Hello dear Reader 🐉

I hope you and your loved ones are doing well! I am writing this Alchetype issue from Trouville sur Mer, in Normandy, France, where I am finishing a week with Morgane Vantorre, notably to prepare teaching at ECV for the year, then a week alone. Just above my screen is an infinite ocean view.

So what have I been up to? Well, I'm still cracking down as hard as I can on the freelance project I've started last month, and preparing the Boring Workshops I'm leading in September. But I also recently decided I wanted to monumentally crack down on unfinished typefaces, so I've started whirlwinding my way through Transept, and through the Baleze specimen - but mostly Transept, to update it on Future Fonts.

I realise each year that passes that my Last.fm scrobbles keep diminishing, and I effectively listen to less and less music, in profit of working in silence. It may be linked to ADD, but all it does is make me sad tbh. But lately, I've been focused on a few things audio wise still: Theophany's Time's End II, insanely good record of cinematic covers of Majora's Mask soundtrack; CocoRosie's Tales Of A GrassWidow record, of which End of Time is probably my favourite; Lana Del Rey's unreleased, of which if you know me even 0.1% you know how much I love (particularly focused on Roses lately), and Suzane, which I always get obsessed with when I'm in Trouville, in particular because of her song Vista Sul Mare. I also enjoyed Jesse's new Glue FM podcast episode about monetising hobbies, really recommend, and this 2h20 (!) video introducing Dungeons & Dragons from Dozing Dragon.

I went to see the Odyssey with Morgane at the last screening of Deauville's local cinema a few days back, and I can't stop thinking about it, too. Circe by Madeline Miller is one of the best books I've ever read.

I've also watched the first 3 episodes of Jujutsu Kaisen after thinking about it for ages; I'm so excited to continue, really enjoyed the vibes omg!! And I rewatched the entire Mighty Nein first season and man, I don't say it enough. MN are honestly probably my favourite characters ever.

In terms of gaming, I've put a little bit video games aside lately, though I can't put aside how much I've been trying to reach perfection in Stardew Valley. However, I've heavily replaced video games with Dungeons and Dragons preparations. I'm finding out daily more how much I adore this game. I've been secretly working on writing a DnD subclass for monks, based on the concept of type design; I'm still writing it but I find it unbelievably exhilarating. I've also created a character sheet for myself in DnD Beyond, and after installing a whopping 2go of mods, created a bunch of character concepts in Baldur's Gate 3. SO MUCH FUN.

As part of my insane desire to become more of a DnD monk on a day to day basis, I've been inspired by the character of Beauregard from Critical Role to read and meditate more (I use Medito). Except I call meditation "Stillness of Mind" after the DnD ability, makes it much more palatable for me lol. What I chose to read first is the Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst. I'm reading it on my eReader, and let me tell you, it's a story. At the beginning of the book, Robert Bringhurst talks about how much legibility is the goal, and here am I, Daytona Mess, extreme experimental type bender, reading this on size 5 on an eReader. I just love it.

I feel frustrated by the lack of things I could show lately, but I strongly believe this is also why I decided to write this newsletter - to keep me accountable. Between teaching preparation, freelance, and trying to become a better person, I really have to get out of my way to force myself to do what I love most, which is freestyle type design. It's all I want to do, and everything else I do, I do it to facilitate and accommodate type designing freely, with peace of mind to boot.

So excited to catch up soon with more to show. Thank you so much for reading 🫶

Take care ⚔️🔠
Ando