About 16 years ago, I started playing around with Fontstruct, an online tool for crafting modular typefaces. I’ve released 48 designs on Fontstruct and some of those have served as prototypes for designs that I finish in Glyphs, my favorite type design app. I tend to work in Fontstruct intensively for a while, and then disappear for a year or more. But I love the tool and contribute as a “Patron.”
Lately, I’ve been on quite the streak.
SbB Papaya. I was watching F1 and McLaren uses some modular numerals on their cars. Based on those numbers, I built an entire design. I wasn’t sure if the look was going to extend through the whole character set, but the design actually works pretty well. And as a bonus, the Fontstruct team selected it as a top pick.
SbB Powercore. I’ve had some drawings in my sketchbook of a unicase design that I like a lot, but haven’t gotten around to building. I wanted to see how the letterforms would work together so I built a quick pixel-font prototype.
SbB Astrometric. I took the basic letterform structure of Powercore and tried different approach. I thought this would look vaguely sci-fi when I started to build it, but as I built out the character set, it had a somewhat older feel. Not sure why. I’m really happy with it and this is one of those fonts that I’ll likely rebuild and polish in Glyphs. I think the design would work well as a variable font design.
SbB Theorem. I built this a few years ago, and forgot about it. So I dusted it off and added a few additional characters that I skipped over earlier.
SbB Greenlight. All the cool kids are building color fonts on Fontstruct. It’s a feature that’s available for Patrons. I’d played with it once before to add some color to my Dingbots and Monsters design, but I hadn’t tried to build a color typeface. I built SbB Greenlight to experiment with the process of building a color design. I’m still not 100% sure why we need color fonts, but it’s a fun process and a pretty accessible tool for anyone that’s worked with design software like Illustrator or Photoshop that use layers to organize art.
You can download and use any of these1 if you set up a free Fontstruct account. I don’t know if I’ll keep up the pace, but I’m really enjoying building typefaces right now and I’m inspired by the other designers in the Fontstruct community.
Bob Wertz is a type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
Except for the color font. That’s a Patron exclusive. ↩︎
I’m back to playing around on Fontstruct. Just published SbB Powercore, a unicase, pixel-inspired design. I’m digging this combination of unicase characters. Still a work in progress.
When the Iconfactory announced their Tapestry Kickstarter, I backed it immediately. I’ve been a fan of the Iconfactory’s work for decades, and was a loyal user of Twitteriffic before Musk cut off the API. I’ve had beta access for months as a Kickstarter perk and I’ve been using it daily.1Now that Tapestry is released to everyone, I wanted to write a little review with some thoughts about how it’s working for me.
One app for pretty much everything. Tapestry is a unified feed reader. You build a feed from a variety of sources and “connectors.” I’ve used connectors to bring in my Micro.Blog, Mastodon and Bluesky social timelines. I still use Feedbin as a traditional feed reader so I’ve also some of my favorite RSS feeds and some YouTube channels. I even have a podcast feed in there and, while I wouldn’t listen to a long podcast in Tapestry, it does works for short audio files. All of it pulled together into a single timeline.
You said “pretty much everything?” Correct. To be added to Tapestry, the sources need to connect to the open web. That means no Meta apps. So if you want to connect to Instagram, Facebook or Threads, there isn’t an API to allow for a connection. This isn’t a problem with Tapestry, it’s a problem with Meta. But don’t get me started on the importance of open APIs.
Algorithm free. Tapestry doesn’t add any annoying algorithms to your content feed. You decide who you want to follow, and you see their posts in the order in which they were shared. No engagement manipulation.
Interaction. You can’t like or comment directly from the Tapestry interface, but it’s easy to swipe and access a Safari web view. For example, if I see a Bluesky post I want to like, I swipe and Bluesky opens. I like the post, click done at the top left, and I’m back to my feed. It’s a smart solution to a complex problem. I’m not someone who likes or comments a bunch so this little bit of friction is completely acceptable to me. I understand if this isn’t enough for you, but it works for me. You can “Mark” items for follow up later, and I find that helpful for keeping track of good links and stories.
