Alright, I admit it: 2024 Elliot didn’t consider that publishing the third and final part of an ‘End-of-year typo-inspo’ series in January wouldn’t actually make much sense, given that it’s no longer the, well, end of the year. So now it’s up to 2025 Elliot to clean up the mess.

Anyway, hello! And happy new year if it’s not already too late to say so. (Yesterday, someone told me it’s only too late to say once you stop regularly writing the old year by accident. I liked that.) I hope you had a good break over the festive period. Did you read any of the previous two emails over a wintery tipple and some Christmas tunes? Please let me know if so. Photo evidence will be very warmly received.

I’m already feeling slightly stressed at not yet having published my annual review of the year over on the blog, so I’m going to keep this issue pretty concise. Please accept this as a short and hopefully sweet blast of inspiration to help fire up those creative cylinders.

I hope this email finds you in relaxed, wound-down holiday mode. But, if today is still a work day for you, please don’t feel you have to get to it before you clock out. In fact, unless you already have a super-chilled day planned, I’d love it if you kept this email for a moment where you can kick back and enjoy it while away from the demands of work. Resist the temptation, if you can, to bin this email along with all of those other unread ones filling up your inbox at the end of the year. I get it — I’ve just had an epic purge myself — but I hope this survives the cull and gets to accompany you in a cosy chair, perhaps with a little tipple and some festive tunes.

And oh, that reminds me: I’ve discovered a load of old but totally new-to-me Christmas music thanks to a wonderful Spotify playlist by Katie Clapham, who runs one of my favourite newsletters, Receipt from the Bookshop. (I’ve mentioned it before and probably will again.) Anyway, Elvis? Yes, really. I might even be a convert. And oh boy, I had no idea that Bob Dylan had recorded the giddy, Schnitzelbank-inspired, somewhat SpongeBob Squarepants-esque Must Be Santa. You’ll definitely need a drink for that one.

This issue’s been in the works for a long time, and without wanting to sound like a child who’s reeling off excuses to their teacher instead of handing in their homework…

• I was teaching a workshop in Zagreb, Croatia, and running the latest edition of my pop-up newsletter, Notes from a different (type)setting, while I was there (huge thanks to the 100 or so of you who came along for the ride — that was really fun);
• shortly after I returned, we had to deal with our house nearly flooding and an (apparently unrelated) small sinkhole opening up right outside;
• the day after that, we lost our dear old dog Ozzy;
• I figured there was no point sending out a newsletter amidst the inbox-insulting chaos of the Black Friday / Cyber Monday season (it felt like some brands were emailing me multiple times a day about their deals this year — insane);
• plus, you know, general end-of-year, brain-melting chaos.

The net result of this much-delayed issue is that I’ve collected a ridiculous number of links. If I included them all, I’d be bombarding you with an issue that, at best, makes for a gigantic scroll, and, at worst, triggers your email provider to truncate the message and force you to open it in an interface inexplicably not redesigned since 2007. (I’m looking at you, Gmail.)

So I’m going to try something new: I’m going to distribute all of these type-tastic and type-adjacent links over three issues, and I’m going to send them out to you gradually: one today, one just before Christmas, and one before we’re all back at work in January (probably). Consider putting this issue (and maybe the forthcoming ones) aside until you have a quiet moment, perhaps with a tea, coffee, or even a little tipple in hand, put on your favourite festive playlist, light the fire, and let’s sit down together to ease into the holiday period in the only way one can: by looking at fonts.

I’ve got a really exciting edition of the regular ol’ newsletter in the works, but today I’m just sending out this very brief reminder that I’m going to publishing the next edition of my pop-up newsletter, Notes from a different (type)setting, tomorrow. There’ll be 4 issues in total, one sent every evening, then it disappears forever!

So if you’d like to come along with me and — in some weird sort of way — experience what it’s like travelling to Zagreb, teaching a two-day typography workshop, hanging out in the city, and nursing my cold with a beer or two, then please do hit the button:

Subscribe to the pop-up

Hello and welcome, especially to all you new folks who signed up during my talk at Converge in Brighton. (Note to self: always run a book giveaway that involves email signups while on stage.)

