Jason Santa Maria
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Jul 27

Fundamentals of Web Typography on Skillshare

I love typography, so I made a Skillshare class to help you learn all about the fundamentals of using type on the web.

Feb 13

Saved

Important cultural works get saved, documented, and written about. But do they paint an accurate picture of history?

Dec 29

All the Domains

I register a lot of domain names. They may not take up physical space, but they definitely take up a lot of mental space.

Dec 22

The Sweatpants of Typefaces

I Love Typography’s John Boardley with what I very much hope is The Last Word on Helvetica.

Dec 05

Responsive Responsibility

Something old and something new. Two books shaping how we approach responsive design.

Dec 04

Alien: Typeset in the Future

Dave Addey is at it again with another well documented and thoroughly enjoyable piece on the typography from the film Alien.

Nov 19

Piles of Ideas

The only way to get to the good ideas was to trudge through all the obvious and bad ones first.

Nov 12

Landing on a Comet

Humankind is attempting to land a washing-machine-sized bit of science equipment named Philae onto Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko today.

Oct 16

Learning to Run

After 36 years of life, I finally get why people run.

Oct 14

Vintage Halloween Masks

A fantastic photo set of vintage Halloween masks and costumes on Flickr. I could look at these all day.

Oct 06

Pendleton Ward Quits Adventure Time?

After three years, Pendleton Ward is stepping back to simply be “one of the show’s writers and storyboard artists”.

Oct 06

Paul Lukas: The Street’s Secret Code

When I first moved to New York, I remember seeing these little poker chip things in the street and wondering just what the heck they were.

Oct 01

You’re My Favorite Client

Mike Monteiro drops the other shoe and follows up his amazing book Design Is a Job with something for that special client in your life, You’re My Favorite Client.

Sep 23

Correspondence with an Ex-Designer

I want to share a letter I received from ex-designer, now sheep farmer, Ruth, in reply to my post from a few months back where I wondered what comes next after being a designer.

Sep 23

The Benefits of “No”

Liz Danzico on discovering the fringe benefits of saying “no”.

Sep 18

Ed Emberley

Highlighting work spanning more than five decades, this gorgeous and comprehensive book celebrates the talented and prolific life of Ed Emberley.

Sep 16

Why You Want a Code of Conduct

Erin Kissane expertly outlines why our gatherings need a code of conduct. If you are a member of the web community, or really any community, this is required reading.

Sep 15

Ode to a Table

A large kitchen in your average New York apartment is like a mythical beast. You may muse about their existence from time to time, but chances run high that they aren’t real things.

Sep 15

Ditching Twitter

I’ve recently tried just using Twitter less, not engaging as often or as deeply to see if I could somehow keep it around. But not participating feels weird too.

Sep 10

NYCTA Graphics Standards Manual Reissue

Hot damn! Unimark’s 1970 NYC Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual is being reissued as a full-size book through an exclusive license from the MTA.

Sep 10

Drafting

Having a deadline helps drive it into my skull repeatedly that writing has less to do with skill, and more to do with showing up.

Sep 02

Size-specific Adjustments to Type Designs

Tim Ahrens and Shoko Mugikura of Just Another Foundry have released an updated and expanded edition of Size-specific adjustments to type designs.

Sep 01

Interludes in Design

More articles are focusing on slowing down to not only convey their story, but to set and maintain a mood for the reader.

Aug 05

I Wrote a Book

My book On Web Typography is out! *deep breath*

Aug 01

The Adobe Illustrator Story

The Adobe Illustrator Story is a great short documentary with a behind-the-scenes view of how the software came to be.

Jul 17

What’s Next

In the back of my head is always a thought: What will I do when I stop designing websites?

Apr 28

A Lifetime Odyssey

Sasha Sagan, daughter of famed astronomer Carl Sagan, wrote a wonderful piece about her father and how life is both terrifying and exciting.

Apr 28

On the Job

My grandfather was a carpenter. He built many houses, including his and my grandmother’s, and my family’s home.

Apr 07

Four Color Process

I’ve been reading comic books off and on since I was little. There was a time when I thought I’d like to pursue a career in drawing comics.

Mar 17

Ask a question

When I want to find out more about my own work, I ask a question. When someone asks me to look at their work, I ask a question. It’s a silly thing to say, but it took me years to do that.

