Sigh. I waited too long to buy my daughter’s laptop for college. I was waiting for Apple’s annual back to school promotion, but the MacBook Neo she wants is now $100 more.

Slate Update

I don’t need a car right now, but in year or so, my daughter will need her car at college and I will need a car to take me back and forth to work. My wife won’t let me get a mini truck from local importer Japan Direct Motors, so maybe a Slate is the next best thing.

I’ve wanted an EV for a long while, but the timing just hasn’t been right. In a perfect world, I’d support Scout Motors which is building a factory outside of my hometown of Columbia, South Carolina. I love the way the Scouts look, but the starting price for a their very nice EV pickup is around $60,000. I’ve also eyeballed other cars like the Rivian R3, but who knows when that will finally hit the market. I like a small car, but many of the smallest EVs aren’t going to make it to the United States market.

And then there is the Slate. I’ve been interested in the bare bones basic truck since they announced it. I love the idea of an infinitely customizable vehicle that starts at a low price. Then add the features you want over time.

Slate hosted a media event today to announce the final pricing and configurator, so there are a bunch of articles and videos out now. I enjoyed an article from The Verge and Marques Brownlee’s video preview. If you want a deep dive, this 55-minute video packs lots of details.

I think the price is right at $25,000. (Imagine if the $7,500 EV tax credit was still available!) They originally planned to offer two battery packs, but settled on a single option with a range of just over 200 miles. That will work for my daily commute with plenty of range anxiety cushion to spare.

Green slate.

I’d want to add some options of course… Probably a full body vinyl wrap, some speakers and maybe a center console. I also really like the look of the fastback, which adds $6,000 to the cost of the car. Browsing the Slate online configuration app, you can see how large the accessory ecosystem could become.

I still have questions. I want to see the crash test results and some more reviews. But after all of the announcements today, I’m absolutely still interested.

Bob Wertz is a type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.

I love the potential of Slate and the idea of an extremely customizable vehicle. I remember catalogs of accessories to customize old Jeep CJ-7s. I just don’t know how big the market is today for a $25K EV truck with crank windows.

Fun Father’s Day. Drove up to Asheville to see Norah. Headed to Looking Glass Falls. Stopped by Dolly’s on the way out of Pisgah to get some ice cream.

A group of five people, consisting of two men and three women, are smiling and posing together outside in a sunny, wooded area near some buildings.A man and a woman wearing sunglasses smile together in front of a waterfall surrounded by lush greenery.A group of four people wearing sunglasses is taking a selfie in front of a scenic waterfall.A young person wearing glasses and a gray t-shirt is standing on a rock in front of a large waterfall cascading down a rocky cliff.A waterfall cascades down a rocky cliff surrounded by lush green trees under a clear blue sky.Three people posing and smiling together while standing in a shallow rocky stream surrounded by lush green forest.A large ice cream cone sign with the word DOLLY'S on it is mounted on a pole surrounded by leafy green trees.

Just spent most of my Saturday working on my dissertation. Made some really good progress today. Lots still to do, but feeling good about the direction for the first time in a while.

Staying connected

I don’t visit Facebook much, but I do occasionally check in. Late last night, after working on a typeface, I randomly decided to log into Facebook. I was startled to find out that a person I knew in college died unexpectedly. I was concerned about a friend and Lutheran pastor resigned from his call after 17 years. And I was happy to learn that a friend and her children saw my daughter at the camp she works at. And then, I was overwhelmed with ads and sponsored posts.

I haven’t had the Facebook app on my phone for six or seven years and I’ve maintained my Instagram pause since May. The side effect of focusing on more independent social media, though, is that I am detached from friends who are only on mainstream platforms. While I love Micro.Blog and Bluesky,1 most of the people I know in real life just aren’t active there. The reality is that I can’t completely leave Facebook and Instagram without losing connections to my friends and family.

Bob Wertz is a type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.

  1. I use Threads regularly, but I don’t love Threads. ↩︎

Old sign outside a state government building that isn’t currently occupied. I see skateboarders on these stairs frequently.

A sign on a wall by a staircase states NO SKATES, SKATEBOARDS OR BICYCLES ALLOWED.