The bulk of this issue was drafted on a cold autumnal Sunday morning, written in a variety of coffee shops while my eldest daughter did her weekly extracurricular activity in the city. Three-ish hours of dedicated writing time is, in theory, a real gift, and I ran this same routine last year while working on my book. But Sunday mornings aren’t actually the best time to be taking up a valuable table in a café, and a large part of this productivity window is usually spent balancing my polite awareness that I shouldn’t be occupying a potential brunch space for a hungry couple, with the acceptance that hey, I did just pay £4.50 for this V60. This juggling act is not without its stresses, and the politeness always wins, so much of this ‘uninterrupted’ Sunday writing time is actually spent moving onto the next place. In fact, I didn’t even manage to complete this paragraph without a guilt-induced move from Odd Shop to Bakesmiths.

But you’re here for the typography, not the thrilling adventures of my café-hopping, right? And if you’re new here (hello, Brighton folks), the way it works is like this: I gather a load of links for you (the ones in bold are the main ones) that are mostly typographic in nature. Some are vaguely type-related. A couple are just totally off-topic. And I usually add a smattering of what I’ve been up to lately. After the last issue of Typographic & Sporadic, a friend told me (delicately, politely) that they thought it was a little on the long side, so I’ve tried to keep this one shorter. Plus, so much of my free time this month has been taken up with doing #inktober. Why do I do this to myself?

I’ve found myself starting emails to people I haven’t spoken to in a while with, “hope you had a good summer,” which I guess means it’s final: summer is over. But hey, how was yours?

Mine was lovely, thanks. A particular highlight was a 10-day family holiday to Switzerland. It’s hard to overstate the power of being surrounded by so much natural beauty, and we were especially grateful to have found an Airbnb off the beaten track, set up on a hillside, overlooking a lake and the mountains. And we walked a lot. Perhaps the best (and most intense) hike was a walk to see the Ischmeer glacier, which we did on our final day. Once we reached Berghaus Bäregg, oh man, a beer never felt so well deserved.

Another nice thing about our Swiss trip was that I tried to limit my phone use by taking almost all photos on my X-T5 and deleting (not just offloading) all social media apps. It was lovely and, well, we should all do more of that, shouldn’t we? I’m ashamed to say that I’ve totally slipped back into checking all the things every five minutes or so since getting home.

Just a quickie to say that the “read this email in your browser” button in yesterday’s issue, The summer read, should now work. I had some server issues, now resolved, which prevented me from publishing the archive version on my site until now.

Also: the link to the web font survey didn’t have the correct permissions set, but has also now been fixed. Please do let me know your thoughts on that — I’m really interested to hear how folks are using web fonts these days.

Anyway, my apologies! Can I blame the sun? Can I blame CrowdStrike? Maybe, just maybe, it was karma coming to get me for my use of the sunglasses emoji. Now, let’s try turning this thing off and on again (AKA “have a nice weekend”)...

The kids are off school, we’ve started packing for a forthcoming family holiday, and my mind is very much on: what shall I take to read while we’re away? And this email is something I’d recommend taking away on your vacation. Or your staycation. Or maybe just when you’re in need of some procrastination. You see, this is a long one. So long. Too long? Maybe. I mean, I had to use headings and everything.

But if you treat this issue as a summer read, maybe it might just be the perfect accompaniment every time time you sit down for a fresh coffee in the garden, a cool beer at the beach, or that seventh negroni on the balcony. Careful there!

Events you shouldn’t miss — and quite a few that I did

Because this issue’s a big one, and because I’m feeling confident that you’ll take me up on my suggestion to keep this in your inbox to read it over multiple sessions, I’d better start with the events. TypeCon is happening... checks notes... right now! (The main event kicks off tomorrow.) I’d love to go to one at some point. I’m especially jealous because I see that tonight’s party — hosted by Future Fonts — has free beers from Heck, the alcohol-free brewery recently launched by my friend Andy. Again: that party is tonight, folks!

This is a brief reminder that I’m going to start writing the next edition of my pop-up newsletter, Notes from a different (type)setting, tomorrow — and the first issue will be sent on Friday morning. Then there’ll be an issue sent on Saturday morning, Sunday morning, and finally Monday morning.

So if you’d like to come along with me and, in some way, experience what it’s like travelling to Berlin with my mates Jamie and Emma, attending Berlin Letters, generally hanging out in the city, and travelling home again, accompanied by a load of photos shot on my X-T5, and all of this sprinkled with a healthy smattering of typographic geekery — and there will be a lot of type geeks there, don’t you worry — then please do hit the button:

Subscribe to the pop-up

Hello and welcome and hooray, because the summer has finally reached us here in Blighty. If it’s your sort of thing, I hope that you, like me, have been enjoying some laptopping in the sun this week!

