| Homepage | https://veryrobin.me/ |
| Type design | https://tinytype.co/ |
| Patreon | https://patreon.com/veryrobin |
| YouTube | https://youtube.com/@veryrobin |
"As for the stuff in your computer that pretends to correct your punctuation or grammar, disable it. These programs are on a pitifully low level of competence; they’ll chop your sentences short and stupidify your writing. Competence is up to you."
— Ursula Le Guin, Steering the Craft
Something outside of the type design scope, but relevant to general design: my short text on tech optimism and a depiction of it that I like. On my ‘new’ blog, the Very Zine. I intend to keep writing, and am inviting others to write as well.
Okay, so, a rumination. I’ve been thinking about pedigree in type design for many years – I did a whole talk about it in 2020* and for some reason things have, in my eyes, only gotten worse. The depth of history behind the concepts (if there is a concept beyond “that’s already a font”, of course) seems to be getting shallower. Everyone now wants to make a Selfvetica, a Mine’s New Roman — I understand that it’s an easier sell, but also, at the same time, isn’t it a lot harder to sell when the market already literally has those designs?†
I’m looking to expand on these thoughts, but I’m also curious to hear what others think.
* https://essays.veryrobin.me/reconsidering-revivals.html
† I’m sure the market is a large factor, but I’d like to not be _that_ cynical. There’s gotta be more to it!
RE: https://mstdn.ca/@drikanis/116107120926277506
I'd like to comment on the common "AI is just a tool" thing: I'm a woodworker by training & that means a lot of machines - but almost every craftsperson knows how to do their job with hand tools, or "lesser" machines.
Similarly, a writer can write without a text editor - just as well, only slower.
If loss of a tool = loss of your skill & knowledge, then that tool isn't an asset, it's a liability. You're signing over your ability to do business to whoever sells & maintains that tool.
The LLM discourse on the Fediverse has really irked me the last few days.
Refusing to read writing made with the use of LLMs and refusing to give time to writers who use, promote or justify the use of LLMs is not purity culture, it's a boycott. It's a political act of withdrawing my time, resources and support for something that I find deeply morally wrong. It's protest. I have a choice and I refuse.
LLMs are exploitative, destructive, biased, mediocre parroting machines. Using them has a negative impact on the climate, the arts, the quality of the internet, the job market, the economy, the accessibility of electronics, even on skill development, creativity and mental health. LLMs are made and trained on the unpaid labour of millions -if not billions- of people who didn't consent. Their generic output litter the path to finding anything by true human creators.
Wherever I can, for as long as I can, I reject LLMs and anything that is related to them. I'm boycotting.
RE: https://tldr.nettime.org/@tante/116098092171091455
"Hating technology" in their reading means "not just embracing its inevitability".
Maybe that's the reason: Leftist thought is based on the understanding that politics is a common project that allows us to make decisions about the world. The idea of "inevitable technology" is the antithesis to that
We also posted my design background for Tiny Grotesk to the @alphabettes blog: https://www.alphabettes.org/tiny-grotesk-bridging-500-years-of-type-design/
I am really happy to have completed the family. There’s a lot of ideas in there that I think are foundational to my type design work, and I look forward to designers making the most of it.
I’ve also significantly improved the RSS feeds (available at the top of the news page, inside the <head> element, and in the footer of the site). The news feed contains the full article text, I’ve implemented updates, and I’m hopefully following the Atom standards more closely.
s0 Is Not A Sysadmin
thermonuclear small claims
JWcph, Radicalized By Decency
Reading Recluse
tante
