not do it any favors. The did, at least, more prominently feature the leaping cat.
But the rest hews remarkably close to the concept: it’s long, low, wide, and with 1015 horsepower and four cocooned seats, it seems like something that steamroll through traffic with ease. (Less sure about a back road.)
The “impossible panel,” named for its difficult manufacturing process.
I’m glad Jaguar stuck to its guns here. To say it has “presence” is an understatement.
Update, 2 November: Jaguar has opened a new flagship store in Knightsbridge, London — and it’s, shall we say, non-traditional.
Jaguar’s Knightsbridge store/restaurant/hangout.
“Rather than a traditional showroom, we wanted to design a destination where architecture, culture, hospitality and craftsmanship come together — and London felt like a natural home for that vision,” says the senior design manager, a guy named Rolls. Dezeen has more.
Special bonus #7: The reviews for Ferrari’s 12Cilindri Manuale are out — none better than Jason Cammisa’s fabulous Icons series for Hagerty on YouTube:2Folks will notice that I’ve stopped embedding YouTube videos; my site is prominently labeled, “no information collected,” something embedded videos violate by requiring cookies. YouTube, along with any other sites requiring data collection, will be limited to links only. Thanks for understanding.
Ferrari “reinvented the transmission,” Jason Cammisa argues. (Note the pin striping — it’s relevant.)
When Foreword previewed this expensive delicacy in July, I said was convinced that this setup — or, at least, something like it — is the future of the manual transmission. Cammisa agrees, and lo and behold, so might Porsche. I hope BMW hears the call, too.
The Porsche Mission S
Porsche’s fortunes of late haven’t been spectacular: between too many EVs aimed at folks who aren’t convinced electric is “right” for a sports car brand — or, at least, for them — and being tied to Volkswagen’s many, many missteps have meant buyers’ interests have waned.
Fortunately, they decided to do something about it.
It’s called the Mission S. It’s a concept, with no production planned, but make no mistake: a production version, which will sit above the 911 in Porsche’s lineup, will be along.
It’s mid-engined. Rumors say it runs a flat-eight, although Porsche themselves are coy about the drivetrain. It’s an automatic in pictures, but:
And get this: the interior basically defines “minimalist.” The screen, pictured below, is your phone.
That’s right, Porsche has declared that “real sports cars” should not feature distractions. It even has a real tach. (“Digital detox is now a luxury item,” The Drive says. They may be right.)
But never mind that: equal parts nostalgia — 917, 959, many more — and future, the Mission S is the first Porsche I’ve insta-clicked in a minute. Well done.
Cornucopia of goodness — almost entirely unobtanium, but still.
“Alpine offered up one of the true show stars in the shape of the Alpine A310 Concept. Another exercise in retro design, this two-seater sports car is a contemporary update of the 1971 original.” — Wallpaper*
“The modern version doesn’t stray too far from the proportions and details of the striking four-seater 1970s version, one of the most futuristic production cars of the era. If it goes into production, the new A310 will be an electric supercar that … would only be built in very limited numbers.” — Wallpaper*
“The French hot hatch has always been celebrated for its excellence. In essence, it’s about combining a small, light car with a peppy engine, not a world removed from the core principle of a sports car, even if most French hatchbacks are front-wheel-drive. You still get the full usability and versatility of the hatchback on which the hot hatch in question is based, but it’s faster and drives even better. There have been a number of cars like that throughout the years, but the Peugeot 205 GTI is one of the best known. That’s why the 205’s rally variant, the 205 T16 Group B rally car, was such a beastly creation: it looks like a 205 that’s gone to the gym, a lot, and taken a few supplements.
“Peugeot’s new E-T16 electric concept manages two things: it’s a successful visual throwback to the 205, and it’s also the most powerful Peugeot anywhere, ever.” — The Autopian
“The Peugeot 205 GTi was a Gallic alternative to the late ’80s-era Golf GTIs that Americans will be familiar with, and it’s into this well that Peugeot dipped for Paris. Or rather, the wild 205 T16 Group B rally homologation special that the 205 GTi gave birth to, a car that won the world Rally Championships in 1985–86. The E-T16 Concept shows us that hatchbacks needn’t just be humble devices for running errands; they can excite, too.” — Ars Technica
“The original Renault Espace was very much loved and created the people-carrier segment out of thin air, at least in Europe. The familiar one-box shape remains for the new E-Space Concept … There is a criminal lack of electric minivans on the market today.” — Ars Technica
“I’ve been excited to hear that the car is intended to fit the spirit of the original 2CV (you can read that as affordable) and not just be a retro, nostalgia-flavored cash grab. Well, yesterday the full new 2CV concept was revealed at the Paris Motor Show, and I’m happy to say I think Citroën did a damn good job of translating the archaic 2CV into a modern design vocabulary.” — The Autopian
“The best-received concept … was the long-awaited revival of the legendary Citroën 2CV. Electric only, the concept is — we’re promised — apparently very close to the production reality.
“There’s a wealth of genuinely entertaining detailing here, all of which hasn’t just been carried out in homage to the original, but as a way of finding new methods to keep costs down. Citroën aims to get the production 2CV … to come in at the magic €15,000 mark. Nostalgists will have a field day, and it’s still a delightful sight for the rest of us.” — Wallpaper*
“Back in the day, the original 2CV wasn’t just a family car, it was the vehicle of choice for French business big and small. From La Poste to the local boulangerie, the box-backed 2CV van was everywhere.” — Wallpaper*
“Citroën is hoping that the new generation 2CV Fourgonnette will do similar business. Bringing the admirable simplicity of the passenger car concept to a small van, the focus here is on maximising load space and practicality, whilst not losing sight of the character that will give this tiny van its competitive edge — a serve as a lovable mobile advert for whichever businesses chose to adopt it.” — Wallpaper*
“The French carmaker Renault seems to be having a blast digging into the treasure trove that is its historic output. As Renault’s concept cars show, it’s not done digging.
“Between 1962 and 1976, Renault built a rear-engined family sedan called the 8. The company exported these cars to the United States, and despite being down on power, they were simply marketed as being faster than the previous cars! Yet, the R8 also provided the basis for one of Renault’s early sports sedans, the Renault 8 Gordini. The most recent concept car from Renault takes the visual identity of that late-1960s car and reinvents it for the future.” — The Autopian
“The interior is all 1960s-styled concept car aesthetic, with brushed metal on a very narrow center console. The interior looks great in both renders and photographs, with suede on the steering wheel and velour on the dash.” — The Autopian
“The rear is now swept up, with blocky taillights glowing through a pixelated texture, on a surface that’s completely blank with the lights switched off. To maintain a visual connection to the original, there’s no rear spoiler on the rear deck. Instead, the spoiler is up there at the rear edge of the roof, and the diffuser presumably deals with the rest of the airflow. A large GORDINI logo is proudly affixed to the wide C-pillars.
“It all looks like a school kid’s dream, which it will also remain: no production plans exist, even if some of the detailing and ethos are likely to trickle down to production versions.” — The Autopian
Literally all of these tickle my fancy in one way or another, but it’s the Gordini — naturally the one least likely to make production, let alone come to the US — that I’d have without question. (Well, the Ferrari . . . .)
But that only scratches the surface of the goodness introduced in Paris: from Alfa to Volkswagen, there were dozens of concepts and production cars to delight the eye. The best overview is at Wallpaper* (1, 2), but also see coverage at Ars Technica and The Autopian (1, 2, 3, and 4).
Special bonus #8: Inside GM’s Global Technical Center in Michigan. A long item from Wallpaper* featuring “ample opportunity to celebrate GM’s products, heritage and the all-important ‘surprise and delight.’”
Harley Earl beneath the “dome” back in the day.
“This was the ‘dream factory’, the birthplace of the stylish, status-driven mobility that convinced a nation of its place at the forefront of the industrialised world. To visit the campus today is to simultaneously step back in time to the auto industry’s heyday of boundless confidence, whilst also sampling the far future of manufacturing.” — Wallpaper*
The Center today. The exterior of the “dome” is visible amongst newer buildings and additions.
