Erik

Erik van Blokland. I draw nice letters and I make useful fonts. #typedesign #typography #roboFont #lettering #typeMedia #nobridge #fuckai

web: https://letterror.com
New sans: https://letterror.com/actiongrotesque/
About: https://letterror.com/about/

Public Key

npub1xgxwtaqvx3h62zum8u2rtmcq22g8y06le0srhxp3vsn9p337ymwsfjmg42

NIP-05 Address

letterror_at_typo.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsryr897sxrgma9pwdn79p4auq99yrj8a0uhcpmnqckgfjscclzdhgpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dssnfkf7

Publishing to

relay.nostr.band

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1xgxwtaqvx3h62zum8u2rtmcq22g8y06le0srhxp3vsn9p337ymwsfjmg42

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Last Notes

2026-09-30 09:52:17 UTC

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https://letterror.com/ai

2026-09-30 09:00:57 UTC

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Not mentioned here, but no less important: the AI industry’s energy and water consumption. The appropriation of intellectual property. Billionaires as failures of policy. The active support of fascist politics.
---
Knoll’s Law of Media Accuracy: “Everything you read in the newspapers is absolutely true except for that rare story of which you happen to have firsthand knowledge.”
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Knoll%27s_Law_of_Media_Accuracy (6/6)

2026-09-30 09:00:57 UTC

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Maybe the generated outcome was very straightforward. Maybe it overstepped a boundary somewhere. Maybe it was mediocre or just plain wrong. You do not really know. You did not learn anything from making it because there was no making. You did not develop any criteria.
Not knowing how to judge the outcome is not an uncomfortable side effect of generative AI use, *it is the main attraction*. Not learning (about how something could be done) is exactly where you save the most time. By reaching for generative tools, you implicitly say that you do not wish to learn from the process. (4/6)

2026-09-30 09:00:57 UTC

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As you get involved with the process, so does your understanding of its possibilities and limits. Inevitably, while you work, plans form on how the work could be better. You learn to accept if you discover some of it is as good as it gets You let these thoughts inform the way you go about the next time you engage with this task. The making gets better, the work gets more interesting and more importantly your understanding of the work and everything connected to it grows. And you will have learned why this current iteration will do for now. Your criteria are embedded in, and represented by the process. (2/6)

2026-09-30 09:00:57 UTC

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The services offering generative AI already know that everyone who signs up is willing, no, *expecting* to be fooled. It is easy to satisfy the hasty, uninterested mind and so the thinnest, most mediocre generated thing will do.
There is no reason to assume generative AI services will remain free or cheap or even accessible. The industry runs at an unprecedented loss, subsidised by speculation. There are certainly applications in which machine learning can do useful things, fold a protein, cure cancer, sure please. But the loss of critical thinking skills is not an abstract thing we will lament in an abstract way. If education fails to transfer these skills, it is near impossible to reconstruct them later by looking at artefacts.
— (5/6)

2026-09-30 09:00:57 UTC

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On the other hand. Generative AI allows you to cause things that you otherwise would not have been able to. You *feel* there is a connection between writing the prompt and observing the outcome. Look, I made this happen! You assume this amazing outcome is the result of the unique way in which you tossed the dice. Post hoc ergo fucking propter hoc.
But as there was no process, your mind was not challenged to think about steps and ponder alternatives. You did not examine possibilities, you did not negotiate with limits of tools and task. (3/6)

2026-09-30 09:00:57 UTC

On generative AI
Making things requires you to think about every single aspect. The methods and the materials, purpose, goal, practice. And then maybe you will also think about how the tools should work, or you start to wonder about how it was done before. When and why is it good enough? This is curiosity in its most essential form. (1/6)

2026-09-20 16:34:01 UTC

Found a great new sushi place in Leiden!
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/117/304/330/924/545/124/original/0f05aa5983faef35.jpeg

