All by Roger Black

New and improved

Roger Black takes a look at the new redesign of The Guardian, muses on a reader’s reaction to change of any kind, and offers an uninvited fix of the logo’s letter spacing.

THE NEXT BIG THING—IN FONTS

We’ve been hearing a lot about variable fonts, or Variations, where many styles are combined into one font file. The big tech companies are implementing it—Google, Adobe, Microsoft and Apple. And there are of course Variations deniers, pushing back on the change. But it’s time for graphic designers to  think what it can do.

When in the course of human events

Sometimes printing is a revolutionary act. Two hundred forty years ago a Baltimore publisher printed the first copy of the Declaration of Independence signed by representatives of all 13 states. The presswork itself was an act of treason—from the English point of view. And she did it out beautifully, signing her own name at the foot, in caps and small caps. Mary Katherine Goddard.