Photography
“Occasionally bizarre”
“This work does not propose conclusions. It documents a condition in which biological life and technological systems are no longer separable, yet remain unevenly aligned,” photographer Spencer Lowell says.
Aerial of Manhattan and Queens, 2016. Photograph by Spencer Lowell.
Lowell describes himself as a photographer of “science, technology, industry, environment, and people,” and all of that is shown throughout his debut monograph, Futures Past. PetaPixel has more.
2026 Epson Pano Awards
The 17th Epson International Pano Awards have announced its 2026 winners, which drew 4,084 entries from photographers in 93 countries.
‘Center of the Cosmos.’ Photograph by Xuecheng Liu. Winner of the Open Built Environment category.
Tons of great stuff here; according to their rules, by the way, “pano” is defined as a ratio of at least 2:1. See all of the winners and finalists at the Pano Awards website, check out Kottke’s favorites, or see PetaPixel‘s top 10.
2026 Astrophotography Prize
“Established in 2023,” PetaPixel writes, “the Astrophotography Prize is an international astrophotography competition run by astrophotographers, for astrophotographers.”
“Geminids Above Betlejemka,” Poland. Photograph by Lukasz Remkowicz..Finalist in the Astro Landscape category.
They continue: “the competition recognizes excellence across Astro Landscape, Aurora, Deep Space and Remote Imaging. Its emphasis on public live judging and constructive feedback gives entrants an opportunity to have their work assessed by experienced photographers while allowing a wider audience to learn about the craft.”
Special bonus #9: See also this year’s Natural Landscape Photography Awards winners, “a collection of beautiful landscape and nature photos that emphasize realism and authenticity.” (Via PetaPixel.)
2026 Architecture Photography MasterPrize
“The Needle,” Qatar. Photograph by Ahmad Alnaji. Winner in the Hospitality Exterior category.
This contest is a little different, in that it’s winners from the photography program of the Architecture MasterPrize (AMP), “an international awards program now in its eleventh edition that also recognizes architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and product design.”
“Fogo Island Inn,” Newfoundland. Photograph by Alex Fradkin. Winner in the Hospitality Exterior category.
Not at all described as “catnip,” this contest has some of the best architecture photography extant, year after year. The complete list of 2026 winners is on the AMP website. (Via PetaPixel.)
“Handcrafted images of memory and time”
Photographer Lara Porzak “works exclusively with analog techniques,” PetaPixel writes, “including tintypes and gelatin silver printing, using a slow, hands-on process to produce her photographs. She often develops images on site in a mobile darkroom, creating handcrafted prints that explore the relationship between photography, memory, and time.”
“Barn Owl.” Photograph by Lara Porzak.
As many of you know, I love tin- and old-style photography, and these are excellent. Better still, Los Angeles-based Porzak has brought “over 140 of her photographs together in her first monograph, The Chemistry of Memory.”
Have I mentioned that open-sewn bindings are hot right now?
2026 Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
Finally, to close out October’s post, we have . . . a smile or two:
“Are you kidding me?” Photograph by Kevin Lohman.
I inadvertently selected three owl photographs in a row — but left it. Owls are awesome. (We have several that live on my block here in Macon; hearing them hoot and howl at each other — despite being on the urban-suburban boundary — is one of the reasons I treasure them.)
“Two little owls form one,” Al Qudra Desert, Dubai. Photograph by Lynn Emery.
“Each year the competition supports a sustainable conservation organization,” PetaPixel writes. “This year Comedy Wildlife is working with the Born Free Foundation, an international charity rescuing and protecting wild animals from exploitation and conserving threatened species.”
The People’s Choice Award is open now until March 1, 2027. Vote!
• • •
On that last subject: in the United States, Election Day is next Tuesday, November 3rd. Please make your vote heard.
1
Dezeen, too, has “new” written all over it — while the logo is the same, the website has been refreshed, simultaneously making its homepage both less readable and more difficult to tell what’s new. Not all bad news, though: the posts themselves feel more modern and are still filled with interesting stuff. ↩︎
2
Folks will notice that I’ve stopped embedding YouTube videos; my site is prominently labeled, “no information collected,” something embedded videos violate by requiring cookies. YouTube, along with any other sites requiring data collection, will be limited to links only. Thanks for understanding. ↩︎
At the end of September, I had the opportunity to wander around downtown Asheville on a particularly beautiful Fall afternoon and evening. I was happy to grab the camera and document this energetic — and photogenic — city.
Downtown is a wonderful mix of Art Deco, 20th Century, and modern buildings:
Grove Arcade (Detail #5), 1 Page AveGrove Arcade (Detail #6), 1 Page AveDowntown Buildings in Evening Light (#1), Haywood St
Which intermix with delightful details:
Basilica of Saint Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr (Detail #2), 97 Haywood StThe Appalachian Dancers Of The Ashville Urban Trail #1, Flint StPack Library (Building Detail), 67 Haywood StEdison Light in Fall Window Display, Wall St
It was a quick visit; I was traveling and had only the one afternoon free — but was very much reminded that Asheville deserves more. As the smaller Southeast cities go, it has a special quality.
Shopping Daze At Sunset #1, Haywood and Walnut Sts
I will be back, hopefully soon, so please look forward to more.
The Flat Iron (Hotel) Star at Sunset, Battery Park & WallAsheville Panorama (from Above Hemingway’s, 15 Page Ave) – Click to Enlarge.
As I sit down to write this post, Middle Georgia’s first taste of Fall has come by to say hello — that delightful moment when the summer heat breaks and we have the start of open-window weather. Welcome.
September: highlights
This month’s Spine
West Virginia University Press. Cover design by Zoe Norvell.
Great group of covers this month in my regular column on Spine. It’s fall catalog season, so lots of University titles to choose from. The cover above is not only great, the story of how it came to be is appreciated, too.
Truck & Tap (Sign #2), 3137 Main St., Duluth, Georgia
In addition to being posted early, Beautifully Briefed is a little shorter than usual — but you’re not left wanting for goodness: in case you’ve not already had the chance, check out some photographs from a visit to Johns Creek, Georgia; two separate galleries for Duluth, Georgia; and my annual take on AIGA’s 50 Books | 50 Covers. Enjoy!
Celebrate: Unsung
Marcin Wichary’s blog quickly earned a spot on my regular-checks routine; after the fabulous publicity for the amazing Shift Happens, finding out that he was going to post regularly was a gift — and regular readers will know that he’s become a oft-cited link destination in the Briefed series.
I dreaded even attempting the redesign, but as I was adding full-text search to the blog, I realized the previous simple frame couldn’t accommodate it — no matter what I did, the search felt bolted on. I suppressed my PM side, decided to scope creep, and the 500th postiversary provided a good arbitrary deadline. (This is post №492, so hopefully I’m not jinxing it.)
— Marcin Wichary, Unsung
His work is filled with delightful details, like the angled change in color between posts (that’s different on desktop and mobile) and so much more . . . that he’s thoughtfully documented:
If you have a moment, and you’re into his interface and design work as much as I am, complete #3 (or 4) on that list.
One interesting strategy on the redesign: decamping to a friend’s coworking space for a motivation — and a new perspective:
Coworking space at a Chicago startup — nice.
I’m frankly jealous of his results here. I struggled with the tech end of the rework here — stubbornly, perhaps, refusing to ask an “agent” for help — results that, for him, come so naturally . . . yet with all of the necessary design chops.1Parenthetically, I’m not 100% satisfied with how my redesign is working out. The body font, especially, is good at first — and second — glance, but some of the minutiae, like the minuscule quote marks and the collision/confusion between a capital I or L and a bracket (something I use often) is causing problems. I hope folks won’t mind if I do a point-one update sometime this fall or winter.
No, he can’t just share a photograph of his bookcase. Awesome.
Special Bonus #1: Marcin’s design bookshelves, now a mini-site (!). Hover over each book for more information. Favorites are highlighted, and each includes a look at the cover — and a link to OpenLibrary.
Merch . . . from the Estonian version of Wikipedia.
