Yearly blog archives
-
2023
-
I have a logo now
26 April 2023
At the end of last summer, I attended the very first Letter Luvvers event and met Emma Luczyn, who did a talk on her hand lettering work. Her presentation was fantastic, we had a great chat afterwards, and not too long after the event, I figured that Emma would be the perfect person to create something I’d been mulling for a while: a logo.
-
2022 in review
07 February 2023
Continuing my annual tradition of recapping the year just ended, here’s my look back on 2022. As always, this type of post is mainly written for the benefit of my future self, but because I personally enjoy reading other folks’ yearly reviews, perhaps one or two of you might like this, too.
-
-
2022
-
The final Google Fonts Knowledge drop of 2022
01 December 2022
The year’s almost at its end, but we’ve got one last Google Fonts Knowledge drop for you, and, although I’m biassed... it’s a really good one. In my opinion, it builds upon what we launched for Q1, Q2, and Q3 with some well-rounded content that really takes the resource up a notch.
-
I designed myself some festive cards and you can buy them, too
15 November 2022
I’m happy to announce that I’ve finally achieved a career-long dream and designed myself some cards for the festive season. Next month, I’ll start sending them out, and I’m also putting some up for sale, too.
-
Google Fonts Knowledge Q3 content drop
03 November 2022
We’ve just dropped a load of new content on Google Fonts Knowledge! 15 new articles and 9 new glossary terms, to be precise. Here’s a post with a quick breakdown.
-
This site’s type is now variable
28 September 2022
I’ve been writing and editing a lot of content about variable fonts for Google Fonts Knowledge recently, so I figured it was high time my own website switched over to use the variable version of Ohno’s Degular. And now it’s live — you’re reading text set in it right now. Lucky you.
-
Google Fonts Knowledge Q2 content drop
21 July 2022
Today marks Google Fonts Knowledge’s second content drop of the year and I figured it was worth a quick post to cover all the newness.
-
Google Fonts Knowledge Q1 content drop
07 April 2022
When we launched Google Fonts Knowledge at the end of last year, I mentioned that it was “just the start of something much larger” and today, we’re making good on that promise: our first content drop of 2022 has gone live on the site. We’ve added 21 new glossary definitions, four new articles, one heavily updated definition, and numerous small tweaks throughout the existing content. Oh, and Google Fonts Knowledge is now open source thanks to a CC BY-SA 4.0 licence!
-
2021 in review
01 February 2022
2021 was a weird one. Again. But we were very fortunate: the challenges of lockdowns and homeschooling aside, my family avoided the worst effects of the pandemic. I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time with my kids, I worked for the entire year on Google Fonts Knowledge, and I released a healthy amount of music, both my own and, via my label, from others.
-
-
2021
-
Google Fonts Knowledge
07 December 2021
Google Fonts Knowledge — the project I’ve been building with the Google Fonts team over the course of the past year — launched today. GFK is a library of educational content designed to enable designers and developers of all skill levels to choose and use type with purpose.
-
Our home studio
08 October 2021
Back in April, we had a family of squirrels trying to make a home in the roof the outbuilding in our garden, which just so happens to be our home studio. We managed to remove the squirrels (humanely, I’ll add), but at the time I was starting to get pretty paranoid about the studio burning down if they started to chew the wires, so I figured it’d be a good time to take some photos of the space as an insurance precaution — but also because it was finally ‘finished’; i.e. we’d got it looking pretty much the way we wanted it after a few years of gradually refining the room.
-
Release, Change, Rift
28 September 2021
My new EP, Release, Change, Rift, came out on Observant yesterday and this is a big one for me: apart from some remix duties, a few appearances on compilations, and of course my split EP with Decka on Unterwegs, this is the first ‘full’ Other Form release on a label other than Unknown Movements.
-
2020 in music
27 April 2021
Yeah, I know: publishing an end-of-year review nearly five months into the next year is kind of daft. But, in the spirit of my end-of-year wraps of the past, this is more for my own personal posterity, and I’d like to controversially suggest that there were actually some good things that emerged from the maelstrom of 2020 — at least in terms of music.
