Marginalia Takeover

Dearest gentle reader, my attentive eyes are fixed on the many great ventures and essays circulating lately. While my bookmarks folder grows faster than my reading time, I thought I’d lean into the curatorial side rather than thinker-agitator this month. To be fair, curating is something I do almost unconsciously. I’m always scanning what’s being published, spotting patterns and new voices. Which led me to create the Marginalia footnote in the first place—so those finds become part of my editorial fabric (while also telling you a lot about who I am). Consider this a small preview of how my mind tends to wander.

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🇧🇷 DiaTipo Belém

DiaTipo has long been the main meeting point for Brazilian type nerds (and you’re probably tired of me yapping about it). But the Belém edition feels especially meaningful, proving that our scene keeps growing beyond the usual Rio–São Paulo axis—building local ecosystems instead of waiting for validation. For my friends in the Northern hemisphere, this is a much shorter trip than flying all the way south. Come taste the real açaí, and see the abridores de letra in action.

🇩🇪 Fontstand Berlin

April 10–11. I’m gutted to miss it. Not least because I lived in that city and the FOMO is real, but because Fontstand has this rare quality of feeling like a gathering between friends. Intimate, exceptionally curated. This lineup proves it: Ferdinand Ulrich (go read anything he’s written, then come back), David Pearson (whose work I deeply admire), Marta Cerdà Alimbau, Marko Hrastovec, and more.

🔤 Why You Should Release That Shitty Font by Agyei Archer

Shitty might be too harsh a word; regardless, I’m 100% on board with Agyei’s main argument: that many of us are stuck between perfectionism and paralysis (guilty), and that “ready” is a market condition, not a moral one. Publishing work in progress isn’t lowering standards, it’s accepting that typefaces can grow in public, through use. “Release the font. Learn from what happens. Adjust. Do it again.” How many times have I said this to younger designers? We’ve clearly been circling similar lines of thought and he seems much more optimistic about new opportunities than I sounded in Contraforma #4. Thanks for that.

🫐 Cassis: Generous Geometry by Nina Stössinger

In July 2022 I started a geometric sans that, like Cassis, focuses on gesture—inspired by sign painting manuals and Granby. About two months in, those sketches fell to the depths of my hard drive, and I’m honestly not sure they’ll resurface. But Nina’s words are inspiring, making me want to draw again. A twelve-year journey from the streets of Antwerp to the lively New York vernacular, distilled into a practical yet warm typeface. Dense with historical references and technical insight, the essay is the perfect reminder of how much our environments can shape the work, if we’re paying attention.

🕵️‍♂️ From Stone to Screen: Designing a Maya Hieroglyphs Typeface by Alexandre Bassi

Speaking of long commitments (am I searching for validation here?), Alexandre Bassi’s research and digital encoding of Maya hieroglyphs is extraordinary. Bridging cultural preservation, education and the power of a multidisciplinary collaboration, the project started in 2015 aiming to recreate 300 glyphs, each mapped from multiple sources across centuries and regions. And at its heart, a residency at Tulane, digging through Merle Greene Robertson’s archives. The rubbings, the pictures, the care and determination. It got me.

🇮🇳 India Street Lettering

When Pooja Saxena launched this Kickstarter last June, I backed it without thinking twice. Leafing through the book genuinely feels like taking a trip to India (which is on my list). It’s fascinating to notice all the things that connect us, and many others that make each visual culture completely its own. There’s also a very political cord in her work. Documenting public lettering of a country colonized until 1947, whose vast typographic heritage ended up in British institutions rather than where it belongs, becomes an act of resistance.

🇫🇷 Jules Vernacular

Jack Usine has been building this photographic herbarium since the mid-2000s—recently relaunched with over 1,700 entries. Shop signs, painted walls, and hand-cut alphabets from the French landscape that carry so much knowledge embedded in tools, trades, and regional habits (outside formal education). I spent an embarrassing amount of time wandering. You should do too.