Wikipedia is the most classic idea of the internet you could possibly imagine: function over aesthetics, a treasure trove of knowledge rooted in homage to The Library of Alexandria, a website that you can really explore (you know, like how the internet is for exploring… an idea that has long been abandoned by most!). My friend calls it a relaxation medium — it’s serene, a place where you can effortlessly glide from learning about the moon landing to all of a sudden: exploding trousers. “Wikipedia pre-dates the attention economy,” says Justin Scherer, UX designer at the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that supports Wikipedia and its visual design system. There are no infinite doomscrolls, only enriching rabbit holes that avoid those all-too-common psychic blasts of negative energy you get from Instagram reels.
— Paul Moore, It’s Nice That
But those aesthetics aren’t ignored. The article “speaks to the creatives behind, in-front and all around the greatest internet database, the site where every single human is the target audience.”
Logo design evolution. Did you know one of the puzzle characters represents Klingon?
It goes into the design evolution of the site, from the early days through its 25th anniversary, celebrated in January of this year — where, as part of the goings-on, they introduced their first mascot, Baby Globe:
Wikipedia’s Baby Globe. (I spared you the GIF-in-motion.)
“Wikipedia is more than just a database, it’s an entire world — and in its orbit is a ring of fascinating design history, volunteer-led artworks and community that goes a little unsung,” It’s Nice That concludes. Enjoy some great details!
Special bonus #2: From the Internet Archive: Vanishing Culture: A Report on Our Fragile Cultural Record. “When digital materials are vulnerable to sudden removal . . . our collective memory is compromised, and the public’s ability to access its own history is at risk.” (Via Kottke.)
September: my type
Diverse group of new typefaces this month!
Clippy, by Kanon Foundry
Not the Clippy I bet you’re thinking of — something better:
Clippy, the new Paperclip Countour, by Kanon Foundry
“When Tor Weibull, a type designer who co-founded Kanon Foundry with Alexander Örn in 2019, came across Paperclip Contour on the record sleeve for Kissin’ in the Back Row of the Movies by The Drifters, he was enamoured with its modular expression, but felt that the contour style and absence of uppercase letters made it limited in use. Naturally, as a type designer, he felt moved towards reinventing the idiosyncratic typeface, filling in the letters and developing uppercase letters alongside the lowercase forms. After all, work at Kanon Foundry is rooted in research, historical references and a hands-on approach, so taking a typeface from the 70s and bringing it into 2026 makes total sense for the independent designers.”
Clippy, the new Paperclip Countour, by Kanon Foundry
“The variable font technology allows Clippy to move between Retalic, Roman and Italic with fifteen styles that cover a range of weights – it’s quite the range for one system, all tied together with a similar, playful character and the freedom to find out what works best for the intended use. Besides Paperclip Contour, Tor took inspiration from modular lettering such as Herbert Bayer’s work, and as new weights and associations emerged during the creation of Clippy, Tor saw similarities to E13B-like mid-weights and CNC engraving, a manufacturing process that utilises computer-controlled machines to carve and etch lettering into materials.”
Arpeggio, a “delightful transitional serif” from Paulo Goode
Arpeggio is described as a “transitional serif,” something “warm, readable and disciplined,” CreativeBoom says in this month’s new typefaces post. “It could serve as a workable alternative to Baskerville; not to mention Caslon, Mrs Eaves, Georgia, Perpetua and Bookman.”
Arpeggio, a “delightful transitional serif” from Paulo Goode
“Described by Paulo as ‘an original text typeface that balances disciplined rhythm with expressive character,’ it oozes clarity and confidence in the text weights whilst the Display collection amplifies the characterful nuances with sharpened forms, graceful swashes and exuberant flourishes. A strong choice for books, magazine design or a luxury brand identity.”
Incredibly well-named, too. Nice.
FYI, CreativeBoom‘s post had fifteen new faces, but Arpeggio was the only one that I immediately wanted to use. Your needs may vary: check ’em all out.
No, it’s not my writing — hopefully — it’s late-day screenshotting, reflected.
Special bonus #3:CreativeBoom has updated their “mascot”: the eyes have it. “Keep an eye on them because they’ll now offer lots more entertainment depending on seasons, events, and whether it’s night or day.”
Gimme, by Future Fonts
“This is bonkers,” Kottke writes, ”letters made from Battleship pieces, Connect Four boards, playing cards, wooden railroad tracks, etc.”
Gimme, a “toy box” from Future Fonts
“Gimme is the kid in class who has everything, from the latest toy as seen on TV to a tricked out BMX bike. It’s the only person you knew with the complete Playmobil Mansion or USS Flagg. This time however, it can be you!”
Gimme, a “toy box” from Future Fonts
“Gimme is a dazzling ever-growing type family of multi-chromatic and variable display typefaces which will leave you saying: gimme more! And you are in luck, because updates will deliver on that!
“Inspired by a box full of toys, more type families will be added as we go along, expanding them further and adding new features. And the more allowance, the more it will grow!”
Special bonus #4: Kottke’s also responsible for bringing Walking Men Worldwide to my attention. These are awesome: Beijing is oddly reflective of London, Warsaw invited aliens, Chicago leans into the winter wind, and Istanbul dances. See many more (and other projects) — public art at its design best.
Walking Men Worldwide, by Maya Barkai
Special bonus #5, and the last Kottke mention for this post: Jason has answered the call to wander and relocated to Japan (!). He’s been checking out bookstores.
September: photography round-up
The power of simplicity
“Curves in Colour.” Part of a series by Louis Phillippe Provost.
The 2026 Minimalist Photography Awards are out . . . and no, it isn’t at all catnip. Not even a little. I can’t imagine what made you think that.
“Controlled Silence.” Photograph by Steffen Reichardt.“Highway to Nowhere.” Photograph by Tadej Cerkvenik.
Appropriately, the awards site quotes Henry David Thoreau: ”It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” See the winners’ gallery. (Via PetaPixel.)
The solitude and beauty of modern life
“St. Tropez, 2021.” Photograph by Nicholas Rachline.
Nicolas Rachline’s “cinematic, Edward Hopper-esque photographs capture the solitude of contemporary life as well as its fragile beauty,” PetaPixel writes. His images “capture fleeting moments with a film noir-style intensity. His dreamlike scenes of cities such as Paris, Los Angeles, and New York are both familiar and slightly unsettling, in ways that can be difficult to explain.”
“Brussels, 2022.” Photograph by Nicholas Rachline.
This series is not only fascinating, it features more than a couple of photographs from Sarasota/Bradenton Florida, a familiar stomping ground.
“Idealized Family Picnic on Beach,” Longboat Key, Florida, 1958. Photograph by Joseph Janney Steinmetz.
“Harvard Art Museums has delved into its extensive photographic collection,” PetaPixel writes, “to put on a thought-provoking exhibition titled The Way We Never Were that questions the postwar narrative in the United States.”
Untitled (Woman at mailbox), Bayshore Gardens, Florida, 1959. Photograph by Joseph Janney Steinmetz.
“American life after World War II is often portrayed as a rosy world of sock hops, malt shops, manicured lawns, and renewed optimism. This image was heavily shaped by commercial photographers, who worked on commission for private clients, corporations, and government agencies. Their carefully staged portraits and promotional imagery, constructed using polished visual conventions and framing devices, helped define many of the era’s most familiar scenes.”
Not that different from social media’s idealized influencers, in many ways, yet nostalgic and somehow endearing. (Longboat’s beach — which did still look like that when I first visited in 1978 — was reclaimed by the Gulf of Mexico a long while ago, and to say that Bayshore Gardens no longer looks like that the definition of understatement.)
Anyway, the photographs are not just Florida, and are both varied and engrossing. The Way We Never Were: The American Professional Photographers Collection is at the University Research Gallery at Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge, Massachusetts, until May 9, 2027. (Via PetaPixel.)
Special bonus #6: “I found a famous photographer’s early print in an antique store for just $5.” Another classic Florida tale.
Stargazing
“The Crown.” Photograph by Radoslav Sviretsov.