Before we get going with this issue’s links, I should mention that next week I’m off to Berlin and will be running the second edition of my pop-up newsletter, Notes from a different (type)setting. Just like the first edition, here’s how it’ll work:

• I’ll be writing about my journey to, experience at, and journey home from the Berlin Letters conference;
• there’ll be 4 emails total, 1 sent each day;
• the list for the pop-up is totally separate from Typographic & Sporadic; and
• the list will be deleted entirely after the last issue’s been sent.

Sound like something you’d want to come along for? I was genuinely surprised and encouraged by the nice things people said after I did the first one; mainly, that they ‘felt like they were there’. And I guess that’s kind of the point. Actually, to be totally honest, I’m still not 100% sure what the actual point is, but I enjoyed doing it for Paris and feel oddly compelled to do it again for Berlin, so please sign up and, er, give my life purpose…? Remember: you’ll need so sign up again even if you subscribed to the first one, because I (intentionally) deleted that database. Here’s a big button for you because I. Like. Big... buttons and I cannot lie:

First of all, a très grand merci to everyone who came along for the ride that was Notes from a different (type)setting, the pop-up newsletter I ran while travelling to, attending, and travelling home from TypeParis Now24. This was very much an experiment, but one I really enjoyed. Apparently a fair amount of you enjoyed it, too, so I’ve decided to run it again when I head to Berlin Letters in three weeks. If you’d like to join me for that one, please head over to the signup form. Even if you subscribed to the Paris edition, you’ll need to sign up again, since I kept my promise and deleted the database after the last issue was sent.

As well as deleting the list, the other part of ‘the deal’ with the pop-up newsletter was that it’d be self-contained, with no online archives — the idea being that it’s all about being in the moment. However, there were so many talented folks I met, and so much amazing work shown, that it would be remiss of me to not make something of a summary here in the main newsletter. So let’s kick off this issue with some of my favourite pieces of work that I either saw on stage while the speakers were presenting, or on their websites while researching them a little later on.

Twin sisters Victoria and Vitalina Lopukhina, who work together as VikaVita, presented a breathtaking library of work during their talk. Lettering, calligraphy, illustration, client work, personal projects… it’s hard to pick a favourite.

This is a super brief reminder that I’m kicking off my new pop-up newsletter, Notes from a different (type)setting, tomorrow. A bunch of you have signed up already (thanks for your trust!), but if you haven’t yet, simply head over to the signup form.

As a reminder:

• I’ll be writing about my journey to, experience at, and journey home from TypeParis Now24;
• there’ll be 3 emails total, sent at the end of each day;
• the list for the pop-up is totally separate from Typographic & Sporadic; and
• the list will be deleted entirely after the last issue’s been sent.

First of all, a big hello to all of you new subscribers! Around 300 of you joined over the last week and have therefore given me a very clear answer to the question I was asking myself: “is it worth me emailing the old 8 Faces list to see if they might be interested in this?” And this sudden influx of new subscribers (or should that be old subscribers?) has pushed this list way above the 1,000 milestone that I’d (secretly) set for myself as goal to hit by July, so: thank you. It’s not about numbers — I’m a firm believer in the power of newsletters as an antidote to the grind of the social media algorithm, and this is where I want to focus my energy.

Anyway, it also means that there’s a little pressure for me to give you a good first issue. Yikes. But here’s how this usually works: I share a load of links to type-centric projects, such as new typeface releases, new foundries, new events, or just type ‘news’ — with the caveat that sometimes these are just new to me — and I intersperse a few links to my own projects.

Mind if I start with one of my own? My next book, Fine Specimens, is currently fundraising on Kickstarter and although most of you know this, you may not know that I added some new mockups since launching the campaign last week. As I write this, the project just under a third of the way towards its funding goal and, while that’s a lot of people who want to see this slab of typographic inspiration on their shelves / coffee tables / bathroom reading piles, there’s still a long way to go. So please consider spreading the word to your type-loving friends. (And huge thanks if you’ve already chosen to back it!)

Hello and welcome to a very short, somewhat sweet, and most debatably special edition of the newsletter, in which I’d like to tell you that — just in case you skipped the subject line — the 8 Faces presents: Fine Specimens Kickstarter campaign is live!

TL; DR: Fine Specimens is going to be another hardcover coffee table book and yes, it is of course about type.

Fine Specimens will be filled with hundreds of beautiful type specimens from contemporary indie foundries all over the world. This book is all about celebrating the incredible type design — and, specifically, the artwork created to promote it — from foundries operating right now. As such, every typeface in the book was created within the last year, and the book itself will serve as a source of inspiration for any designers, directors, and agencies looking for the very latest fonts.