Fun to hear Gruber talk about Markdown on the Vergecast.

I was scheduled for jury duty this morning, but the trial was canceled. I really don’t mind serving on a jury. I think this is only the 8th time I’ve been called in over 30 years of being a registered voter.

Survived Ryan’s lacrosse tournament in Mt. Pleasant this weekend. The heat was brutal, especially on Saturday. Ryan played well, and the team got a couple of wins. But honestly, I’m glad we are done with travel ball for the rest of the summer. It’s just too hot.

A group of players are actively engaged in a game of lacrosse on a grassy field surrounded by trees.A lacrosse player in blue attempts to catch the ball near the goal while two other players and a goalkeeper look on in a grassy field.

We have accidentally found ourselves in the middle of a Brazil vs Morocco watch party in Charleston, SC. I’m not a soccer fan, but damn, this is incredible.

Voted today in South Carolina. And we got to take Jill so she could vote for the first time. 💙🇺🇸

Three people are smiling at the camera, each wearing an I Voted sticker.

Trying to work on my dissertation tonight and it’s coming together so slowly. I basically know where I want it to go, but with so many variables and factors, it’s tough to tie it all together into a cohesive narrative.

The State Newspaper in Columbia, SC shares a news story on Threads about a fatal car accident. The picture that is included is a photo of the author of the article… who was not in an accident and is very much alive. This is an ongoing problem with automated posting and vague clickbait headlines.

A news headline discusses a fatal car crash involving an SUV and a pickup truck in South Carolina, accompanied by a close-up image of a smiling man with glasses and a beard.

RIP Giles.

Cotton Bureau Thread Colors Palette for Canva Affinity

As part of my quest to get comfortable in Canva Affinity, I’ve been experimenting with some on-demand embroidery designs on Cotton Bureau. For embroidery, you are limited to a palette of 15 specific thread colors. When you create the product, Cotton Bureau tries to match the colors in your design to the available thread colors… which provides some unexpected results. Thankfully, Canva provides hex codes to approximate the thread colors.

To speed up my production, I made an Affinity Color Palette and figured I’d share. If you want to import the current Cotton Bureau thread palette into Affinity, here it is: 2026 Cotton Bureau Thread Colors.clr (ZIP archive).

Hopefully, it will save you a couple of minutes.

I’ve got one simple embroidered beanie on Cotton Bureau right now, my Dum Spiro Spero design, but I’ve got more embroidery designs in the works.

Dum spiro spero on an indigo blue beanie

Bob Wertz is the Director of Research Training at the University of South Carolina, a Ph.D. student and typeface designer living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.

Day 2 of college orientation for my middle child. I’ve never been asked to scan more QR codes in my life.

I just backed Myke Hurley and Jason Snell’s new Apple history podcast Kickstarter. They’ve already more than doubled their funding goal in the first day and passed their first two stretch goals. I’m glad so many people are willing to support independent creators and media.

My Lorem Ipsum Story

Rabbit Hole released a delightful video detailing the history of Lorem Ipsum, the meaningless faux Latin placeholder text derived from Cicero and used throughout graphic design. Definitely worth a watch.1

This video reminded me of my own funny little Lorem Ipsum story…

A long time ago, I worked at a large corporation as an in house design manager. One of our internal subsidiaries was struggling with profitability and brought a very senior, respected executive out of retirement to get the company back on track.

This executive asked that we meet with him to go over the direct mail marketing materials that our team had developed. The mailers were in the early stages, and the body copy was all placeholder copy — Lorem Ipsum. Our account manager and I walked through the current status and explained the design system. After we were done, the executive looked puzzled.

“We aren’t targeting hispanic markets. Why is this in Spanish?”

I paused, not wanting to embarrass him, but completely unsure how to respond. Our account manager took over with a simple “We’ll take care of it,” and the conversation moved on to next steps. I always appreciated her quick thinking.

Bob Wertz is the Director of Research Training at the University of South Carolina, a Ph.D. student and typeface designer living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.

  1. Thanks for the link, Hadley. ↩︎

Just saw some placeholder text slip through into a final shipping app. Terms and conditions were literally “Lots of Rules.”