Muffle and Mute. You can build rules to muffle (collapse) or mute (hide) posts that contain keywords. I find this to be incredibly powerful. There’s a person I know — who I want to follow — who shares his Wordle every day. So I muffled “Wordle” in my feed. You can build those rules to hide whatever you don’t want to see. I loved it in Twitteriffic and will absolutely use this in Tapestry.2
Opportunities and rough edges. This is a 1.0 version. There are rough edges, but also clear opportunities for them to improve the app. The Iconfactory is committed to improving Tapestry and offering a Mac version eventually. I’m excited about where this is going.
I’ve really enjoyed Tapestry because I can just dip into the most recent information. And since Micro.Blog and Bluesky are currently my most used services, this integrates perfectly. It’s tough to explain, but it brings a social media style timeline together for a wider variety of sources. It’s not for everyone, but it is absolutely what I want.
Bob Wertz is a type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
If you tried the beta early and it wasn’t what you were expecting, now that it’s out of beta, try again. Tapestry got better and better over each iteration. ↩︎
I’ve also muffled any reference to “Clemson” or “Dabo.” Because Go Gamecocks. ↩︎
It’s dark. And my son is still in the backyard getting ready for tryouts next week. Trying to make the high school JV lacrosse team as a 7th grade goalie.
Proud of this kiddo. 9 am Saturday practice with the high school team. 27 degrees. And he’s excited to go to practice. (As a 7th grader, he’s pretty much the youngest kid out there.)
Every year, I make Team Wertz pose on the stairs before we open presents. Finally got around to posting the image from this morning. Hope y’all had a Merry Christmas.
Every year, I make Team Wertz pose on the stairs before we open presents. Finally got around to posting the image from this morning. Hope y’all had a Merry Christmas.
Ryan was born on Thanksgiving day, so no matter when his birthday falls, we celebrate with a cake on Thanksgiving. This year, a red velvet turkey cake.
I skipped last week’s post. Sunday, I was busy with schoolwork and didn’t have time. I planned to post something later, but the election happened and I just didn’t feel like posting at all.
Favorite Picture of Last Week
Our oldest, Norah, joined us at the polls to cast her first vote in a presidential election. And while most of the races didn’t go the way we hoped, I love that I was able to share this experience with her.
Feels
Nervous. I’m worried for the future of our country and the future of democracy in general.
Optimistic. I had advisement this week and feel like I have a strong path forward toward finishing my Ph.D. I’m planning on taking two courses in the fall, one in the summer, and then, I’m pretty much just writing from there to the end of my dissertation.
Reclusive. I don’t really feel like being around anyone right now. It’s don’t feel like sharing on social media. I kinda just want to be a recuse for a little while.
Health
Fine. This week wasn’t the best week for my health.
Projects
School work. I’ve got to talk about my research on Wednesday. And then finish up my project for class. Very doable.
Entertainment
Not much. I’ll be honest. Pretty much avoiding all media right now. Just not feeling it.
This week was busy like the last couple, but felt much more manageable for some reason. I have an insanely busy week ahead of me and as the semester wraps up, I have a lot of school work to do. But emotionally, I feel a little more focused.
Favorite Picture of Last Week
My son, Ryan, is a lacrosse goalie. He played four games this weekend and did amazing. Probably his best week in goal ever. I also try to capture the action and yesterday, a kid made a great move a slipped the ball past Ryan. Great shot, and a fun picture.
Feels
Motivated. I have a lot to do this week. And I’m feeling good about getting it done.
Deep in thought. I need to make some decisions on my dissertation that I’ve been putting off. I think I’m starting to figure out what I want to do — and it’s a little more ambitious than I originally planned. But if I’m staring off into the distance, that’s what I’m thinking about.
Frazzled. Less than two weeks to the election. I know I should vote early, but it’s my oldest’s first presidential election and I want her to get the full experience of going to the polls.
Tired. We dropped off Jillian very early this morning to go on a school trip to DC. I should be trying to get some sleep right now, but the cat woke me up and I so figured I’d be productive and knock this out. Honestly though, I should be asleep right now.
Health
Still stable. Not much progress this week. At some point, I’ll kick back into high gear soon, but this week is not the week.
Projects
School work. I’ve got some projects to finish up for the class I’m taking this semester.
Entertainment
Welcome back, Lower Decks. Star Trek Lower Decks is back for it’s fifth and final season. Loved the first two episodes of Season 5 and excited to see where it goes. Sad that it’s wrapping up, though. It’s been a wonderful addition to Star Trek.
Formula 1. In the middle of a three week stretch of F1. Mexico City Grand Prix is today.