My first thought, when realising that I’d be stuck for a considerable amount of time in the forecourt of a tyre garage, tacked onto the outskirts of a rundown town, harangued by the banter of two car washers working in the same lot, was that of despair. I’d brought my laptop with me in anticipation of a long wait, but somehow this didn’t feel like the kind of place where whipping out a MacBook would be a great move, so a full and unproductive hour or so loomed before me. But then, freed of the ability to get any real work done, I realised I’d been given the perfect excuse to catch up on some RSS feeds and, oh, the liberation! Permission to just read. Among the pile of unread feeds (and, by the way, isn’t it wonderful that people are blogging again and yes, RSS really is still a thing?) was a recent essay from Craig Mod. I’ll point you towards Continuous Uninterrupted Solo Walks and the Adam Phillips interview that Craig quotes, which really resonated with me.

Craig’s motivations for his walks are very much the same as those for my (extremely tame by comparison) ‘wilderness days’, which I’ve written about in the past. In fact, reading Craig’s essay has made me want to get another one in for this to happen once more: “there is no “endgame” of the walking. The walking is conversation. Why would I want to stop having a conversation?”

But now I must apologise, because everything else in this issue is about me. Narcissism! Self-indulgence! Me me me me me! That’s what the algorithm gods demand of us, is it not? But honestly, though, I do try to avoid this behaviour. It’s just that I have so many new things I want to tell you about! And if I’d waited longer to fill out this issue with the ‘regular’ content, I would’ve missed the boat in telling you about all this stuff on time. So, first of all, here’s the big one:

This issue comes to you from that strange mental place that exists after having completed a thing. Waves of euphoria and then the inevitable post-release comedown, the two states ebbing and flowing, back and forth, up and down. How do you feel? they ask. Pretty good? I reply, very much with the question mark. But the residual feeling is a positive one, and I feel so fortunate to have been able to properly celebrate the publication of Universal Principles of Typography with the official release party at bookhaus on Tuesday night.

Before answering some questions from the audience, expertly fielded by Laurence, I did a short speech to thank everyone who came and much of it focused on how, in our current times — digital-first, scroll-addicted, algorithm-dictated — putting anything ‘out there’ so often feels like shouting into the ether. It’s not simply that many people might not actually see the thing we make; it’s that we ourselves often don’t get to experience that sense of having completed something. Whether that’s jubilant celebration, a relieved sense of closure, or anything in between, it’s rare that a thing being out in the world ever feels like an event. So I was really happy to mark the occasion with this release party, hugely grateful to bookhaus and Quarto (my publisher) for making it happen, and overjoyed that anyone turned up. And they did! And they bought books! Real books, from a real shelf, in a real bookshop!

A lot of yesterday and today has been about processing all of that and, in a sense, moving on to the big ol’ “now what?” by composing this issue. I’m sure you’ll be grateful to finally get some respite from me talking about the book constantly. So let’s get on with that.

I’ve got a regular issue of the newsletter brewing in the drafts, but today I’m sending out this short-ish and simple-ish edition to let you know that my book, Universal Principles of Typography, is out. Out out. Out, as in: you could walk into your favourite bookshop today and find it on their shelves. Potentially. Or at least order it from them. Actually, it came out in the US on Tuesday, but today is the UK pub date, which means that it’s now officially out everywhere.

(I realise, of course, that the US and UK in no way constitute ‘everywhere’, but I believe all other countries are getting their stock from these two official publication territories. Funnily enough, the very first customer to receive a pre-order, that I know of, was in Australia. Go figure.)

Anyway, I’ll be so grateful if you decide to buy a copy.

See that “read this email in your browser” link above? It might not look particularly exciting, but if you choose to click or tap it — and please do — you’ll (hopefully) see the improved online version, which now lives on my website. And of course feel free to browse the whole archives, which now live at elliotjaystocks.com/newsletter. Massive thanks to my friend (and former business partner) Keir, who’s been helping me with this integration.

On the face of it, this is a small and insignificant change, and probably no-one but me will care, but this integration work is an important piece of a wider effort to help me consolidate — and grow — all of these various typographic projects I’ve got going on. This newsletter. The podcast. The book. The workshops. Either way, if you do care about these nerdy details (and I know a few of you are guilty of that), let me know and I’ll probably blog about it at some point. Expect to see some design changes to the newsletter soon, too.

