About Bob

Bob Wertz is a designer, researcher, trainer and Ph.D. student living in Columbia, South Carolina. I’ve managed creative teams and corporate brands in higher education and insurance for most of my career, but recently became the Director of Research Training at the University of South Carolina. I’ve been married for almost 25 years and we have three kids. (Next year, two of those three kiddos will be in college.)

As a part-time Ph.D. student at the University of South Carolina’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, my research is focused on media effects and visual communication — especially related to brands and logos. My Google Scholar page doesn’t have much on it right now, but hopefully that will change soon.

I study logos and visual branding, so I tend to write about branding frequently. In addition to my scholarly research interests, I enjoy experimenting with typeface designs. My typefaces are distributed as part of my other site — SbBFonts — and sold through online vendors like MyFonts. For someone who claims to not care that much about social media, I write about social media a lot.

🟢 Active Websites and Profiles

bobwertz.com / This site, hosted on Micro.Blog.

SbBFonts.com / The online home of all of my typeface designs.

sketchbookb.com / My original blog. I’m slowly shifting away from this Squarespace site. My blogging is now at bobwertz.com and my fonts are at SbBFonts.com.

Google Scholar / Not much right now, but more to come.

Fontstruct / Download experimental modular type.

MyFonts / Purchase some of my typefaces.

Cotton Bureau / Purchase some fun merch. Mostly just random designs that I like.

💚 Most Active Social

Micro.Blog / My primary “open” social home. This feed can also be followed on Mastodon at @bobwertz@bobwertz.com and is crossposted to Threads and Bluesky.

Bluesky / The community has really started to grow and I know more and more people on the service. Currently crossposting from Micro.Blog and checking in regularly.

💛 Less Active Social

LinkedIn / It exists.

Mastodon / Crossposted from Micro.Blog to bobwertz@typo.social.

Threads / I like Threads, but I’m trying to minimize my use of Meta software. Crossposted from Micro.Blog.

💔 Not Updated Social

Instagram / I’ve stopped posting on Instagram and deleted the app off my phone. Not sure that I’ll be coming back.

Pokemon Go / Every so often, I start playing around with Pokemon Go. And then I quit. Currently not updating.

Twitter / After 15 years, it’s no longer the service I loved. I finally deleted my account.

Facebook / I check in very rarely, mostly to see Memories.

Dribbble / I tried, but never got into it. Finally deleted my account.

Flickr / I abandoned Flickr a long time ago. The account still exists, though, never to be updated again.

What’s with the fish?

I drew this little guy for a personal project that never came together, but I loved him so much, he became my logo. I’ve got many different expressions — both with and without glasses — and switch them out based on how I’m feeling. Right now, he’s ready for summer vacation.

Where is bobwertz.com hosted?

This site is hosted by Micro.Blog. I’ve had an account ever since I backed the Kickstarter, even if I haven’t always been an active user. This current iteration of bobwertz.com was created in 2022.