“I never tire of seeing the new entries into the ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition,” Dr. Greg Brown, Royal Observatory Greenwich Astronomer and competition judge, tells PetaPixel. “For a sky that, at least in some ways, is remarkably unchanging from year to year, the skill and innovation of the entrants, coupled with improvements in technology, means that there is always a wealth of new sights to be seen even in targets that have been observed many times over.”
“Botswana Star Trail.” Photograph by Stephano Pellegrini.
“The images from this, the 18th year of the competition, continue to show the growth of a community whose passion to capture the stunning variety of our Universe knows as few bounds as the subjects of their images.”
Birding, part one: Audubon 2026
“Brandts and Sawgrass.” Photograph by Kevin Lohman.
“The National Audubon Society has unveiled the winners of the 2026 Audubon Photography Awards, a competition that captures the beauty of birds and the challenges they face,” PetaPixel reports.
“Yellow-Eared Parrot.” Photograph by Santiago Perez Rincon.
“In addition to $5,000, grand prize winners each received a voyage to Antarctica with HX Expeditions.” Now that’s a prize. Check out all the winning photographs, grand or otherwise..
Birding, part two: BPOY 2026
“Let the Bullets Fly.” Photograph by Zhikai Wu.
“It’s all things avian at Bird Photographer of the Year, the world’s largest contest dedicated to images of feathered creatures planet-wide,” This is Colossal writes. “Highlighting birds of all kinds, the competition emphasizes the diverse appearances and behaviors of the animals and also raises awareness of the challenges they face due human-triggered habitat loss, poaching, pollution, and other factors.”
“Majesty.” Photograph by Asmund Keilen.
“In a world where AI-generated imagery is becoming increasingly common, this year’s winners are a powerful reminder of the value of authenticity,” Will Nicholls, Director of Bird Photographer of the Year, said to PetaPixel.
“Stay Hydrated.” Photograph by Nicolas Apelojg.
“Every image in the competition represents a real moment in the wild, earned through patience, dedication and a genuine connection with nature. People will always value real stories told by real people, and this year’s extraordinary photographs celebrate the beauty, wonder and authenticity of our natural world.”
“10 years ago, National Geographic Explorer and biologist Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz was working in Bolivia when she got a call from a local wildlife sanctuary that had received “a weird cat.” Today, that “weird cat” has been officially identified as a new species, Leopardus tilcayo. This is the first time in over a century that scientists have formally named and described a new living cat species.” Awesome.
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Parenthetically, I’m not 100% satisfied with how my redesign is working out. The body font, especially, is good at first — and second — glance, but some of the minutiae, like the minuscule quote marks and the collision/confusion between a capital I or L and a bracket (something I use often) is causing problems. I hope folks won’t mind if I do a point-one update sometime this fall or winter. ↩︎
In Part 1, we were southwest of the proper city of Duluth at the Southeastern Railway Museum. This time, we’re in the town center.
Eastern Continental Divide Obelisk, (Across from) 3550 W. Lawrenceville St.
I have to admit: I had forgotten about the regional continental divides. In a nutshell, it’s the line that marks where waters flow — east and south go to the Atlantic, while west and north go to the Gulf of Mexico. (We all think of the one in the Rockies, sure, but they’re more of ’em!)
Buildings Overlooking Main Street Park (with Chairs) Duluth Town GreenDuluth City Hall #1 (with Town Green Fountain), 3167 Main St.
All of these photographs were taken on or near the lovely Town Green. Duluth may have a car-centric culture — it is a suburb of the perpetually-traffic-jammed Atlanta — but its downtown has ample opportunities to park the car and just walk around.
LA Burger #1 (Sign), 3151 Main St.LA Burger #4 (Screen Detail), 3151 Main St.Truck & Tap (Sign #2), 3137 Main St.
Aside from the various city structures (including the Festival Hall at the top of the post), there’s a huge library and a bunch of restaurants — several of which have been bookmarked for a later visit. There’s also this brand-new tribute to the city’s railroad past, named after former a former mayor:
Nancy Harris Pavilion #2 (Crossing Lights), 3178 Main St.Nancy Harris Pavilion #3 (Roof and Light Detail), 3178 Main St.
An enjoyable visit. I’m glad to have had the opportunity to enjoy a couple of days in the area, camera in-hand.
On a side note, the Duluth gallery — and the one from Johns Creek — have featured a new lens: a manual-focus, solidly-cheep=and-cheerful item from Chinese brand 7Artisans. The heavy vignetting is a result of its slightly ridiculous but enormously fun aperture of f0.95 (!), which enables extreme subject isolation, but at a cost of weight and size. The lens definitely features a “look,” but one that I’m glad to have available.
The City of Johns Creek, a suburb of Atlanta, recently opened The Boardwalk at Town Center, a 20-acre park and walking area centered around City Hall. The upgrade turned a scenic view for those that worked nearby into a vibrant park and performance venue for all. The transformation also included re-wilding a section of Johns Creek — the waterway, that is — from a man-made lake to something much more pleasant, much more natural, and something that locals and visitors alike can use and enjoy year-round.
Johns Creek City Hall #2, 11360 Lakefield Dr.
I was there at dawn and, as Georgia late-summer mornings go, I couldn’t have asked for a nicer time to wander.
Lakeside Relaxation (at Dawn), 11360 Lakefield Dr.
As part of the park’s construction, they’ve added a performance venue in front of City Hall, along with extensive landscaping and opportunities to sit lakeside.
Boardwalk Stairs, 6455 E. Johns Crossing(Walk to) 11330 Lakefield Dr. #1
The surrounding office park and shopping areas have added access to the park, as well, aiding the public’s ability to access the improved areas.
Former Lake Basin #3, 11362 Lakefield Dr.Former Lake Basin #5, 11362 Lakefield Dr.
The best area, however, is the former artificial lake basin at the southwestern end; between the raised walks and return of the waterway to nature, it’s become an valuable addition to this suburb populated mostly with busy roads, retail and planned living.
It’s finally dried out here in Georgia, after a summer best described as “WTF” — where the “F” stands for flood, because you know it does. (As opposed to England, for instance, which is WTF in the other direction.)
So: some design, typography, and imagery to inform and cheer. And ten special bonuses. You deserve no less.
This Month’s Spine
Vanderbilt University Press. Cover design and art direction by Alissa Faden.
It was my pleasure to feature some titles from Vanderbilt University, the University of South Carolina, and the University of Louisiana — because Stanford and NYU don’t have a lock on my attention. (’Sides, it’s fall catalog season, so there’s lots to choose from.)
Reading reports that its death is greatly exaggerated
As you’ll recall — or not, depending on whether you were able to read the article — The Atlantic worried out loud that reading is in such decline that we may have to think in terms of living in a “post-literate” world. (Because “post-truth” isn’t enough.)
Turns out that there’s a back story to that take; it originated on a Substack titled, “The dawn of the post-literate society, and the end of civilisation,” by someone whose profile I can’t see because I refuse to create an account.1Soap box: getting a website, whose contents you own, is so painfully simple that I tend to discount those that rely on other platforms to publish what might otherwise be interesting material/thoughts/content. And in this case, the author is a Times journalist, who should definitely know better.
So, I owe you an apology: this “moral panic,” as it’s been termed, originates in . . . what amounts to social media.2It’s been pointed out that blogs are social media, too (the original social media, in fact) — something I don’t necessarily disagree with. From my perspective, writing that is owned, put out there due to belief, and read by folks who trust your opinion, is completely distinct from having your potentially-anonymous “take” promoted to strangers by an algorithmic mechanism that profits from conflict — or, at least, provocation. In my opinion, it’s the latter that defines “social media.” I’m disappointed in The Atlantic for taking that bait, and in myself for trusting them and then making something of it here.
Time for a reality check.
Which comes courtesy of an article that’s part of It’s Nice That‘s POV series:
It’s Nice That discusses Stack Reading Habits Report.
. . . whose author puts forth just the right perspective, one that folks here can relate to:
“The death of reading sounds uncannily similar to the death of print, which is another issue that’s prone to over-simplification.”
