Background Layer #1
First issue: Typeface names, printed specimens, new hire reveal, gnashing of AI teeth, and music recommendations.
Welcome to the first Background Layer! We are making this up as we go along, so the design is bare right now. Things will change as we figure out the voice for it. Any feedback you have would be fantastic: please feel free to hit reply and let us know what you’d like to read. This issue is from Ben.
In progress
The above is from a custom typeface we shipped to the client the other week. This one was a team effort between us, Chris Skillern, and Travis Kochel. It will be a retail release in October, though we are struggling with the name. Finding a name that looks good in the design, expresses something about the idea behind it, and isn’t taken is a Venn diagram of complex geometry.
This is also the time when we are making something for Typographics. The opportunity to put something in the conference goody bag is our yearly excuse to publish and satisfy my itch to go on press checks (ink on paper is a happy place). Cem Eskinazi is designing the specimen for us after working last year to expand Polymode into a retail release by adding light weights and extending the language coverage to Latin M. Our meeting last week had me jumping up and down as Cem walked us through the design (sadly, the screenshot fails to capture my utter joy).
Business
Next week, we’re officially announcing our new hire (Zrinka Buljubašić—we trust you will act excited and surprised when we drop that news). Above is Cydney Cherepak’s initial sketch for Zrinka’s “official” XYZ portrait. Hiring took about 4x longer than we thought it was going to. We had a large (430+) applicant pool and a “short” list of almost 40 folks. It was overwhelming in a good way and also humbling to have that many people want to work with us.
We really wanted to be sure that we did hiring and onboarding right, so we had Francine Esrig’s help throughout the process. We likely overthought everything, but it was a good moment to formalize many things we hadn’t ever thought about.
We finally set a work schedule, the biggest win being setting Tuesday as “Tranquil Tuesday,” a day for deep work. No Slack/email/meetings. It’s a breath of fresh air after the non-stop Zooms of hiring and planning. At some point, we’ll make an edited version of our new company reference doc and share it with this list.
The last part of hiring was working out how to do it internationally. We started using Justworks (affiliate link) for HR/Benefits on the recommendation of our bookkeeper (so much business!) and felt really well taken care of during onboarding, so we used their EOR service (same great onboarding) to make it possible to hire without needing to do HR/admin things in a separate country
Thoughts
Like everyone, I’ve been thinking about the impact of AI on what we do: what can we ethically use, and where do we draw that line? Right now, we aren’t comfortable using models trained on data for which no one has given express permission (so, all of them?). But does that make my use of Grammarly ok? We don’t know and are puzzling it all out while wondering why AI is talking over creative production and not accounting. I’ve been trying to think about what it means for the business and found this Digging the Greats video instructive in framing what might happen to the middle of the font market. The challenge appears to be to figure out what not being in the middle looks like for us. I don’t have any clear answers yet.
Music finds
After that dour note, one fun recommendation: I have fueled my most recent work block (and time in TrainerRoad block) with Book Club Radio. It’s one of those things that feels like folks are doing it for the right reasons with so much joy. I highly recommend kicking a bit to their Patreon to then be able to get downloads of the sets (yes, I know about youtubedl)
Also, the joy of just taking a flyer on a record you find that you like the cover of yielded the gem of Jeremiah Chiu’s In Electric Time this week.
Thank you!
That’s the end of the first Background Layer; thanks for signing up and reading this far. My goal is to grow this list to 1,000 (see Kevin Kelly’s 1,000 true fans. And yes, my goal for IG is 10,000). So, if you liked this email, please share! (and follow us on Instagram)
Hit reply and let us know what you want more of. And, for making it this far, here’s a discount code for our site, giving you 20% off fonts, good until the end of July: THATWASALOTTOREAD