SUBGRID

ISSUE 008

The fall of the American monoculture, as Ben Fritz, writes in his long read for WSJ earlier this week, mostly centred around cinema as the tentpole: "Americans could count on the fact that their neighbors, their co-workers, or the stranger they sat next to on a plane knew the same pop culture as them and quite possibly had an interesting opinion about it. We talked about the stuff we had watched and listened to at work, on dates and at family reunions." While Fritz sees this cultural shift from an American lens, one could argue that it's a shift for possibly all of humanity.

For the last few months, I've enjoyed watching reruns of Gilmore Girls on Netflix with my wife. Set in a fictitious town in Connecticut, the show is about family dynamics, adolescence, parenting, relationships, small business and more. I'm watching the show for the first time, whereas she grew up watching it. For the early 2000s, this was a monoculture moment. For us today and especially for me (I grew up in India), it's a peek into the monoculture of the past. Occasionally, nowadays, if I make a Gilmore Girls reference when out & about in the small towns of Ontario, people who are older understand and relate, and it's a wonderful moment of connection.

However, when the younger generation that grew up on YouTube and Instagram's algorithms gets older, I'm not sure if they'll have such monoculture moments to look back to. What will those familiar references you can make to people be 20 years from now, if everyone's living in their own little algorithmically-curated microcosm of reality?

Put that in context with a written piece by Anne Quito about the return of making things by hand: "During periods of technological upheaval, slow, tactile media reliably undergo a renaissance."

Artificial intelligence is the technological upheaval of today, and there's an argument to be made that after interest in AI's "magical superpowers" plateaus, humans will value analog, delightfully imperfect and slow creations more so than commoditized outputs being churned out by algorithms. With the rising appeal of artifacts from the past, repurposed to work for utilities of today, this movement might even already be well underway. And the likelihood of that happening increases even more if a stock market crash, fuelled by overvaluation of AI stocks, is in the cards in the near future.

Humans are a hard-to-please subset of living forms that's for sure.

Starting this week, I'll be experimenting a little with the design of Subgrid, so you may see some minor tweaks here and there with how sections are presented or what they include. Over time, I may also reduce the frequency from weekly to a slower, twice-a-month schedule to reduce the overwhelm of your inbox, but in case you really love getting it weekly and feel strongly, let me know — it's good to have those datapoints.

–Siddharth

WORDS & VIEWS

From around the web.

​The origin of ❤️-shaped books​

Interesting brief pictorial piece on heart-shaped books and their history, connecting Ancient Egypt, European history and artifacts on display in various museums, linking near the end to an interesting PBS Origin of Everything video about the history of the modern heart symbol.

​The quiet resurgence of making things by hand​

Writer Anne Quito writes on Adobe's design blog: "Unlike the sledgehammer-wielding Luddites of the Industrial Revolution or graphic designers who scoffed at desktop publishing in the 1980s, today’s battles aren’t so much with systems but with the self. [...] For some creatives, plunging into a personal project offers the time and space to clarify what they value most."

​The rise and fall of American monoculture​

Ben Fritz for The Wall Street Journal writes about the fall of American 'monoculture' as everyone, especially the younger generation, consumes different media, powered by algorithms and niche interests. Fritz weaves a history of American films with pop culture moments such as The Beatles performing on The Ed Sullivan Show in February of 1964, or movie-goers standing in line for Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi in 1983. Where are those moments now?

PRODUCT DISCOVERIES

Things I observe, try or love from makers who seem to put care & thought in the design. Just personal recommendations and curiosities (no affiliate fees earned).

​Paulin: Playful looking watches and clocks assembled in Scotland. The relative affordability (in a watch connoisseur sense, which I am not — I've only ever owned watches under $500 and never an automatic) can probably be credited to a curated set of partners in their production process, which they're very transparent about. The dial is milled from aluminum in the UK or sourced from a dial maker from Germany that's been in business for 60+ years. The case is sourced from a Chinese manufacturer in business since 1935. The hands are manufactured in India. The movement comes from Swiss and Japanese manufacturers that have been in business since 1793 and 1881 respectively. The strap is made by a 70-year-old family business in Germany as well as tanneries in England. The pieces are packaged in eco-friendly kraft paper, card and cork from a set of suppliers in Italy, Portugal and England.

​Journey Deskmat/Sleeve: Journey's NEXA laptop sleeve that also doubles as a wireless charging-enabled desk pad is certainly appealing. It's hard to find laptop sleeves with slim profiles. I've had a Bellroy bag for years for daily use and these days I borrow my wife's colourful laptop sleeve when she's not using it. So, I'd love to try this out.

THIS WEEK'S BOOK

A book from my shelf or one I aspire to own.

A TYPEFACE & ITS STORY

A wholesome typeface and written prose about its origin story or impact.​
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Credit: Typography.com listing of Gotham (screenshots taken by me).

​Gotham was designed by Tobias Frere-Jones and Jonathan Hoefler in 2000. It's a sans-serif font that felt distinctly American. Inspired by a fascination with mid-century letterforms on New York City architecture, including the one at Port Authority Bus Terminal, Gotham's story like the story of most other typeforms is deeply personal to the type designers. Originally commissioned by GQ magazine, it was first used on its January 2001 cover that featured actor Philip Seymour Hoffman (fun fact: I was an avid reader of GQ in my late teens through early 20s). If the typeface looks very familiar, you might also remember it from Barack Obama's successful 2008 presidential campaign. It's also on the cornerstone of One World Trade Center.

​Designing Gotham: To commemorate 25 years of Gotham, writer Doug Wilson interviewed Tobias Frere-Jones for a piece published a few weeks ago. It's a long one, published after 8 days of interviews, so best to read it in parts.

​The History of the Gotham Typeface: Another more dated piece written by the co-designer Jonathan Hoefler on his blog with personal anecdotes and motivations behind the creation of this distinctly New York City typeface.

ARTIFACT FROM THE PAST

A figment of design history.

ISEC-250 Stock Market Computer

~ That's it for this week's edition. To simple things that last long. ~

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