— Steven Watson, It’s Nice That
I still work in print. Many of us do. While it’s become a more specialized area of expertise, it’s still very much viable; whether it’s reached the stage of the horse post-motorcar or the manual transmission post-electric is something else entirely. (More on that latter item below, by the way.)
The author quotes another response to the piece, which I almost completely agree with:
All these pieces — from The Atlantic and elsewhere — about “the end” make this seem like a problem because of how they’re framing it, and who they’re framing it for. Maybe kids aren’t reading the classics, but look at the romantasy moral panic stewing in the background of social media. It’s a whole bunch of mostly men — who, demographically, do not read or buy books at all — declaring it the death of literature even though women and queer people are reading a ton of it. [. . .] It seems as though Americans have decided that the amount and kind of reading they personally do is normal and someone else doing it any more or less or differently than them is a social emergency. We may be seeing the end of certain kinds of reading [. . .] or certain kinds of culture, but that also means that something is replacing it. And good God do we need to replace a lot of it. If only to break up the corporations that dictate how it all currently works.
— Ryan Broderick, Garbage Day
To summarize, I fell for the “intellectual tragedy” represented by “the end of reading as we know it” and said something without thinking it through. I’ll try to do better.
Rare books > AI. Unless…
If you can truly appreciate an old book — and maybe even marvel at how its fragile, yellowing pages contain some of the earliest ways that people tried to make sense of the world around them — then headlines about tech companies that are destroyingbooksto train AI likely torture a tender part of your soul.
— Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica
This article, dated August 12th, reminds us that, “Google patented a non-destructive book-scanning technology in 2009 that AI firms could use to efficiently scan books — if they were willing to slow down and invest in the process.”
It continues, “The biggest fear for people who want to see books preserved through the training process is that AI firms will callously pulp rare books that can never be replaced.” Rare book dealers, it turns out, have started to flag suspicious bulk orders to safeguard the irreplaceable.
Not Google’s patented process . . . but you can probably guess where this is going.
On Monday, 404 Media revealed that it had connected with a bookseller who agreed to plant an [Apple] Airtag in a rare book that was part of a bulk order. That Airtag was then tracked to an Amazon AI training facility in Las Vegas that housed a team focused on tearing books from their spines and scanning pages, 404 Media reported. Apparently tone-deaf to the escalating backlash over destructive book scanning, a logo on the door of that team’s warehouse, VGT3, showed a Tyrannosaurus rex preparing to devour a book, 404 Media documented.
“Amazon declined to comment on 404 Media’s findings,” the article continues, “only providing Ars with the same statement it gave to 404 Media, which does not mention AI training specifically: ‘Amazon purchases books through commercial channels to help develop and improve the products and services our customers use.‘“
The Internet, in its wisdom, has suggested that it’s all for profit — to “hide history behind a paywall.” How likely is that? After all, we know that Amazon, Anthropic, and Meta are altruistic.
And now, courtesy of the ’Net’s most-trusted source, we have insider details: “when I see a one-of-a-kind, three-hundred-year-old tome taking up six whole inches of shelf space, I immediately start thinking about scale and efficiency.”
Profit, efficiency, whatever — chewing up rare books for AI training is the very definition of “facepalm.”
Special bonus #1: McSweeney’s new book, Obey in Advance, How to Survive and Thrive under Authoritarianism, is available this fall. An early review:
“Democracy is priceless, but fascism sure seems to pay well. If you’re morally bankrupt and looking to sell your soul, Obey in Advance has everything you need for a profitable life of lickspittlery.”
— Kevin Kruse, Professor of History, Princeton University
Naturally, the book arrives at your door pre-scanned by AI.
Special bonus #2:Remembering the pre-Google web, when search was an experiment. ”It was an era when the term ‘discovery’ carried actual weight, when you could authentically be one of the first people viewing a piece of content, regardless of its quality or how long it may have existed — an era of equal parts wonder and frustration.”
Four scores and twenty-seven years ago . . . .
The story behind Present & Correct
Dick Bruna book covers, 1970s, from the Zwarte Beertjes publishing house. Image by Present & Correct.
“The perfectly curated stationery shop that’s every graphic designer’s dream” has a new gig: publishing. But first, the origin story, thanks to a Q&A with It’s Nice That.
Tins and boxes for crayons and pencils, mixed eras. Germany, USA & Japan. Image by Present & Correct.
To talk more about this publishing journey and the designers’ joint practice, we spoke to [the owners] about the story of Present & Correct to date, tracing habits of collecting and archiving all the way back to a childhood spent carefully putting away scrapbooks of sugar sachets, napkins, postcards and coasters, a final major project at art school (a paper concept store called . . . Present & Correct), to their joint travels across the world today, foraging for original vintage stationery to curate the shop’s stocks from over 18 different countries.
— Ellis Tree, It’s Nice That
”This habit of archiving and collecting vintage ephemera,” the article continues, ”has informed your first self-published book at P&C Paper Trails: Pre-war tourist maps from Japan featuring fifty incredibly illustrated maps for various attractions around Japan.”
Paper Trails, the first title published by P&C Additions.
“We named it P&C Additions because we hope to make editions of varying sizes (might be a single sheet, might be a book) and they are additional to what we generally do (a stationery shop!). And yes, we want to make more as and when we can. No pressure, just a natural offshoot which will manifest as a published item when we feel the content is strong enough,” the owners report.
Special bonus #3: The Last Museum’s curators: ““We currently have around five million artworks indexed, and strive to eventually index all museum art in the world.” Not sure about the name, but definitely bookmarked under useful resources. (Via This is Colossal.)
“A Dutch Courtyard” by Pieter de Hooch, via The Last Museum. Chosen because the original absolutely does not hang in my living room, a joke one or two of you will actually get.
August’s new typefaves
Yes, I’ve coined a new word just there — and will continue to deny that it was, in any way, a typo involving the word “typefaces.”
Franglais, by Emigre
Franglais, by Emigre.
”Franglais was designed by John Downer in sporadic bursts of inspiration dating back to 2000,” Emigre writes on their blog. “It was originally conceived as a standalone italic, and expanded to include two upright companions, Roman and Informal, developed in collaboration with Zuzana Licko.
Pretty much everything Emigre puts out is beautiful, but Franglais is just gorgeous.
“Reflecting on the origins of Franglais, Downer describes it as lettering devised for imaginary signage inspired by a hybrid of postwar metal type and vernacular chalk-written menu boards. Elements of ‘ruler writing’ — in which a ruler is used to keep the baseline straight across repeated lines — are evident throughout.”
Special bonus #4: “ShieldFont, as designers Isaque Seneda and Gabriel Abrucio write in a recent white paper, was made to offer web publishers ‘a practical opt-out from unauthorized AI training and [to] disrupt what is collected when that choice is ignored.’” Read about it at Ars Technica.
Not sure I’m on board with this approach.
SE Micro, by Gallery Type
SE Micro, by Gallery Type.
“Se Micro is the small-size companion to Se Macro, released by Gallery Type earlier this year,” CreativeBoom writes in this month’s recommendations. “They share the same basic skeleton, but Se Micro works well in small or difficult settings, like tiny text or low-quality printing, perhaps even on screens.
“There’s a nice twist, too. When you blow this typeface up to larger sizes, those practical features become a visual style in their own right. It looks distinctive and quirky rather than just doing its thing of being legible, especially in bolder weights.”
Ink traps may be on-trend, but I still like their treatment in this typeface.
“This is an option for branding work across fashion, culture and design-led products. It comes with 10 weights and three widths. And it’s part of a growing family: Se Macro is also out, as I’ve mentioned, but hold onto your hats for Se Mono and Se Rounded, due out later this year or early 2027.”
Resan, by The Designer’s Foundry
Resan, by The Designer’s Foundry.
“Daniel McQueen from The Designers Foundry has been in touch,” CreativeBoom writes. ”He’s just released Resan, a super family inspired by the transitional types of the 17th and 18th centuries. It’s got warmth. It’s got timeless elegance. But it’s also precise.
