litherland

Design + type + text. Solidarity forever. Views are my own.

Header set in Proxy Condensed (https://vault.commercialtype.com). Avatar: Tesla Dynamo by Nikola Djurek.

Public Key

npub1yu7vg0j99u59wmumxeap222t2jhrujxuz0856zsss5mvfluthm4qlawnmz

NIP-05 Address

litherland@typo-social.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqszw0xy8ezj72zhd7dnv7s49994ft37frwp8n6dpggg2dkyl79ma6spz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dssj7xea

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relay.damus.io

nos.lol

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npub1yu7vg0j99u59wmumxeap222t2jhrujxuz0856zsss5mvfluthm4qlawnmz

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Last Notes

2026-05-20 23:41:38 UTC

“The typeface was commissioned by GQ in 2001, after asking Monotype to create a sans-serif font…”
🤦‍♀️
https://patch.com/massachusetts/woburn/new-look-launched-historic-woburn-type-setting-business

2026-04-21 20:50:02 UTC

“There is a particular relief that comes with finding your niche. Not the market segment kind. The kind where the granularity of your thinking stops registering as excessive and becomes, simply, the floor.”
I *love* this dek.
A cogent and exquisitely written recap of the Fontstand conference by Mikina Dimunova: https://fontstand.com/news/design-news/the-granularity-of-origin-fontstand-in-berlin

2026-03-30 15:07:31 UTC

👀
https://coopertype.org/events/typographic-signals-phototypesetting-as-a-new-form-of-writing

2026-03-29 16:27:31 UTC

I occasionally (often?) talk about stuff that is not exclusively type-related. But for me type is so integral to absolutely every aspect of life that it never occurred to me not to be interested in and curious about everything.

2026-03-24 15:48:32 UTC

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@nprofile…lel8 @nprofile…mj28 💯

2026-03-24 15:11:25 UTC

This morning I got a notification from Mastodon via email, subject line: “Updates to our terms of service.” My body automatically tensed up, because usually this portends enshittification, but then I relaxed: https://typo.social/terms-of-service/2026-04-01
Thank you, typo.social team 👏
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/284/785/652/378/655/original/d60c03c331d69dee.png

2026-02-26 23:19:27 UTC

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@nprofile…8clk Well said.

2026-02-26 22:00:32 UTC

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@nprofile…8clk See, I think finding the right font *should* feel like searching for a needle in a haystack—that’s the joy of it! And you learn to see and think and discern along the way.

2026-02-26 17:18:12 UTC

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Rolled out on the MT flagship site and on MyFonts. Haven’t had the stomach to try yet.
https://www.myfonts.com/pages/ai-search

2026-02-26 17:18:12 UTC

“Monotype’s AI Search replaces the limited filters, tags, and endless scrolling of conventional font searches with natural language prompts for improved font search and discovery across Monotype’s diverse library of 250,000+ fonts from Monotype and its 4,500+ foundry partners.”
https://www.monotype.com/company/press-release/monotype-launches-ai-search-transforming-font-search-and-discovery-conversational-ai

2026-01-09 03:53:48 UTC

Kinross on Mosley: https://hyphenpress.co.uk/2026/01/07/remembering_james_mosley/

2026-01-04 14:51:17 UTC

Links are lateral and expansive. And generous. The increasingly corporate, consolidated, walled-garden, artificially “intelligent” spamnet feels vertical and closed.

2025-12-12 17:03:23 UTC

The best thing I’ve read about the Calibri v. TNR hullabaloo https://agyei.substack.com/p/another-low-for-liberal-design

2025-12-10 14:53:42 UTC

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@nprofile…t9uc The field is vast; here, I’m talking about enumerative bibliography (a list of works, with their publication details) rather than descriptive bibliography, which has to do with the material conditions of book production.

2025-12-09 15:40:02 UTC

When I was in graduate school we had to take an entire semester-long seminar on bibliography. Even as an undergraduate, I always constructed my bibliography as I went along—it’s like cleaning while you cook—so that it wouldn’t be overwhelming at the end. But the reality, I have learned, is that few people do this!

2025-12-04 14:13:44 UTC

Oh come ON! https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/brands-embrace-pantones-2026-color-of-the-year-cloud-dancer-white/

2025-11-18 22:31:18 UTC

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@nprofile…6fq7 @nprofile…5sxt I have an idea, Stephen; I’ll email you!