The first thing I absolutely have to tell you, right at the top, is that my forthcoming book, Universal Principles of Typography, has been pushed back a little: it’ll now be out on 16th April in the US, and 18th April in the UK. I’ve updated the “book” page on my site with some handy pre-order links, and I’ll update it again with photos of the actual book once I receive my advance copy — hopefully, in a couple of weeks.

I hope 2024 is going well for you so far. I was lucky enough to dedicate a good chunk of that first week back to making plans for the year ahead, and it felt great. I even wrote a load of plans on different sheets of paper, stuck them to the wall, and drew lines between each one, like a crazed detective in a film, trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Very apt.

Then the second week hit and my optimism waned somewhat. Whether it was the reality of getting back to all the things, the daunting task of navigating (too many) side projects, or the general state of, you know, the world, I found myself in a bit of a slump. But then my 2024 wall planner arrived in the post, I broke the back of a project plan via an over-the-top sprint plan in Notion, a semi-random “please can you do me an intro to...” email immediately bore fruit, and everything started to feel a little bit more doable again. So, onwards!

And we’re also now just under two months away from the publication of my book: 12th March in the US and 14th March in the UK. It’s available to pre-order from your favourite local bookstore and, if you do choose to pre-order it (thank you thank you thank you), would you mind helping me and my publisher out by pre-ordering it from somewhere that’s not Amazon, please? Bookshop (US | UK) is a great place to start.

I had grand plans to put out another jam-packed newsletter this side of the Christmas holidays, but a whole load of end-of-year deadlines got in the way. But maybe that’s not a bad thing..? I mean, perhaps all those lovely links would’ve just got lost in the festive chaos anyway.

So today I’m keeping it simple: I have some news and that news is that the third episode of my podcast Hello, type friends! is live — and my guest for this episode is Erik Spiekermann!

I recorded our chat back in the summer, when I sat down for a cup of tea with Erik at this house in London. We discussed his successes and failures, his latest typeface neue Serie57®, the relationship between paper and screen, and why Frutiger could very well be the typeface he takes to a desert island.

You can listen to the episode right now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and hellotypefriends.com. 🎉 Oh, and, if you know Erik, you won’t be surprised to hear that there’s plenty of swearing in this episode, so, um, cover the kids’ ears!

Have you noticed that it’s Black Friday? Oh, you have? What gave it away? I guess it must be something to do with the oh, you know, THOUSANDS OF EMAILS from All The Brands.

However, if you can forgive the shameless celebration of capitalism, there are actually a few good deals to be found for us type nerds. That’s right, folks: welcome to a short, sweet, special Black Fontday (let’s go with it) edition of Typographic & Sporadic!

Let me be really honest here: my first link is an affiliate link, so I’ll get a small kick-back if you sign up using it. But it’s only that first one; all of the rest of the links are here purely because I thought that you (like me) might appreciate a type-related bargain.

Last week was a good one for a few different reasons; mainly, because I actioned all of my copyeditor’s feedback and managed to send off the almost-final version of my book, Universal Principles of Typography. Now it’s undergoing one final proofread to correct any typos that might’ve snuck in, and then that’ll be it. Done. Off to the printers with not a single look back.

I’m feeling a mix of emotions about this. Elated that the book is very nearly complete. Terrified that I’ve missed something that needs correcting. Proud that this thing will exist in the real world come March next year(!). But something that’s bothered me a little lately is that I’ve focused so much on getting it completed, I’m not quite sure I’ve managed to savour the process of, well, writing and designing a book. So, as this chapter draws to a close (see what I did there?), I’m very consciously trying to be present in the moment. I’m hoping I won’t look back in hindsight — as I have with so many other projects — and think, “oh yeah, I forgot to enjoy that.”

Anyway, lots of new subscribers recently. Hello! And thank you. OG subscribers might notice that I’ve really leaned into the sporadic side of the newsletter this time — it’s been a busy month (see above), and I figured you wouldn’t mind me holding back until I had big ol’ stack of type links for you. Well, today is that day: this is a pretty mammoth issue. So grab yourself a coffee, or a tea, or perhaps something stronger (hey, it’s five o’clock somewhere) and we’ll get going.

The special edition of the newsletter I sent out last Friday was only meant to be a “heads up — the podcast is coming” sort of thing, but many of you sought it out immediately and managed to find the first episode on your podcasting platform of choice, as — much to my surprise — it appeared on Spotify within minutes of sending out that issue, and on Apple Podcasts about an hour later. Weirdly, it’s still marked as “processing” on Google Podcasts, but hey, they’ve literally just announced the imminent closure of Google Podcasts, so there’s that.

