This page collects the exceptional that we run across on the web. These links can be anything really… artists and agencies, YouTube channels, outstanding work in graphics, video or motion graphics, singular examples of web coding that produce extraordinary outcomes, you name it. Have a scroll through and you’ll get the gist.
November 2
The Way of Code
Listening to an episode of Rick Rubin’s excellent conversation podcast Tetragrammaton was how I got turned on to the fact that this site now existed. Evidently, the work was in response to a meme that was circulating on the subject of Vibe Coding. Rubin saw an opportunity for expansion of an idea, but understood that it was time-sensitive and necessary to strike when the iron was hot. So where this was written to be a book, Rubin immediately published it to the web so as to add it to the conversation while it’s still relevant.
The beauty of this tool is that for those of us who are not coders… we can now play in that sandbox where before there was this barrier: learn to code. You don’t need to learn to code anymore.
As for the website, its beauty lies in its utter simplicity. Minimal, just what’s needed to present the information. 81 short pages, in the style of poetry. Each page with an illustration, each illustration an AI visualization of a math equation, in other words, coding. Not only that, but you’re given the opportunity to bounce over to AI-model Claude to alter the prompt generating the illustration, thus changing it. Rick Rubin ceased participation in all the projects he had going with clients for a solid month in order to get this project done, a quick-hitting labor-of-love. It kept me bound to it for a couple hours (I’ve been through it twice now) for my first visit.
Strong Coffee >> https://thewayofcode.com
February 25
The Hardest Working Font in Manhattan
In many ways, Strong Coffee is a place for me to document locations on the web that I may want to revisit at some point, this is one of those. In a nutshell, it’s for the typography nerds as it covers author Marcin Wichary’s 100 mile+ trek around New York City documenting fonts. In his own words;
“In 2007, on my first trip to New York City, I grabbed a brand-new DSLR camera and photographed all the fonts I was supposed to love. I admired American Typewriter in all of the I <3 NYC logos, watched Akzidenz Grotesk and Helvetica fighting over the subway signs, and even caught an occasional appearance of the flawlessly-named Gotham, still a year before it skyrocketed in popularity via Barack Obama’s first campaign.
But there was one font I didn’t even notice, even though it was everywhere around me.
Last year in New York, I walked over 100 miles and took thousands of photos of one and one font only.
The font’s name is Gorton...”
Gorton traces back to probably the latter part of the 19th century, turns out it’s older than Gill Sans, Futura and even Akzidenz-Grotesk, which was previously considered the first clean, san-serif typeface. From a time before laser printers and home inkjets obviously, before even Letraset and popular letter stencils, Gorton seems to have risen along with engraving machines from a time when hand lettering was all that was possible when you needed to letter something. Its ubiquity fueled its increasing adoption as a go-to typeface for all occasions
Anyway, this is a thoroughly researched photo essay into the history of Gorton, and to say that the accompanying illustrative photos (many taken by the author himself) are exhaustive, that would be an understatement. So many cool photos, they truly make this exploration worth your time, the range of examples offered leave you satisfied. Give it a read and a look if you’re so inclined.
Strong Coffee >> https://aresluna.org/the-hardest-working-font-in-manhattan/
January 28
Silo Extending Worlds : Apple TV+
As of today, two complete seasons of Silo have posted to Apple TV+. Silo is a fantastic science fiction tale based on a trilogy of books written by Hugh Howey.
“Silo is the story of the last ten thousand people on earth, their mile-deep home protecting them from the toxic and deadly world outside. However, no one knows when or why the silo was built and those who try to find out face fatal consequences. Ferguson stars as Juliette, an engineer who seeks answers about a loved one’s murder and tumbles onto a mystery that goes far deeper than she could have ever imagined, leading her to discover that if the lies don’t kill you, the truth will.“
This particular link though relates to the architecture and the tectonics of the Silo itself. Apple has been so cool as to release this 23 minute tour of all the spaces within the Silo that you will recognize from the series. Shot cinematically, these sets are a sight to behold.
