The Weekly Typographic

Mixing Type & 3D with Spline On this week’s podcast we're chatting to the founders of Spline, a hot new tool that allows you to create and publish 3D web experiences. We’ve had lots of fun playing with it over the last few weeks so we’re excited to talk to Faride Mereb & Alejandro Léon about the tool’s creation, what’s next for 3D type, and why all designers should be thinking in 3D. There's also a special announcement at the end of the interview - so make sure you listen! But we also have our regular helping of articles, links, inspiration and ideas - just for you. From big news in the type foundry world this week, to the work happening to preserve Cyrillic typefaces in Serbia, an interview with a type designer and a stunning recent print/typography heavy rebrand out of London. Lots to love, so keep scrolling to read more. Weekly Typographic Newsletter Links Find out more at http://podcast.theleagueofmoveabletype.com

Microsites, mega impact! Where do we even BEGIN with this week’s special feature episode?! We’re nerding out about microsites for one. whole. episode. And we’re not going to lie - pulling these together has been the most fun. Special shout out if you sent Olivia a microsite recommendation on Twitter (@oliviakletters). Sadly we could only include five, but members will also get four more as a bonus as this weeks’ member font finds in the newsletter, all come with beautiful microsites. We're chatting about what makes a great microsite (there’s gotta be some substance to all that style y’know), whether you need one, and get honest on whether they’re worth the effort. Let’s get into some glorious microsite action!

Episode Notes Just one day to go before our newest workshop kicks off! Don’t miss out on this chance to hear from type educator Kaleb Dean. We’re also excited about a hot-off-the-press write up (all the way from Australia) about creating a custom handwriting typeface, we’re learning how to use fonts for complex data, having our minds blown by molecular type, and getting hungry with some delicious restaurant branding. We’re also getting ready for this weekend’s workshop with a Nerd Alert about time, space, rhythm, and pace of type - and how you create that with letter-spacing. It’s important not just for type designers, but for anyone working with letters (that’s you) so hit that podcast play button and come and join us. Weekly Typographic Newsletter Links Find out more at http://podcast.theleagueofmoveabletype.com

Atomic design + brand new workshop announcement! After last week’s fun interview with James Edmondson (make sure you go back and check it out if you missed it) we’re super excited to be back with heaps of type and design goodies for you. But, first up - we've got a new workshop to announce

An interview with James Edmondson of OH no Type Co We could not be more excited to share this fun and exclusive type-design-y nugget with you. This week, instead of our normal Weekly Typographic, we've got an interview with the one and only James Edmondson from OH no Type Co. If you don't know James, he's an Oakland, California based type designer and runs OH no Type Co, an independent foundry. He's also passionate about type education and has taught at various institutions such as Type at Cooper West, Type West, and CCA. He recently started the OH no Radio podcast, which we're a fan of here at The League. In this interview, we chatted all about the commercial decisions that happen behind the scenes at a foundry, get honest about money, and talk about the things we tell ourselves as designers and typographers. James shares some of the things he's working on and there's a generous sprinkle of advice sprinkled in here & there that you might find helpful. PSST. there's a couple of cheeky swear words in this

Hinting: the invisible art of tiny type! It would be impossible for us to ignore the biggest story in typography from the last week… Twitter’s new font. And more specifically, the Twitterverse’s reaction to it… which as you can imagine, was divided. We even made a late change our Nerd Alert topic for this week just so we could to talk to you about one of the technical elements of web fonts… called hinting. Don’t worry, our whole episode isn’t dedicated to Twitter! We’ve also going to the very other end of the spectrum of typography and talking about stone carving, plus the moments of inspiration that spark a design, and sharing a nice list of free fonts for you to enjoy. What a week! Weekly Typographic Newsletter Links Find out more at http://podcast.theleagueofmoveabletype.com

What's the story with double storey?! What’s the storey? (See what we did there?). This week on the podcast we’re having a fun nerdy conversation about why double and single storey letters exist, and some of their distinct and fun characteristics. But that’s not all! We’ve also got articles and associated chats about typography and gender stereotypes, a bold rebrand, some hot font pairing tips, and ways you can make your design more inclusive everyday. Which we are here for. Weekly Typographic Newsletter Links Find out more at http://podcast.theleagueofmoveabletype.com

We're back! Design tokens: buzzword or designer's best friend? We’re back! And nerdier than ever! Do we have a type party for you this week on the podcast. We’re getting into design books, some hot UX/UI tips, the impact that variable fonts will have on optical size, a super interesting type trend that’s emerging, and then our big conversation on design tokens. What are they? How can they help? And the real question of are they just another trendy buzzword, or your new design best friend? Weekly Typographic Newsletter Links Find out more at http://podcast.theleagueofmoveabletype.com