“It has a sharp rhythm with generous proportions, giving it decent impact at display sizes. It also lets you change the terminal shapes, shifting the type’s entire feel and mood.”
I especially like Resan’s alternative terminals.
”It’s currently offered in 10 distinct display styles, and if you like what you’ve seen so far, a series of optical weights is in the works.”
Special bonus #5: “Typographic tourism, or the art of hunting for beautiful signs all over the world,” from Wallpaper*. Never mind searching for the hashtag, read the article then just do it for fun!
Architecture and typography in one photograph. Hmmm….
RTFM: Resurgence of The Effing Manual
Okay, sure, that’s not actually what the acronym stands for. But I don’t care. The United States and its cadre of point-one-percenters have chosen to lead the world in an important new area: preserving the true manual transmission.
To be clear, they’re also demanding bans on internal combustion go away, so it’s not all good news. They’re apparently unconvinced by Ferrari’s approach, outlined last month and which still uses combustion engines but with increased efficiency, or Hyundai’s approach, which uses electric motors and simulated shifts (the latter of which is being adopted by BMW, among others).
Two small manufacturers, McLaren and Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA), have both chosen this year’s Monterey/Quail festival of the uber-rich to introduce new cars. Both feature manuals. Porsche was on hand trying to play catch-up.
McLaren’s first manual since the F1
The McLaren McL 6GT.
The original and perhaps most iconic modern hypercar — arguably, the car that launched the term — was the McLaren F1. This month, McLaren introduced something that’s . . . not at all like an F1. It’s a fresh take on 1969’s M6 GT.
It is both retro and modern, hypercar and hyper-cool — an insta-buy if I could afford it. (Doesn’t matter: already sold out.)
References to the [original] M6 GT abound, from the vertical headlights and Kamm tail to the position and shape of every duct, rendered with a simplicity that we used to see in supercars of the ’90s and 2000s but see less today. And inside, McLaren has transformed the shifter into an art piece itself, its metallic linkages attracting natural light from every angle in a sea of black and carbon fiber. They’re clearly proud of it, and they suitably want it to be the focal point in here.
— Adam Ismail, The Drive
Just look at that — nothing less than a celebration.
“McLaren bills this as a ‘new type’ of supercar ‘beyond the core portfolio,’” the article continues. “Based on that, it sounds like manual transmissions aren’t about to become a standard feature of the brand; that, beyond the delineation of ‘Sports, Super, and Ultimate’ models of the past, McLaren is diversifying into more exclusive offerings that, at least in this particular case, pursue a more analog experience counter to the regular lineup.”
Yeah. Do want. But there’s a wrinkle.
GMA’s new . . . McLaren F1
The McLaren F1 was designed by an automotive racing legend named Gordon Murray. He subsequently started GMA, and brought out the amazing T.50, among others. Last year, his Special Vehicles department issued a track-only reimagining of the F1 — and has followed up with a road version, called the S1:
Since it’s less of a concept than the McLaren, some details are available. It features a 4.2-liter, naturally-aspirated Cosworth V12 making 680 horsepower with a rev limit of 12,100 RPM. It exclusively sports a six-speed manual transmission. It is multi-millions of dollars. And it, too, is sold out. The Autopian has more.
Special bonus #6: From the combining-cars-and-print-department (“not a stretch,” he insisted), Road & Trackhas a new ampersand:
If you’ve not heard, one of the brands not doing too well at the moment is Porsche. They went hard into electrification, suffered hard from being part of parent company Volkswagen’s arrogantly inept approach,3Just one example: see Scout. It’s actually sad. and subsequently run afoul of social media’s society’s hard turn against EVs. It has cost them dearly.
Despite insisting that they were going to do it all along, they’re scrambling to get back to what customers actually want. This month, they introduced a third variant of the venerable 911 available with a stick shift.
It’s not purple, it’s aubergine. (Love the pinstripes.)
Like the others, it features a wooden shift knob, a throwback to the Carrera GT V10 masterpiece from the heady days of the early naughties. Like the others, it puts the cupholder immediately behind the shifter, guaranteeing spills. (Or thirst.) Like the others, it costs twice what it did six years ago — although it’s still “only” a tenth of either of the above.
Like the others, I’d be happy to receive one as a gift.
Unlike the others, it’s US-only, and it’s available this fall. Details, if you’re interested, are available at The Drive or The Autopian.
Special bonus #7: Jaguar has released the first image — a rendering, actually, but still — of the new Type 01’s interior:
As it turns out, they’re not backing down from their vision for a completely-new Jaguar, and I respect them for it. The electric four-door also made its US debut at Monterey, albeit in disguise, and should be out sometime next year. More details and pics at Wallpaper*.
Special bonus #8: To celebrate the 50th anniversary of BMW’s Art Cars, they’ve gathered them all together in Germany.
A sampling of cars under the iconic four-cylinder BMW HQ.
Lotsofpress has ensued, but in case you’re not familiar, they’re exactly what it sounds like they should be — but so very much more. Decorated by artists from Roy Lichtenstein to Andy Warhol, all twenty are unique, daring, and different. Some were even raced before becoming priceless.
#12, by Esther Mahlangu, on display at BMW Welt Munich.
Special bonus #9: From the not-a-joke department comes this beautiful — and beautifully green — 1979 Mercedes wagon with 6,088 miles. Long buried by an earthquake (!), has been unearthed and restored:
Alessi, a “beacon of well-designed homeware,” is celebrated by photographer Sam Nicklin in a new series called Chrome & Colour:
Photograph by Sam Nicklin.
“My main goal was to define the silhouette of each object through colour in the reflections, using negative space and keeping highlights to a minimum to really make them pop,” he tells It’s Nice That. To give the images the feel of the 1970s and 80s, “Sam went truly analogue, using the time-consuming process of holding sheets of coloured paper cut to different shapes and moving them around the objects until the reflection was exactly as he envisaged.”
In the introduction of a new book titled Great Women Photographers, Fiona Rogers writes, “If ‘greatness’ has long been defined by visibility and remembrance, then the continued documentation and celebration of women’s photographic practice is not only relevant but essential.”
From crumbling row houses in the inner city to abandoned houses on the Eastern Shore to temporary homeless camps, “greater” Baltimore demonstrates decay . . . and courage:
Carroll County, Maryland. Photograph by Ben Marcin.
Right place, right time — stunning results, part one.
Eclipse #3: the sunset
Photograph by Andrew McCarthy.
Right place, right time — stunning results, part two.
Photograph by Andrew McCarthy.
Special bonus #10: Jason Kottke is moving house, and when he has a moment, posting en-masse. It’s an “old-school, stream-of-consciousness” sort of thing — which, to emphasize, is still awesome. Among the three dozen or so nuggets of greatness:
“Half Dome, Apple Orchard, Yosemite,” trees with snow on branches, April 1933. Photograph by Ansel Adams.
Anything but empty, I’d argue. Enjoy the rest of your summer, folks!
1
Soap box: getting a website, whose contents you own, is so painfully simple that I tend to discount those that rely on other platforms to publish what might otherwise be interesting material/thoughts/content. And in this case, the author is a Times journalist, who should definitely know better. ↩︎
2
It’s been pointed out that blogs are social media, too (the original social media, in fact) — something I don’t necessarily disagree with. From my perspective, writing that is owned, put out there due to belief, and read by folks who trust your opinion, is completely distinct from having your potentially-anonymous “take” promoted to strangers by an algorithmic mechanism that profits from conflict — or, at least, provocation. In my opinion, it’s the latter that defines “social media.” ↩︎
3
Just one example: see Scout. It’s actually sad. ↩︎
It’s July, and it’s hot. Bring a beverage. Umbrella optional.
Spine!
Stanford University Press. Cover design by Lindy Kasler; art director, Michele Wetherbee. Cover art: Map of Kunitachi, Japan, National Archives and Records Administration; photograph of refugee dwellings in Busan, Korea, United Nations Archives; US military payment certificates note, US Army Finance Corps.