2025-10-20 13:07:42 UTC

Tfw you want a book, but it appears they won’t/can’t send it to the United States 😔
https://editions-b42.com/produit/echo-delay-reverb/

2025-10-02 16:34:27 UTC

“James Mosley’s lectures on the history of letterforms were delivered in the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication over many years. They represent the sequence of lectures given by Prof. Mosley to students over the course of one academic year. In 2020–21, they were recorded as still images with voice-over. Following Prof. Mosley’s death in August 2025, the Department is pleased to make the recordings generally available in agreement with the Mosley estate.”
https://youtu.be/lBfDu3McE3k?si=NnkgNXcgXx06fwe6

2025-08-24 02:53:45 UTC

“Usually, the feds will subpoena a tech company to obtain data on social media users. But in the case of Mastodon—a decentralized social network—the FBI can apparently straight up seize an entire server copy containing thousands of users' data.”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/watch-out-fediverse-users-the-fbi-can-seize-a-mastodon-server

2025-08-04 19:58:10 UTC

“Perhaps the main purpose of architecture is to provide surfaces for typography.” :D That is a wild statement, but frankly I’m inclined to agree. I also agree that “letters in the public space are exciting!”
I think Erik may have broken some news with the announcement of the LettError Office for Public Lettering :)
https://buttondown.com/letterror/archive/news-ltr-no-18-big-type/

2025-08-02 18:25:55 UTC

“Hospitals, newspapers, rental apartments, and toy stores have wildly different business models. But to a private equity firm, they’re all the same.”
https://newrepublic.com/article/198351/private-equity-scam-destroys-livelihoods

2025-07-12 16:58:32 UTC

“Where our first conference was themed around the visual experiences of writing, this one focuses on visual engagement – subtly shifting the emphasis towards active participation in practices, processes, traditions and acts of writing.”
https://viewsproject.wordpress.com/writing-as-visual-engagement/

2025-06-26 14:39:21 UTC

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@nprofile…y2ut Yes! (Still casually daydreaming about moving there tbh.)

2025-06-26 13:03:17 UTC

Here’s a much better piece on the visual thinking behind the Mamdani campaign https://www.curbed.com/article/zohran-mamdani-campaign-logo-graphic-design.html

2025-06-24 16:43:34 UTC

I’d also like to recommend XYZ Type’s Backround Layer newsletter; the current one, by Ben, is really good https://backgroundlayer.xyztype.com/archive/background-layer-9/

2025-06-23 13:45:08 UTC

You really should sign up for Erik’s perfect newsletter, if you (inexplicably) haven’t already.
https://buttondown.com/letterror
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/732/972/540/739/200/original/3d8b7509c9b71f29.png

2024-09-29 18:10:08 UTC

Does anyone know if there’s a name for the local, seemingly spontaneous names of things? For example, in the town where I grew up, there was a one-block-long street that everyone called “Cruddy Street.” But its official name was 11th Avenue. Near where I live now, there’s a flight of city steps whose official name is (I think) the 214th Street City Steps. But everyone calls it “Wine Alley” because of the mulberries that coat it in June. What do we call these names?

2024-08-24 13:21:07 UTC

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@npub1mwm…qehc Out of reach for most people in the US.

2024-05-27 13:02:47 UTC

I just remembered that I had EvB’s fish stickers in my phone. I can’t remember when he made them or how I got them, but anyway 🐟
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/513/185/496/922/772/original/f55e17c53107f51f.jpeg

2024-05-16 12:44:15 UTC

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@npub1urz…39sc Always! Numerals are such fun playgrounds.

2024-04-26 12:13:12 UTC

When did universities become hedge funds? Serious question.

2024-04-23 10:23:55 UTC

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@npub1urz…39sc Thanks!

2024-04-22 15:25:13 UTC

For my birthday, I bought myself…fonts! (Well, I licensed them.)

2024-04-09 12:09:45 UTC

“There is no greater threat to the typography industry than Monotype Imaging Holdings Inc, or Monotype for short.”
https://abcdinamo.com/news/the-future-of-type
I agree (I’d add that the threat is private equity more generally) and I’m still not sure why boycotts haven’t been discussed more seriously. I’ve been chided for being naive for bringing this up, but decades of political activism have taught me that boycotts work.