Mid-year favorites: the best links and resources of 2021 so far It’s been a big (huge!) six months! We’ve run workshops, added to the League’s portfolio of open-source fonts, put out a newsletter and podcast every week, shared some interviews, nerded out, and found some great inspiration and education on the internet to share with you. Phew. This week, before we take a couple of weeks off over the summer, we’re taking a look back and revisiting some favorite conversations and resources of 2021 so far. Make sure you listen to the podcast to hear why we're revisiting these favorites

Type trends, accessibility, and how the industrial revolution revolutionized typography We’re looking at some more trends this week - and it’s time for the typography trends of 2021 to get some airtime. We also talk typesetting considerations and the experience of reading digitally versus on paper, an important and practical thought-provoker on accessibility in design inspired by Stevie Wonder, and the role of typography in wayfinding. So much good typographic stuff to dig into. Olivia is back in Nerd Alert corner, talking about the impact the industrial revolution had on typographic trends and styles - specifically the innovation of display and slab serif type choices. Listen to find out more. Weekly Typographic Newsletter Links Find out more at http://podcast.theleagueofmoveabletype.com

Logo trends, bold branding, and the origin of the English alphabet! Last week we talked about what’s hot in packaging design, this week we’re turning our attention to logo trends. We’re also talking new typefaces, a bold, typographic-focused rebranding project and a little something fun out of Korea. And over in Nerd Alert corner, Olivia is tackling the big topic of… the English alphabet. Known as one of the hardest languages to learn, largely due to the fact it’s an amalgamation of many other languages, Olivia is going FAR back through history to look at how we arrived at the 26 letters we have today. Make sure you listen to find out all the fun facts about which letters were the last additions to the alphabet we use today.

New workshop alert!

The great design debate! Should you work freelance, or in-house? There’s been an influx of new fonts in the last couple of weeks, we’re talking about the creation of one of them this week; Irregardless by OhNo Type Co. We’re also talking about the most popular web-fonts, and web-font design decisions, a quirky 'long S' from yesteryear, and a super cool resource from the folks at Airbnb Design. We have something a little different on this week's Nerd Alert; Olivia and Micah are talking careers with the great debate; should you work freelance, or in-house/agency/studio? Will we answer this eternal designer career question? Listen to find out…

Banknotes, branding and the optical magic of type design Banknote design, typeface post-mortems, positioning statements and a heap of free resources. It’s time for another week of design news and nuggets of goodness from around the internet. We’re getting into some deep dives this week on design, but also thinking about the tools and approaches that will help our careers as designers. Check out this week’s links, and episode, for more on these conversations. Also, Olivia has been trying her hand at magic... or at least digging into the magic of the optical illusions required in type design. Make sure you listen to this week’s Nerd Alert to hear more…

Elements of typographic style best bits + design experiments This week we’re looking at some interesting and beautiful examples of concept and experimental work, checking out a potential new trend in cookbook design and bookmarking a useful overview of how some of the most popular modern typefaces came into existence. We’re also busy planning for the next workshop, make sure you keep your eyes peeled for more information - coming soon

Typefaces and culture, font classification controversy, microsites + more Gosh! So much type and design news this week! We’re talking brand new fonts with big launches, a great type-collation project that captures the stories behind Latin American typefaces, Microsoft’s search for their new default font, and a brand-gone-bad. Phew. But wait, there's more! There’s been a big move in the type-classification world as ATypI has decided to stop using the Vox-ATypI classification. Hear more about this, and what it means, in this week's Nerd Alert...

Fonts with personality, letters as colors + Git for typographers If you're in need of some visual inspiration this week, fear not, as we've got you covered. We're talking about a website that categorizes fonts by their personality traits, a tool that turns your typing into colors and shapes, a lettering project inspired by architecture, and the political history of the Windsor typeface. PLUS another nerdy Nerd Alert... this week all about version control and Git for type designers

Getting trendy, blanding, web fonts + more We're feeling trendy this week. Monotype have released their type trend report so we dive into that, share a hot article about ink traps, and discuss an opinion piece about the formulaic approach to blanding. To top all of that off, there's also a handy guide to some of the technical details of working with web fonts. PLUS another nerdy Nerd Alert... this week all about the magic of open source.

What the hex, perfectionism, an anti-bullying font + more We’re fresh off the back of our Drawing Letterforms workshops last weekend, and ready to share some new articles and nerdy goodness with you. This week we’re keeping on the theme of drawing letterforms with a guide to creating experimental letterforms for posters, plus how to overcome the perfectionism that often haunts us as designers. We’ve also learnt about a very cool font that is fighting online bullying. And this week's nerdiness is all about… Hex codes. What might look like a random string of letters and numbers, actually all mean something. Olivia will be teaching you how to speak Hex in this week’s Nerd Alert on the podcast. Weekly Typographic Newsletter Links