“The cover asks questions,” I wrote in this month’s column for Spine. “Illustrations and scripts combine in myriad ways; maps plot; and blood drops. Rather than telling you what the title is about, it suggests that it’s not easily summarized — in all the right ways.”
Read!
The End of Reading is Here
Cool header graphic from The Atlantic article.
“Optimists once believed that universal literacy was inevitable. Now it seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history,” The Atlantic writes. “The decline of reading will bring about changes of the same magnitude. It will affect our innermost thoughts, our society’s politics and culture, and how we tell the history of our civilization.”
Reading requires imagination; consumption, whether social media, television, or gaming, really doesn’t. It’s no surprise that the lowering of the common denominator is the result.
But what if the premise is, in fact, true? I can’t imagine a life without reading — and you’re reading this, so you probably can’t either. Will humanity reach to a point where ingestion of knowledge doesn’t involve the written word? Should it?
Update, 31 July (after publishing): The gift link has expired, darn it — apologies. (One of the downsides of gathering items throughout the month, I guess; this is from the 8th of July.)
“Read More. Read Often. Read Every Day.”
We keep searching for lifehacks, productivity tips, and bullshit, but the answer is right there. If you want to be better, grow more, understand your life, understand your purpose, learn something, or just find somewhere to stay a while when life gets overwhelming — pick up a damn book.
— Joan Westenberg
She calls it the 80/20 rule: “I believe that spending 20% of your time buried in a book, buried in something that will inspire you, excite you, and make you want to jump out of your seat is going to give you the fuel, the ideas, and the power to create 80% of your output.”
Special bonus #1:Uncovered is a site for judging books by their first pages. “No cover. No bestseller sticker, no celebrity book club, no BookTok trend. You read the opening of a real book, blind, and answer the only question that matters: would you keep reading?”
Great address, by the way — I didn’t know .ink was a thing. (Also via Kottke.)
250 for 250
Photograph of the Brooklyn Library’s main branch by the Municipal Art Society of New York.
Brooklyn Public Library is celebrating our country’s 250th anniversary the best way we know how: with a thoughtful, surprising, irresistible booklist. Organized by genre and category of interest, this all-ages list is a deep dive on the stories, voices and moments that shaped America. Selected by our expert librarians — with help from a few notable New Yorkers! — here are the 250 most influential books in United States history.
— Brooklyn Library’s 250 for 250 Booklist Intro
Whether it’s actually the most influential 250 titles in the country’s history is probably intentionally debatable, but it’s still a great list. From The Hunger Games to The Snowy Day, The Warmth of Other Suns to Where the Sidewalk Ends, the choices are sometimes surprising, sometimes great memories, and sometimes inspirational.
If you’re looking for the next title to read — or the next gift to give — start here. (Also available in a handy PDF if you’d like to send to someone.)
Special bonus #2:Bookmobile, my favorite short-run printer, has been sold — but remains privately-owned, non-corporate, and dedicated to craft. Founder Don Leeper is retiring after 44 years; Michael Shoemaker is the new owner.
“Mike is the perfect buyer for Bookmobile, with the passion, skills and resources to continue and improve our services to publishers. From the beginning of our discussions he displayed an aptitude for grasping the complexities of book publishing in the 21st century and bringing to bear his deep experience in technology, ecommerce, and business in general. Last but not least, he has an understanding and appreciation for the importance of book culture. I am damned lucky we connected.”
— Don Leeper, Bookmobile
“No major changes are planned,” the press release says. “Under its new ownership, Bookmobile will continue to invest in the growth of the business and the success of its publisher customers.”
This month has seen a wealth of new typefaces introduced. A few that caught my eye are below, but it’s start with a question.
“What is Queer Typography?”
“Looking for queer anything often feels lonely,” Paul Soulellis writes. “The word queer resists definition, sometimes aligned with ideas about rejection, refusal, deviating from the expected, away from the normative. It’s certainly a political word, one that’s taken on expansive qualities throughout its history, qualities that aren’t necessarily confined to gender and sexuality.”
Image via soulellis.com.
An interesting text, certainly, with many possible answers to the question and accompanying designs and images. “[W]e need to stay with queer as an action, actively engaging with the past and the future as a verb.”
Read more. (This is from 2024, but was recently linked at Kottke — and was new to me, so forgive the late notice/attention.)
Emigre’s Modulator now at Adobe Type
Adobe prices are a regular gripe amongst many, but one of their strongest offerings is the type catalog — and it just got better:
“Modulator was conceived as a dialogue between two designs separated by nearly three decades: Modula Round Black (1995) and Lo-Res Monospaced Solid (2023),” Emigre writes. The results are Modulator and its companion Modulator Text Variable, “optimized for smaller sizes by expanding the stem and counter dimensions to improve legibility.”
“Datatype is an OpenType variable font that turns simple text expressions into inline charts. No JavaScript, no images, no rendering library — just type the syntax and Datatype’s ligature substitution does the rest.”
Very cool — and very open source, thus very free. Available on GitHub or Google Fonts.
Special bonus #3: I don’t actually know how much AI is driving new typeface design; honestly, it seems like an art form requiring human decision-making. Dutch foundry Mass-Driver is one that will always design fonts by hand:
AI tools perceive reality as a finite set of data, up-to-date as of about 2021: the shadows on the wall of Plato’s Cave. Right now they are very good at making shadow puppets, but they cannot see the world outside.
If we allow these tools to dictate our visual culture, we must accept that it will be vitrified by machines which consider a few billion webpages equivalent to the sum total of human existence. I don’t accept that. How dare we abandon so many countless traditions and people and ideas and nuances, simply because they are underrepresented in the training data?
— Rutherford Craze & Co., known as Mass-Driver
CreativeBoom’s July Fonts
Fourteen in all this time — last month’s suggestion of a summer lull was wrong, apparently — with some strong selections. I wanted to show several, but narrowed it down to three that deserve highlighting:
Solaflare Sans, by John Reshell of Swell Type.Solaflare Flare.
“Solaflare’s mood is both unmistakable and timely, evoking warm evenings, hand-painted shop signs, and the particular quality of light in a California coastal town. John Roshell of Swell Type was inspired by the hand-painted signage of Santa Barbara, but rather than simply reviving that aesthetic, he built a variable font around it; one that lets designers slide between three distinct typographic personalities within a single file.”
Solaflare Serif.
That’s right: a variable flare — meaning sans on one end, flare in the middle, serif on the other. Check it out.
Oratorio, by Alex Chavot of Apex Type Foundry.
“Alex Chavot’s latest release for Apex Type Foundry — launched alongside a comprehensively rebuilt foundry website — takes Halbfette Cantate, a display face released around 1910 by H. Berthold AG and designed by Johann Graf, as its starting point, then runs it through the filter of Ed Benguiat’s flamboyant 1970s classics. The result is sweeping swashes, lyrical terminals, high contrast, and an unapologetically theatrical personality that Chavot describes, accurately, as ornamental excess meeting typographic swagger, with just enough restraint to keep it printable.”
Oratorio.
Single-weight fonts are rare these days — but oh, what a weight it is. Expressive, serious, almost lavish. Check it out.
Milgram, by Max Phillips of Signal Type Foundry.
“Max Phillips of Signal Type Foundry has a gift for describing typefaces, and his account of Milgram is direct. They’d always wanted to add a humanist sans to the library, and always wanted to add a rounded sans. So they decided to save time by making them the same typeface and seeing what happened. What happened was a wave of nostalgia for Frankfurter, VAG Rundschrift, and an all-caps dry-transfer face called Formula One that nobody else seems to remember.”
Milgram.
’Course, anybody who mocks up book covers with their new font … instaclick! Check it out.
Vote!
Archinect’s Spring ’26 lecture posters
Twice a year, Archinect holds a contest for their readers to decide which of the season’s lecture posters from architecture schools around the country are their favorites.
East Los Angeles College.
Alas, the contest usually ends just before this column gets posted, so sometimes y’all are able to vote, sometimes not. This time, we only get to compare my favorites with the results.
University of California at Berkley.
Along with these three, I’d also give honorable mentions to Yale, Sci-Arc, and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
University of Minnesota.