Anyway, the important thing is: the very first episode of Hello, type friends! is officially live, and you can listen to me chat away with Jessica Hische right now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and hellotypefriends.com. 🎉

But it’s not all podcast podcast podcast in this issue, you’ll be glad to know...

Welcome to this short, sweet, and special edition of the newsletter, which is here to do one thing and one thing only: to let you know (and I’m announcing it here before I post it on social media) that my Other Big Secret Typography Project is... 🥁

... a brand new podcast called Hello, type friends!

The idea is that I sit down with a friend to discuss life, work, and, well, whatever comes up. Rather than discuss the details of type (who wants to listen to people talk about Bézier curves on a podcast?), type is instead the thread that binds these friends together, be they lettering artists, graphic designers, illustrators, or type designers. Listening to Hello, type friends! will hopefully feel a bit like overhearing a couple of mates chatting in the pub. In other words: this is a podcast that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Some episodes even involve actual beer.

I made it.

I actually made it.

After nearly a year of writing and illustrating and designing it, my book, Universal Principles of Typography, is now with the publisher for review. I made a quick video last week to celebrate the moment.

However, like I mentioned in the video, it’s not quite done yet. First the publisher does a copyediting pass, then I action change requests, then they send that version to be proofread, then I fix any last finds, and then that is the final version that goes to print. So a couple of months to go, really. But the ‘main’ deliverable is in the bag.

Aaaaaaargh! Oh, don’t mind me, that’s just the sound of blind panic setting in while I attempt to finish every single illustration in my book before the school holidays are over. But there’s nothing like a looming deadline to prompt some intense procrastination, is there? So please join me in a bit of typographic distraction...

First up, I’m going to sneak in one of my own links — hope that’s alright. I’m really excited to be partnering up with I Love Typography to teach a Mastering Web Typography workshop for ILT Academy at the end of September. Over a weekend (2 × 4-hour sessions), we’re going to deep dive into fluid type scales, variable fonts, colour fonts, OpenType, and the most modern CSS for getting the most out of type on the web. If that sounds like something you’d enjoy — or something a friend or colleague might enjoy — please email academy@ilovetypography.com to book a place!

First of all, a huge thank you to all of you who replied to the last issue with such lovely, supportive messages about the book. I can’t tell you how motivational they were. I mean, I’m motivated to finish the book, of course, but in many ways a finished book is a somewhat abstract concept. Someone saying something like “I can’t wait to buy this and read it” suddenly transforms it into something almost tangible.

After the book announcement (which I’ve now also put on my blog), I was going to take a bit of a newsletter breather, but the type world had other plans, with a load of news that just had to be shared.

I had to check, double-check, and then triple-check that I hadn’t read something wrong, but no, it appears that this is actually real: Off Type (Pangram Pangram Foundry’s new offshoot, which I linked to not long ago) are offering a bundle called The Off Set, which collects all 9 of their typefaces (a total of 45 fonts) in one package for just… $14. Yes, $14. You can see why I had to check this. I bought The Off Set and can confirm that this is a total bargain. I feel almost guilty linking to it.

Happy Monday, folks. It’s a new week — and it’s going to be a tough one because my kids are off school with chicken pox — but I’ve been promising a big reveal for a while now, so here we go. Okay. Let’s do this. Finally. No, you first. Alright, fine...

🥁

I’m writing a book! It’s called Universal Principles of Typography and it’s going to be published by Quarto in spring 2024. Here’s the (WIP) cover:

I wrote the majority of this issue on the trains to / from London last Thursday. I was visiting Erik Spiekermann to interview him for… well, I can’t say just yet. But I can tell you that this is one of the big typographic-in-nature projects I’ve been teasing for a while. I promise I’m going to reveal one of them in the next newsletter! Promise promise promise.

Anyway, onto this issue, which is sporting some small-but-important refinements: the text is now set in Ty Finck’s Def Sans (if your email client supports web fonts), and the images now click through to their respective links rather than showing full-size versions (which you prefer, right?). I’m front-loading this one with a load of URLs that have been open on my phone since attending the most recent Letter Luvvers event, prompted by talks I had with the many fine folks there. I figured I’d share them here, as you fine folks might be interested, too (and phew, I can finally close those tabs).

Happening at the end of this month, Meticulous Ink’s On Paper Festival is a whole week of workshops, talks, demonstrations, and opportunities to — as Athena herself says — “drool over our printing presses and expand your mind via the medium of beautiful paper”. There’s even a free wayzgoose on the Saturday! If you’re not near the Bath area, what a great excuse to come and visit our lovely little corner of the world. The festival kicks off on the 27th.