2026-06-22 08:38:54 UTC

A quick overview of the asterisms in the LettError fonts. All new titles have have the symbol and I will add them to older ones when useful. I prefer the asterisk with 5 strokes. For LTR Very Bauble the bottom asterisks are rotated inward to create the triangular counter. This is a pretty illusion. For CT Action Grotesque the legibility at 7pt was more important. It is a complex shape and I want to it do its job at scale. By moving the bottom asterisks outward, they create some room for the top asterisk. The whole symbol becomes a bit wider, especially in the heavier weights. Click on the images to 👀 inspect details, some nice outline details in both typefaces, if that is your cup of tea. #fediverse #asterism #fonts #typedesign
https://letterror.com/asterism/

2026-06-17 12:21:38 UTC

I hope this mail finds you well.
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/765/412/916/414/419/original/8582ddb2b4fb4a77.jpeg

2026-05-05 16:10:32 UTC

Family style dinner. #spaghetti #erikrighthand #fontsinuse #fontsfordinner
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/522/839/690/311/552/original/4dc3485b71a94a71.jpeg

2025-10-31 08:02:08 UTC

Build your own tools. Ask questions, offer support when you can. Contribute. Credit. Experiment. Define and own your formats. Be curious.

2025-08-21 06:44:56 UTC

Karen Hao’s book ‘Empire of AI’ should be required reading for anyone who uses AI. She documents in brutal detail how all resources, water, land, power, all the liberal arts, all intellectual property, entire communities and research capacity, are devoured to make the chat thing work. And while everyone can argue *their* particular case was unavoidable, all AI users are complicit. Link https://karendhao.com

2025-08-13 06:13:04 UTC

@npub1frs…09cc this isn’t critical, and there are alternatives for sure, but if you’re looking for ideas, how about making the Mona ipad app accept drawings and written text from the pen, and insert them as images. Similar to how Messages integrates the pen. It wouldn’t need an elaborate set of drawing tools, just enough to record and communicate visual thinking.
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/019/978/159/364/602/original/2df3ecfd6b857ac9.jpeg

2025-07-08 06:38:47 UTC

Once I get my printer running again I will make more these tokens. Powerful stuff.
Make Your Backups. Lose Nowt, Regret Nowt. Cheap Advice. #riso #makebackups #lettering #losenowt
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/816/236/074/295/328/original/83db6f4fae534dc2.png

2025-06-21 10:20:48 UTC

No wait hear me out, there’s three sides to this.
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/720/849/790/352/707/original/03ecf97454792628.jpeg

2025-06-12 18:36:03 UTC

Oh look, Monotype scaring the senior leadership of their clients into… a zombie DSIG !? 🧟‍♂️ I bet the keys to sign your “secure fonts” can only be rented for a steep membership?
Not to mention on how this would work for streaming or subset fonts.
Discuss.
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/671/836/392/126/394/original/e20b7ab977a6a1bb.png

2025-02-27 15:56:42 UTC

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I will try fives first as it is quite busy already. But we don't have to agree :)

2025-02-27 08:07:53 UTC

I really like the proposed asterism symbol, ⁂, U+2042 to represent the Fediverse. “In astronomy, it refers to groups of stars in the sky, akin to constellations.”
https://symbol.fediverse.info
I might just add it to my fonts, (and perhaps boot the bitcoin, ₿, U+20BF, while I'm at it) Now to see whether I like hexacles (the bestagons) or pentacles..
#charactersetpolitics #fediverse #fonts #typography

2025-02-04 11:22:59 UTC

The Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, KABK, has opened an account on PixelFed. Look them up!
https://pixelfed.social/kabk.thehague?fs=1
#socials #pixelfed @highereduction #arteducation

2024-09-25 07:28:30 UTC

Let's do a series of educational posts for the young colleagues. But rather than highlight how easy it is to draw (I love drawing, but it is never easy), let's talk about what to look out for when someone offers to publish your fonts. #contracts

2024-09-20 18:16:57 UTC

Aside, when movies need graffiti, are there graffiti artists who can do anonymous pieces? Like products and phone numbers that are created to be non-specific?

2024-09-08 07:52:56 UTC

Book friends! What could these lines mean? Inside cover, pocket, 1980. #books #publishing
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/113/100/847/349/367/609/original/974603f523d12dbc.jpeg

2024-08-03 14:03:43 UTC

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ordered!