TRAVERSER: french for — to pass, to cross, to traverse, to span.

ONE—After becoming immersed in the basics of type design in grad school, I have a deep appreciation for the process that goes into creating one. There are so many little things that need to be thought about to make it work. It’s tedious, frustrating, and a whole ball of fun all at the same time. While I certainly couldn’t do it full-time, I love my little type side projects. This article goes into the process and inspiration behind the creation of the typeface Drawing Line. Did I mention I love process? Take a look if you’re interested in seeing how a typeface can be inspired from many different venues — it’s also great to look at this from a pure design perspective. Comparing the inspirations from the moodboard to the final output, you can definitely see how the inspirations were used and how they created something truly unique for the purpose of the end product. Yay type!

TWO—Speaking of inspiration and uniqueness, a couple weeks ago I was asked by blog friend Angel to answer some questions on authenticity. For the interview, she paired my thoughts on the subject along-side my girl Rashi. I kind of squeed in joy when I saw that Rashi was also contributing. She’s such a design powerhouse. It was great to participate in this, and amazing to have two perspectives on this hard-to-navigate subject. Big thanks to Angel for having us!

THREE—Well this is probably going to happen for Thanksgiving. I’ve been on an apple cocktail kick. A side story: William was in town again this past weekend. On Friday he read an article in Cleveland Magazine talking about prohibition cocktails and how a local distillery made authentic apple jack — which I guess is quite rare? We went to a local bar to try the cocktail they wrote about called a Gingerjack. After asking for it and receiving a jack daniels and gingerale, William started a conversation about the apple jack. The bartender had never heard of it. He started going on about its history and how it was the liquor of America and how George Washington brewed it, etc. etc. History majors, I’ll tell ya. After the George Washignton bit, off to the side we hear: “Abraham Lincoln brewed it too” in the most serious manner. It was coming from a lady eating a caramel sundae at the end of the bar. The juxtaposition of this entire conversation had me in fits of giggles. She went on to tell us how you can mix the apple jack with simple syrup and a splash of lemon to get an insanely great cocktail. Long story short: the owner of the bar came over eventually and knew what we were talking about when we said “Gingerjack,” so we got our cocktail, and the caramel sundae lady conversation prompted us to get our hands on our own bottle and try out the lemon variety. Soooo, we had a great Saturday with that one. Back to the point: this looks like another great apple-y cocktail. Also, thyme syrup!