Weird times at the mo. As part of the big tech industry cutbacks, which I’m sure you’ve heard about, I’m no longer contracting for Google Fonts — for now, anyway. On the one hand, it’s come at the perfect time because it’s finally allowing me to spend some solid daylight hours breaking the back of two very big projects — which I’m itching to tell you about, by the way, and will do very soon, because they’re both 100% typographic in nature — but on the other… well, there’s that whole earning money thing, isn’t there? And I’m really good at filling my time with projects that rarely make any money.

That said, this project (the newsletter) brings me a lot of joy. There’s something about this new creative outlet that I’m particularly enjoying at the moment, although honestly I’m struggling to articulate exactly why that is. Is it that writing issues of this newsletter feels more like composing a postcard than a blog post? Is it the sense of a more immediate connection to you folks? Is it that I essentially get to brain-fart my way through all of my recently saved typographic links for the benefit of like-minded type nerds? Oh, speaking of which…

Rosetta have published an online book called Legibility: how and why typography affects ease of reading, written by Mary C. Dyson and María González de Cossío, and although I haven’t made my way through the whole thing yet, it seems like a great resource.

Hello! If you detect a hint of excitement in this issue of the newsletter, it might be because it was mainly composed while on a plane heading back from Brooklyn, where I spent two wonderful days attending Kinference. This was an event that’s not really a conference, but more an intimate gathering of like-minded folks noodling away on creative conundrums, like the looming clouds of the global economic crisis, the threat of AI in the design community, and most of us just, well, being 40-ish and wondering why everything looks a little different these days. A bit of group therapy, really. And the chance to hug a lot of friends I’d not seen in a long time. Craig Mod said much the same earlier today.

My sustained state of semi-euphoria has actually been bubbling away nicely since I finished running my Universal Principles of Typography masterclass for SmashingConf near the middle of March, and also from when spoke at Letter Luvvers #5 shortly after that. Both sessions were filled with such lovely people, it’s been hard not to feel optimistic about… I don’t know… human connection? I guess that’s the thing — because, hey, let’s face it, it’s not easy to feel optimistic about earning money at the moment. (Wait, is this weird euphoria a stress reaction?) Anyway, on with the show! It’s been a while.

My friends over at FontWerk have just released a new typeface called Hamster and the promotional video for it is just fantastic. Did they actually really make physical characters and then dip them in paint? Who even knows what’s real anymore? I don’t mind either way. I love it.

Today, a super-quick “special edition” of the newsletter (oh, lucky you) to let you know about two upcoming things I’m doing with the lovely folks at Smashing Magazine.

The first is Smashing Hour — a live-streamed chat between me and Vitaly Friedman, which is happening tomorrow at 4pm UK time (check your timezone). It’s going to be a very informal affair, so come and join in, or throw the proverbial rotten tomato, via Zoom.

Welcome to the first issue of the newsletter now officially called Typographic & Sporadic. Somewhat ironically, while looking back through the publish dates of the issues to date, I noticed that I’ve not actually been that sporadic, and have generally sent out a new issue about once a month. So clearly I’ve got some work to do in imposing a bit of chaos.

Stop stealing sheep 4.0

The fourth version of Erik’s seminal book, Stop Stealing Sheep & find out how type works, has recently been published — you probably already know this. But did you know that you can get the PDF version of the book for free from Google Fonts Knowledge? Okay, I’m probably biased about this, but seriously, that’s pretty cool, eh?

This newsletter has perhaps found its way into your inbox a bit too far into January to wish you “happy new year”, but hey, I’m going to go for it anyway. Happy new year to you, and thanks so much for returning! Personally, I could’ve done with a longer rest in many ways, but there’s so much new stuff on the horizon, I’ve been eager to jump back into things this year. Specifically, there’s so much typography stuff I’m excited to announce, I’m calling 2023 “the year of typography”. Well, for me, anyway. You’re welcome to join in, though. Let’s see if it sticks.

Typographic & Sporadic

The first item of business today — and I must apologise in advance because this issue is a bit of a self-indulgent one — is to say that this newsletter finally has a brand. To avoid any potential confusion, I’ve not renamed everything yet, but starting from the next issue, watch out for Typographic & Sporadic rather than (the very accurate but not particularly inspiring) Elliot Jay Stocks’ newsletter. Huge thanks if you took part in my very lo-fi user research for the naming. Now, who can name the three typefaces used in the logo?