Mar 10

Philadelphia Fade Out

I was born and raised in Philadelphia, so when I travel I often get weird looks when I ask for a glass of wooder, and man do I miss good sawff pressle. Last week The New York Times published a great piece on the unique Philly sound.

Feb 18

Take a breath

Have you ever seen something that someone else made that you just hated? What happened next? Did you rush to Facebook or Twitter to share your disdain with the world?

Feb 18

The Winter Olympics Gear Guide

The New York Times has been doing a great job covering the 2014 Winter Olympics, but also a spectacular job of giving the games a bit more context.

Jan 22

Discourse in web design

Where does a common language for discourse start? Not just one for us as web designers, but one that will give structure to others who don’t as deeply understand what we do?

Sep 24

Don’t be dumb, use smart quotes

Today is National Punctuation Day (it’s totally a thing). To celebrate, I made a single-serving site to spread awareness of a horrible vestige in today’s typography: dumb quotes.

Sep 15

Just Enough Research, by Erika Hall

Last week brought another wonderful title to the A Book Apart library, Just Enough Research by Erika Hall.

Jun 06

The Space Between the Notes

All signs are pointing to a revamp of iOS being announced at Apple’s WWDC next week, and with it, a lot of speculation around what it might look like.

Feb 11

Editorially

We’re making a new platform for writer and editors called Editorially. Our goal is to make the very best tool for writers — one that helps you collaborate, and so helps you write better.

Dec 19

De-Aparting

Over 7 years and 167 issues later, the time has come for me to step down as creative director for A List Apart.

Nov 14

Saying “No”

I had the pleasure of speaking alongside Simon Collison for the New York CreativeMornings chapter last month as part of the Kickstarter benefit to create an archive of every video from every speaker from every chapter.

Nov 05

Content Strategy for Mobile, by Karen McGrane

New from A Book Apart, Karen McGrane’s Content Strategy for Mobile.

Oct 31

Leaving Typekit

It’s with a heavy heart I write that today is my last day at Typekit.

Oct 19

Baseline Grids on the Web

A response to a Branch discussion about the usefulness of baseline grids on the web.

Sep 27

Beautiful Bitmaps

The wonderful folks over at UPPERCASE Magazine invited me to participate in a fun typographic project called Beautiful Bitmaps for their latest issue.

Sep 21

Off Book, The Art of Web Design

Look ma, I’m on PBS! Or at least the PBS website.

Aug 27

Stealing Sheep

When I read this Designer Spotlight on type designer Frederic Goudy it made me remember again just how much I like him.

Jul 09

Symbolset

Symbolsets are semantic symbol fonts that replace words with icons via OpenType ligature support.

Jun 26

Pixar Story Rules

Story rules, as told by one Pixar story artist.

Apr 26

Hillman

Hillman Curtis, artist, designer, filmmaker, Brooklynite, bicyclist, friend, and explorer passed away last week at the young age of 51.

Apr 10

Design Is a Job, by Mike Monteiro

New from A Book Apart, Mike Monteiro’s Design Is a Job.

Apr 03

Comic Books on the iPad

I’ve been reading comic books since I was a kid, and now the new iPad has quickly become my primary means for reading them.

Mar 29

Paper by FiftyThree

Paper is a new drawing app for the iPad from FiftyThree.

Mar 21

Stamen Maps

Stamen has released some beautiful alternative takes on map tiles.

Feb 28

Kickstarter keeps getting better

Kickstarter expects to provide more funding to the arts than NEA.

Jan 25

Our Favorite Typefaces of 2011 at Typographica

One of the best annual wrap-ups returns after a hiatus in 2009-10, Our Favorite Typefaces, from Typographica. Welcome back!

Jan 19

A List Apart: Issue 342

The latest issue of A List Apart is one of my favorites in recent memory, and has three articles you can’t miss.

Jan 04

10 New Year’s resolutions for designers

I generally avoid lists and New Year’s resolutions, but Mike Monteiro issues a rallying cry so poignant we all need to listen.

Dec 14

Tattly in Motion

The fine folks at Made by Hand made a cheery promo video for those lovely designy temporary tattoo people at Tattly.

Dec 06

Shelve Your Opinions

Does our definition of what a book is need to change?

Nov 29

Little Printer from BERG

Wow, Little Printer from BERG is such a stellar little example of making something simple and fun.