2024-03-01 15:44:32 UTC

This is a tough one. I was an editor at A Book Apart for more than a decade, and it was the honor of a lifetime. We left everything on the field, all of us, always. We sweated the details. I loved everyone I worked with, from my colleagues to all of the authors.
What an honor. Thank you, everyone. ❤️
https://www.getdrip.com/broadcasts/980319841/3e433208c98dc54ebd321

2024-02-22 18:35:15 UTC

For those who haven’t seen it yet, Jan Gerner (Yanone) has started a fundraiser to help type designer Hasan Abu Afash and his family evacuate Gaza. Chip in if you can! https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-type-designer-hasan-abu-afash-from-gaza

2024-01-05 19:57:46 UTC

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@npub1urz…39sc Roman coming for Limited Grotesque? :)

2024-01-05 19:44:47 UTC

I wonder how many italic-first designs there are in the world? (I don’t mean italic only, but families where the italic has been designed first.) 🤔
Anyway I already loved the italic, and now here’s the roman, featuring sans serif caps mixed with a serif lower case.
From Tim Ripper and Paul Barnes, based on Miller & Richard’s News Bill Italic
https://vault.commercialtype.com/vault/punch

2023-12-19 15:20:54 UTC

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@npub1urz…39sc I can’t help but be struck by the similarities between this and the writing/editorial process. The proof (proofreading) is your last line of defense. If you’ve done all the work you’ve needed to do until that point, then the proof should go quick. If it doesn’t – and it occasionally doesn’t, shit happens – then that’s an indication that you probably haven’t followed the best workflow.

2023-10-31 14:30:29 UTC

It’s cold in here 🥶

2023-10-25 15:31:08 UTC

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@npub1urz…39sc @npub15tu…5v8d Yes, yes, I knew it! I read it at the time, will read it again. My brain is a sieve 🤦‍♀️

2023-10-25 15:25:16 UTC

Has a book (or an article) ever been written about “neutrality” in typeface design? Am I forgetting something that has already been published? 🤔
Neutrality seems doomed to failure, yet consistently remains an ideal, it seems to me.
I just find that interesting and would not mind reading something that traced the history and lines of development of this concept.

2023-09-29 16:36:08 UTC

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@npub1jzp…72dw It’s mind-boggling how much unpaid labor academics are expected to do. Letters of recommendation, peer reviews, grant proposals…

2023-09-20 19:35:05 UTC

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@npub1jzp…72dw Lovely Rex! ❤️

2023-09-13 04:59:32 UTC

I wonder (a) who makes things like this and (b) who buys things like this.
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/111/056/071/479/933/942/original/467f5068427d5ca9.png

2023-08-27 16:24:16 UTC

1. I love the word “artificer”
2. I love that plumbers used to concern themselves with lettering
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/110/962/495/632/445/592/original/01befcdb700ab1f6.jpg

2023-08-23 21:36:05 UTC

A favorite moment in Ethan’s new book describes the unabashed and utterly grotesque caste system of the contemporary workplace.
https://abookapart.com/products/you-deserve-a-tech-union
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/110/941/072/948/245/937/original/4caa9635f56a2f77.png

2023-08-23 18:00:19 UTC

Ngram Viewer is so useful that I’m surprised it hasn’t been sunset yet ;)
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/110/940/229/105/574/573/original/92ce59f5bfbd2eba.png

2023-08-06 02:28:31 UTC

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@npub1xqv…230r I thought about that! Would that be a jerk move?

2023-08-05 23:06:50 UTC

Okay. Except how can you ever know with certainty what something you’re designing will be used for? I’m currently editing a book that uses primes (er, or *should* use primes) but we’re going with straight quotes because the otherwise beautiful primary typeface that has already been selected does not have primes.

2023-08-05 17:23:55 UTC

Some typefaces have glyphs for primes and double primes, but not all do. I know that common usage tends to compress straight quotes and primes, i.e., most people just use straight quotes when they *mean* primes. Do you (type friends) think there is an increasing tendency *not* to design primes? Is it considered a waste of time? For me primes and straight quotes are very different things, but I totally get that most people probably don’t think about the difference.

2023-07-16 18:24:18 UTC

Three of the best marketers I know—DJR, Erik van Blokland, and James Edmondson—are precisely not marketers.