Hello from shivery Somerset. It is cold here right now. Oh boy. But at least things look and feel a bit like our “traditional” idea of the festive season for once. And the other wonderful thing about being perpetually cold during the end-of-year wind-down is that it’s 100% socially acceptable to sit in front of the fire with a glass of port every night. Well, that’s what I’ve decided, anyway. And this edition of the newsletter is a particularly long one — I don’t want to say “Christmas special”, but it’s kind of heading that way — so I can thoroughly recommend you digest this at night, maybe in front of a fire, perhaps with a little tipple, but most definitely with a jumper or two on. Or at least metaphorically, if you’re in warmer climes.

Oh, and before we get going with the links, I wanted to let you know that I think I might finally have a name for this thing: Typographic & Sporadic. What do you think? Does what it says on the tin, right? For what it’s worth, I actually prefer The Sporadic Typographic, but I don’t want to tread on Micah and Olivia’s toes. Anyway, let me know if you love it or hate it in the replies. User testing, people!

My first link’s pretty timely. UX designer Mattias Ott is currently running an Independent Type Foundry Advent Calendar; that is, he’s posting about a different foundry every day in December right up until Christmas. And what a wonderful way to discover some new type-makers! Today’s is Interval Type, who are new to me. (If you like this, you might also enjoy Mark Johnson and Thomas Drach’s Type Foundry Index.)

How’s everyone doing? I’m gutted, because I’ve just realised that I’m going to miss next week’s Letter Luvvers, as my wife and I are going to see Widowspeak that night (which will also be loads of fun). However, I’ve got some exciting type-related news for you.

I designed some festive cards

Please forgive the shameless plug right upfront, but I finally realised a career-long dream and actually designed myself some cards for the festive season. I know, I should probably get out more. But hey, they’re here, they’re printed on GF Smith card that’s made from recycled coffee cups, and you can also buy a pack of 4 to send out to your friends and family. If you’re interested in knowing more, I’ve just — just! — published a blog post with all of the details. You (probably) heard it here first, folks.

Happy Thursday, folks. Hope you’re all having a good week, despite all… er… [points to a montage of news headlines]. Let’s distract ourselves with some typographic goodies!

Book: A Guide to Lettering by Hand

My new friend Emma Luczyn, who I met after her talk at the first Letter Luvvers, has just reprinted her little workbook, ‘A Guide to Lettering by Hand’. I can’t wait to get my copy, which I bought as soon as I saw the reprint announcement. Get yours before it’s out of print again!

Greetings from rural Somerset, UK, where the leaves are starting to turn, the kids are back at school (both of mine now), and everyone’s starting to think about about change; and not just because of the country’s two new leaders — neither of whom were in charge when I sent my last newsletter. One change I really need to get to is: coming up with a proper name for this newsletter. Any ideas? Please feel free to suggest one in reply!

Typeface: GT Pressura

I’ve always been a real sucker for microsites, especially when it comes to fonts, and this one, for the refreshed GT Pressura, made me sit up and take notice. The original version went under my radar when it was released 10 years ago, but I’m really into this revision. I guess I’m starting to enjoy these ever-so-slightly soft typefaces in my old age.

I’ve just got back from a much-needed and all-too-short holiday in Corfu. My family and I (there’s a Gerald Durrell joke in there somewhere) managed to find a little corner of paradise in a part of the island unspoiled by sunburned Brits, with the sea quite literally at the end of our Airbnb’s garden. Bliss!

But you’re not here for the postcard from my holiday, are you? On with the typography!

A Guide to Sinistral Hand

Luvvers & castles — July 22, 2022

Happy Friday, folks. I didn’t expect to be sending out another newsletter so soon (when I said this’d be “sporadic”, I was trying to make life easier for myself), but hey, some interesting type stuff came up, and who am I to ignore it? Oh, and hello, all you new subscribers! Lovely to have you all here.

Letter Luvvers

Welcome to the inaugural issue of my newsletter. Another newsletter? Really?!? Its existence is absolutely not necessary, but I hope you’ll enjoy it nonetheless. The plan is to collate a load of links every now and then, and those links will probably be about type and typography. The occasional link may not be. This edition’s links are. Lucky you!

Something that doesn’t work — and why

In this week’s Font Friday, Oliver Schöndorfer picks a font that’s well designed, but let down by its spacing. However, rather than dismiss it entirely, he uses it as an example of how to get the most out of type that may lack polish: “I’d rather educate you on it than keep you from it.”