🧠 Chico Homem de Melo

If you cherish (or are curious about) Brazilian graphic memory, you must follow Chico Homem de Melo’s Instagram (I know we are trying to leave that platform, so consider this a formal petition to move his beautiful collection to an RSS feed). A continuous feast of old ephemera—magazines, record sleeves, posters, stamps—connecting history, politics, and art. Most recently, I got struck by posts (1, 2) on Ivan Serpa’s paintings and book covers, including a couple for the Grupo Frente’s exhibitions in 1955-56. Formed by some of his students, they were a landmark of concrete art and geometric abstraction in Rio, including (of course) Lygia Clark and Hélio Oiticica. The connections are everything. I could go on, and on.

✊ A Woman of Character with Alice Savoie

Alice Savoie is a type designer based in Lyon, and if you know her Women in Type research (indeed we’re fighting for the same battle from different corners), you know how sharp and essential her thinking and writing are. This conversation with François Chevret is one of the best I’ve read in a while, full of honest advice on visibility and legitimacy: “[to the ladies] The day you are asked to give an interview or speak at a conference, say yes. You really have to. Even if you don’t feel legitimate, force yourself, because it’s the only way to move things forward.” Printing this out and putting it on my wall.

✏️ Okay Type Sketches + Best of 2025

Is social media dead? Gen Alpha says yes. I’d agree. And Okay Type seems to have joined the chorus in pointing the middle finger at the algorithm, posting his beautiful sketches directly on the foundry’s website. Should we make this a trend? I’ve been slow on making the switch, along with sharing my favorite releases of 2025—which again, Jackson beat me to. So, let me just say, I agree with many of his and Masha’s choices (sorry, I couldn’t resist plugging CoFo’s horoscope). Delusse—Sandrine is on fire. Shop Sans, brilliant. Die Grotesk, yes, yes, yes.

⚙️ How to Design a Variable Font by Anna Khorash

Still on Contrast Foundry (and publishing on your own), Anna Khorash wrote what might be the definitive intro to variable fonts. Covering the basics with plenty of practical tips, while making the case for approaching the technology in more creative ways: expressively and conceptually. I mean, her own Invert is mind-blowing. For anyone trying to understand interpolation logic, axis planning, and beyond, this is a resource to bookmark and revisit. You might also want to pair it with Nick Sherman’s repository of publicly available VFs.

🌀 Zed in 4D

I have a deep respect for people who can build their own tools. I truly see its value, even if my relationship with code starts and ends at copy-paste. Just van Rossum is straight up a magician, creating this interactive radial visualization for Zed: a super family with 4 axes and over 500 styles designed by Peter Biľak. As foundries invest in larger systems, it can be tricky to illustrate the scale and real potential of certain projects, but I love how you can feel the full complexity here without drowning in it.

🌐 Fonts on the Web Almanac

It’s easy to forget that web fonts as a standard practice is barely 15 years old. And that before 2010, designers were stuck with a handful of system fonts: Arial, Times, Courier. Though, as of 2025, 72% choose self-hosting (anything of their liking), and when using a third-party service, it’s almost certainly Google Fonts—what a jump in variety. Curious about the new top 3? Roboto, Noto Sans, and Poppins. As someone closer to the print world, I appreciate the reality check.

👨‍💼 Type Advisor

Marketing, distribution, licensing. It’s not easy to find business strategies built specifically for type designers. If you dig hard enough, there’s some advice buried in forums or passed in conversation during conferences. But as a dedicated service? The field has needed this for a long time. So I was thrilled when Doug Wilson launched Type Advisor, as he’s been consulting for over 20 years and understands both sides of the table. I’m booking a session the moment ZC Casual and Hanae are out the door.

🎬 A Typographic Commitment to the Bit: Creating Unease by Keya Vadgama

Most of my evenings are spent watching TV shows. And between us, I dream of seeing my typefaces used in that context—but only if done well. That’s probably why Keya hooked me right in the opening: “Can you remember the last time typography in a film or series had an impact on you?” Yes! Heated Rivalry: from the titling sequence to how Ilya and Shane’s text messages are woven into the storytelling. And her analysis depicts precisely how powerful type can be in building narratives. Especially when fully committing to the craft, no matter how painstaking or constrained the process is. That’s the bar.