Nov 28

Kafkaesque

These upcoming Kafka covers by Peter Mendelsund are really lovely. These beautiful stark shapes and colors make them unexpected, but also totally on the mark.

Nov 04

The Knife Maker

The second film in the Made by Hand series, The Knife Maker, focuses on Joel Bukiewicz of Cut Brooklyn.

Nov 04

Chevrolet Speedometer Design

A lovely gallery of Chevy speedometer designs over the years.

Nov 01

Tegels

The hidden movements and melodies of street tiles.

Oct 28

Chocolate is for Girls

My love affair with candy has been lifelong, and while each year I seem to have a new favorite, there’s one variable that unites them all—they are not chocolate. by Jessica Hische

Oct 26

Kern and Shape Type

Just in case you were under the impression that type design or typography are easy.

Oct 21

Monkey Nuts, Barmbrack and Apples

I grew up in Ireland, the home of Halloween. by Jeremy Keith

Oct 20

New Browsing UI at Typekit

We just launched something over at Typekit that we’ve been working on for some time, a brand new interface for browsing our type library.

Oct 17

Two New A Book Aparts!

We’re very excited to release not one, but two, new A Book Apart titles today.

Oct 17

Instapaper 4

One of the best iOS apps around gets a great big update. Instapaper 4.0 is out!

Oct 07

Chunky in Fury

It’s January of 1979 and we’re sitting inside the Plymouth Fury outside an AM/PM Mini Market in North Philadelphia. by Mike Monteiro

Oct 04

Gavin Rothery

The site of Gavin Rothery, the visual effects supervisor from the excellent 2009 film Moon, is my new favorite blog.

Sep 27

Branding 10,000 Lakes

One Minnesota Lake. One Logo. Every day.

Sep 19

Illusory Typography

Stephen Doyle’s beautiful type illusions from this past weekend’s New York Times Magazine.

Sep 09

Scenes from Brimfield

Last week I went to Brimfield, Massachusetts, home of the largest flea market in New England. Here are some photos from the trip.

Sep 09

Made by Hand

Made by Hand is a short film series celebrating the people who makes things by hand — sustainably, locally, and with a love for their craft.

Sep 08

Who invented the high five?

The origin of the high five is as mysterious as it is timeless. “So I reached up and hit his hand. It seemed like the thing to do.”

Sep 01

Wood Type Revival

Wood Type Revival seeks to acquire and release ten fonts of rare historic wood type representing faces that are not available in the world of digital typography.

Aug 31

Sanborn Map Company

Beautiful lettering from old fire insurance maps, courtesy of Christian Annyas. Totally not boring, I promise.

Aug 30

Golden Grid System

Golden Grid System, a folding grid for responsive design. Take it apart, steal the parts that you like, and adapt them to your own way of working.

Aug 29

Off Book, Episode 2

In episode 2 of the PBS documentary series Off Book they take a look at the importance of typography.

Aug 08

Five & Ten

This year marks my site's tenth birthday online, so I'm celebrating with a new design incarnation. Number five is alive! (Sorry)

Aug 23

Jacqui Oakley

Check out some of this gorgeous work from Toronto illustrator, Jacqui Oakley.

Aug 16

New Oliver Sacks book covers

Lovely new Vintage series covers for Oliver Sacks designed in-house by Cardon Webb.

Aug 15

Who really designed Times New Roman?

There’s strong evidence that Times New Roman wasn’t designed by Stanley Morison, but by William Starling Burgess, a wooden boat designer from Boston.

Aug 01

About Face

About Face, a new article series I’m writing over at the Typekit Blog where we’ll look at the details behind a typeface and try to crack what makes it special.

Aug 01

Words

A fantastic visual game of telephone from Everynone (in Collaboration with WNYC’s Radiolab & NPR). Shut off everything for three minutes and just watch.

Jul 31

WasteLandscape

An undulating landscape of 65,000 CDs by architect Clémence Eliard and artist Elise Morin.

Jul 12

Tattly

Tattly, designy temporary tattoos from Swissmiss and friends. These are so hot.

Jun 16

WIM•BLE•DON

Video info graphic (infovideo?) documenting the final game of the 122nd Edition of the Wimbledon Championships Men’s Final between tennis giants Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Very clever.


On the Subject of Me

Jason Santa Maria is a graphic designer living and working in sunny Brooklyn, NY. Furthermore

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