The hottest Typography Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Art & Illustration Topics

☞ A Cabinet of Wonders Gift Guide

Cabinet of Wonders • 369 implied HN points • 02 Dec 25
🪑 Design Typography
  1. Small, well-designed everyday gifts can be both useful and delightful, like a simple digital-analog watch, a pocket notebook, or a thin Tyvek wallet.
  2. Playful maker tools and creative hobbies — from type-design software and open-ended construction kits to Lego guides and ambigram puzzles — are great for tinkering, learning, and having fun.
  3. There’s a bigger theme urging technology and systems to enrich our lives rather than drain them, accompanied by curated links and a call to resonant computing and thoughtful design.

#144 Design Déja Vu

Design Lobster • 479 implied HN points • 08 Jan 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Typography
  1. Corporate Memphis or Globohomo is an overused illustration style characterized by flat colors, geometric elements, and simplistic human figures, popular in Big Tech software.
  2. The Lobster typeface, designed by Pablo Impallari, became widely popular in the 2010s for its retro-contemporary appeal, but font choices should always align with the intended message.
  3. Designers should aim to bring a human touch to designs without relying on typical illustrations, considering alternatives to communicate warmth and humanity.

#143 Chop and Awe

Design Lobster • 379 implied HN points • 18 Dec 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Typography
  1. Bold graphic design can involve cutting up logos for a fresh look.
  2. Designers can have fun with typography to transform familiar symbols into something unique.
  3. Good typography choice can bring life and emotion to text, going beyond mere functionality.

Type

Fragmentary • 353 implied HN points • 13 Jun 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Typography
  1. Typography is important and can reveal a lot about a person.
  2. Different materials and mediums can impact the styling and design of typography.
  3. Typography can have a significant impact on readability and accessibility, particularly for individuals with dyslexia.

#129 Luxury design

Design Lobster • 279 implied HN points • 06 Mar 23
🪑 Design Typography
  1. Didone typefaces like Didot bring a sense of luxury and sophistication to design with their high contrast and vertical emphasis.
  2. Consider pushing your design to the extreme and exploring the most extravagant version, like the Jacob & Co Astronomia Solar watch, to challenge yourself and think creatively.
  3. Luxury in design can come from simplicity and refinement, as Coco Chanel pointed out, emphasizing the absence of vulgarity over excessive opulence.
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☞ Creating a Typeface: Humanist Computer

Cabinet of Wonders • 231 implied HN points • 11 Dec 24
🪑 Design Typography
  1. Designing your own typeface can be a fun and creative hobby. It's a way to express yourself and combine art with practical use.
  2. Creating a monospaced typeface for coding can make programming feel more magical, like working with ancient texts.
  3. Working on a typeface is an ongoing process. Even if it's not perfect, seeing your progress can be really rewarding and inspiring.

#116 Sh*t design

Design Lobster • 419 implied HN points • 22 Aug 22
🪑 Design Typography
  1. Design choices can have long-lasting effects, leading to path dependency that constrains future options.
  2. Simple design changes, like a square-cored toilet roll, can lead to clever outcomes by encouraging efficiency and mindful usage.
  3. Questioning design briefs and challenging the necessity of elements can be a mark of a great designer.

FontDiscovery 🖼️ 154: New Year, New Name

FontDiscovery • 58 implied HN points • 19 Jan 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Typography
  1. Create a naming matrix to help generate brand names based on word structure and types of names.
  2. Ensure to consider legal issues, domain availability, scalability, and cultural sensitivity when naming your brand.
  3. Naming is an important aspect of branding that involves creating an identity and should be done carefully with input from others.

Lobster long-read #2: Digital Mannerism

Design Lobster • 698 implied HN points • 15 Dec 20
🪑 Design Typography
  1. Design in digital interfaces has evolved from skeuomorphism to flat design to neumorphism, combining elements of the real world with digital aesthetics.
  2. The history of architectural movements like Modernism and Post-modernism can provide insights into the evolution of digital design trends, such as Flat Design and the potential for a Digital Baroque.
  3. Current trends in neumorphism in interface design show a shift towards expressive and 3D elements within the constraints of digital screens, akin to the principles of architectural Mannerism.

FontDiscovery 🖼️ 143: Perfect Font for Reading

FontDiscovery • 39 implied HN points • 27 Oct 23
🪑 Design Typography
  1. The featured font for the week is Alegreya, perfect for text-heavy projects like blogs and newsletters.
  2. Alegreya has multiple styles including serif and sans serif versions, making it versatile for various design projects.
  3. Alegreya is recommended for logos, branding, marketing graphics, and publishing projects due to its different weights and styles.

#53 The world's most hated typeface

Design Lobster • 339 implied HN points • 01 Feb 21
🪑 Design Typography
  1. The context in design is crucial - a design might not be bad, just used in the wrong setting.
  2. The 16th-century spork demonstrates how design can influence manners and social behaviors.
  3. Designs need to consider human behavior intricacies, often beyond pure logic.

#70 Design illusions

Design Lobster • 139 implied HN points • 31 May 21
🎨 Art & Illustration Typography
  1. Design can deceive our eyes through various techniques like overshooting in type design and visual illusions in architecture.
  2. Human visual perception quirks are important to consider in design to create effective and impactful visuals.
  3. Context and wit can be leveraged in design to playfully interact with surroundings, adding depth and interest to the design.

Variable Fonts, Neural Graphic Primitives and Flash-backs

Generative Arts Collective • 65 implied HN points • 24 Sep 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Typography
  1. Flash technology heavily influenced the development of modern tools used in creative coding and generative arts.
  2. The transition from Flash to other technologies like ActionScript, Processing, and P5 played a significant role in shaping the current landscape of digital art.
  3. Exploring variable fonts and neural graphic primitives can lead to innovative and intriguing creations in the digital art world.

On choosing typography

subtract • 5 implied HN points • 01 Jul 25
🪑 Design Typography
  1. Choosing the right typography is crucial for a book's design. A clear heading and body type can greatly impact readability and the overall feel of the book.
  2. Personal preferences can guide typography choices, especially for personal projects. It's okay to stick with what you love even if it's commonly used.
  3. Experimenting with different typefaces is key to finding the best fit. Pairing a grotesque type with a serif can create a nice contrast and enhance the visual appeal.

The state with the fancy plates

Basta’s Notes • 40 implied HN points • 11 Apr 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Typography
  1. License plate typography is more detailed than you might think, impacting visibility and individual character legibility.
  2. Most states use sans-serif typefaces for license plates to enhance legibility, with variations like serifs added for character differentiation.
  3. Virginia stands out by using a unique serif typeface on its license plates, which presents challenges in maintaining character equal width and readability.