ELEC won the contest, too. As for the rest, we’ll just have to agree that they’re all winners in one way or another. See the readers’ and editors’ choices.
“Choose Euro’n Adventure”
Brand New‘s penchant for punny-yet-perfect post titles scores another with this one — another one that voting might be just out of reach for, depending on where you’re reading this from.
Design submission by Rudy Guedj and François Girard-Meunier.
“A panel of jurors selected the designs, which follow one of two themes: European places and ideas or birds and rivers, the latter of which is meant to symbolize freedom and unity,” This is Colossal writes.
Design submission by Isabelle Daëron.
Interestingly, the notes get bigger with denomination — the 5 is the smallest, then 10, then 20; the 50, 100, and 200 are all the same size. (Not the boring uniformity we get here in the States.)
Same colors, same denominations, vastly differing details. (Overview via Brand New.)
“While basic elements are the same — all collections devoted to culture feature the same six figures, for example — individual approaches appear in the layout, aesthetic, and composition,” Colossal continues.
Design submission by Atelier Goppel-Toperngpong.
I’m unsurprisingly partial to the birds & places, but no matter which theme or which specific design, these are all excellent. See all the available options at the European Central Bank website — and, if you’re in the EU, take the survey!
Special bonus #4: It’s not the Europeans, it’s the English we have to thank: Getty has abandoned its takeover/merger with/of Shutterstock. Hooray!
Amuse!
Lil’ Finder Guy
It may be a social media campaign, but darn it’s cute.
Basic Apple Guy, who introduced me to Apple’s social media campaign1As you probably know, I don’t participate in social media. I have to rely on others to bring Apple’s media efforts to my attention — folks covering the coverage, as it were. for the MacBook Neo, has an update with all things regarding this unofficial mascot.
Details, stickers, and more.
It’s the Internet, of course, so even items that have been posted briefly then deleted are fodder for careful investigation — and some of the details he’s dug up are neat. (He’s also done a bunch of generated varieties of the character, which make occasional — and often delightful — appearances in his articles.)
Save the manuals
No, not of the RTFM variety. It’s actually a non sequitur.
Image via The Autopian.
Ferrari went and did something interesting, again: having introduced the world of high-performance motoring to the automated manual (the F1, in 1997),2Ferrari’s F1 wasn’t actually the first automated or even semi-automated manual gearbox/transmission, by a long shot. It is, however, the one that brought it to sports cars, followed almost immediately by BMW’s SMG. Wiki has a history, if you’re interested. it’s now introducing … the manualized automatic.3Technically, Koenigsegg got there first with its CC850. However, a) you have to be a car geek to know Koenigsegg, and b) that shift-by-wire unit doesn’t use traditional selector forks, or synchronizers. Instead, it uses seven wet clutches, six to select forward ratios and one for reverse, all with their own pressure sensors and mechatronic actuators. “Changing up is as simple as engaging the right clutches,” The Autopian says. Ferrari’s is a gated dual-clutch automatic, although to call that an oversimplification is an undersell.
Photograph via Ferrari’s press department.
First of all, let’s all please agree that the 12 Cilindri, their 819-horsepower, half-million-Euro, two-seater Grand Touring masterpiece, is a beautiful thing — retro, but in a modern way. Especially in this merlot-and-gold combo.
Photograph via Ferrari’s press department.
In the new Manuale model, the transmission is the story: a gated dual-clutch automatic, or DCT, with a twist. It’s got buttons for drive, reverse, etc., as usual — but a clutch and a shift lever instead of paddles.
By doing so, offers a road map for other automakers (cough *BMW*) whose customers are demanding the engagement of a manual but whose governments are demanding reduced emissions and increased mileage — plus all those safety mandates like automatic braking and conveniences like adaptive cruise control.
Photograph via Ferrari’s press department.
I’m convinced this is the future of the manual transmission. It’s unconventional, unexpected, and is going to take a minute to trickle down. But … fingers crossed.
“Now in its 18th year, the ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest is among the premier photo competitions that celebrate the art of astrophotography and astronomy,” PetaPixel writes.
Moody Partial Solar Eclipse. “Our Sun” category. Photograph by James McBeath, UK.
“The competition features nine categories, a pair of special prizes, and the expert panel of judges selects a single overall winner, all of which will be showcased in an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in England starting on September 18.”
Te Hoho Rock Moonrise. “Skyscapes” category. Photograph by Evan McKay, New Zealand.
Astrophotography is fascinating — a reminder that we’re merely a blip — and requires patience, skill, and specialized gear. But the results … wow.
Jupiter. Photograph credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, R. Hueso (UPV), I. de Pater (UC Berkeley), T. Fouchet (Observatory of Paris), L. Fletcher (University of Leicester), M.H. Wong (UC Berkeley), J. DePasquale (STScI).
Cloud details, aurora, the eye — and all on a planet we’re “familiar” with.
Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. Photograph credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, K. Pontoppidan (STScI), A. Pagan (STScI).
The Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex is the closest star-forming region to Earth, and demonstrates both the beauty and power of the Universe.
“The $10 billion NASA/ESA/CSA JWST has produced a great deal of exceptional scientific work in its first four years of operation, much of which is utterly groundbreaking,” PetaPixel writes. “However, that alone is not enough to warrant a photo’s inclusion. While scientific value is important, a Webb image featured here must also be beautiful.”
It’s that time of year again: the iPhone Photography Awards, now in its 20th season, has announced its annual competition winners.
Winner, Abstract category. Photograph by Barry Mayes, UK.
Entrants from more than 140 countries “showed just how powerful an iPhone can be in the right hands and how great photos don’t always require high-end, dedicated camera equipment,” PetaPixel writes.
Winner, Architecture category. Photograph by Ziwen Chen, China.3rd Place, Architecture category. Photograph by Preethy Ganesan, US.Honorable Mention, Architecture category. Photograph by Adrian Beasley, UK.
Of course, these four barely scratch the surface of the fantastic selection from a variety of categories; see all the winners, runners-up, and more at the official website.
The Architecture of Connection
A left turn, so to speak:
The Last Landmark. Image by Jen Orpin.
“The Modernist Society takes a detour from its usual publishing habits with a new monograph, The Architecture of Connection,” Wallpaper* writes, “featuring the work of painter Jen Orpin.”
Let Love Grow. Image by Jen Orpin.
That’s right: paintings. We’re “in the realm of unseen and overlooked infrastructure, with Orpin’s eye – and careful framing – capturing over 200 images of the bridges that span Britain’s motorways. […] The Architecture of Connection brings the entire series together in a monograph for the first time, together with some of the artist’s writings about the work.”
Without traffic, but with something bordering tranquility, it’s of course right up my street. I sometimes wish I could stop and photograph every interesting bridge — or even roadside attraction — while out in the world, but don’t, of course; few of us do. Orpin did. With an easel, no less.
2026 International Pet Photography finalists
Finally, something to send you into August with a smile on your face: humanity’s best friends.
Untitled, Action category. Photograph by Shandess Griffin.‘Cat Goalkeeper,’ Phone category. Photograph by He Huapei.“Weightless,” Action category. Photograph by Linda Glomb.
As you probably know, I don’t participate in social media. I have to rely on others to bring Apple’s media efforts to my attention — folks covering the coverage, as it were. ↩︎
2
Ferrari’s F1 wasn’t actually the first automated or even semi-automated manual gearbox/transmission, by a long shot. It is, however, the one that brought it to sports cars, followed almost immediately by BMW’s SMG. Wiki has a history, if you’re interested.↩︎
3
Technically, Koenigsegg got there first with its CC850. However, a) you have to be a car geek to know Koenigsegg, and b) that shift-by-wire unit doesn’t use traditional selector forks, or synchronizers. Instead, it uses seven wet clutches, six to select forward ratios and one for reverse, all with their own pressure sensors and mechatronic actuators. “Changing up is as simple as engaging the right clutches,” The Autopian says. Ferrari’s is a gated dual-clutch automatic, although to call that an oversimplification is an undersell. ↩︎