-
-
2020
-
Getting things done with TODAY ▼ + SOON ▶
12 October 2020
Inspired by Jeff Sheldon’s Analog project and my recent desire to move to-do lists into the physical realm, I designed my own card-based productivity system, ready to print via Moo. Here’s a bit about it.
-
Behind the scenes of Maido’s rebranding
07 July 2020
A detailed look at the process that went into gently evolving the brand of the agency I worked at up until the pandemic. Type nerds, read on.
-
A redesign at last
25 June 2020
Hello and welcome to the new
elliotjaystocks.com
— which is not just a redesign, but also a full rebuild. In fact, it’s the most substantial re-think of my personal site in about a decade, and the first time the site has had a portfolio section in a good 15 years or so. My plan is to delve into some of the site’s details in further blog posts, but today I’ll attempt a loose-ish overview. Humour an old man, won’t you?
-
-
2019
-
Tempo: not just another email client
17 September 2019
My interest has been piqued by email app Tempo, which I’ve been trying out in beta for the last few months. With the product imminently coming out of beta and the approaching launch of their mobile app, now seems like a good time to reflect on this intriguing new contender.
-
MacBook What?
26 March 2019
As I made my bought my shiny new MacBook Air, it struck me just how confusing it is to buy an Apple laptop in 2019. Even the myriad options of hardware configuration aside, the very naming itself — the actual brand of the MacBook Air — seems somewhat confused.
-
MacBook Air unboxing
22 March 2019
I just bought one of those new MacBook Airs with the Touch ID thingy. Thoughts to follow; meanwhile, here are some unboxing photos for the nerds.
-
An open letter to Jacob Rees-Mogg
17 January 2019
You and I could not be further apart.
-
-
2018
-
Doing one thing a day; or, a calendar plan that’s actually productive
10 April 2018
A couple of years ago, I wrote an article called ‘Working for half a day to be more productive’, and while my intentions were good, that piece suffered from a problem that has affected many of my writings on the subject of getting-things-done: I wrote the piece without having actually settled into the very routine about which I was enthusing, and — lo and behold — I no longer follow my own recommendation, having failed to stick to such a rigid schedule.
-
Gwen
22 February 2018
At around midday on Thursday 22nd February 2018, Sam and I said hello to our second daughter, Gwen River Stocks.
-
The arrogance of the HomePod
19 February 2018
With Apple’s HomePod finally arriving in the hands of pre-order customers last week, recent news headlines about the device have been dominated by reports of the device leaving unsightly marks on customer’s wooden countertops.
-
-
2017
-
Music consumption in the era of smart speakers
20 December 2017
-
One year with the Google Pixel
03 October 2017
-
Advanced Typography in Berlin
14 June 2017
-
So, I have a record out
11 May 2017
-
Advanced Typography for the Web & Print
21 March 2017
-
-
2016
-
Lagom magazine vs. 2016
21 December 2016
-
One week with the Google Pixel
04 November 2016
-
Google Pixel unboxing
24 October 2016
-
I’m making a huge, hardcover 8 Faces book — here’s why
17 September 2016
-
The Apple-Google shift
20 August 2016
-
A post-Brexit world
27 June 2016
-
Do the right thing tomorrow
22 June 2016
-
Working for half a day to be more productive
14 March 2016
-
The new studio
24 February 2016
-
-
2015
-
That was 2015
30 December 2015
-
Goodbye, Typekit
21 December 2015
-
1 month with the Apple Watch
02 June 2015
-
Joli sleeve for MacBook
29 May 2015
-
MacBook (2015) unboxing
20 May 2015
-
1 day with the Apple Watch
02 May 2015
-
Thea
30 April 2015
-
Lagom #2 is out now
26 March 2015
-
-
2014
-
Pay your contributors
19 December 2014
-
The new eBay vs. physics
09 December 2014
-
Insites: The Xmas Special 2014
27 November 2014
-
Confessions of an independent publisher
06 October 2014
-
You can now buy Lagom, our new magazine
01 October 2014
-
So what actually is the UK?
19 September 2014
-
A lament for the iPod Classic
15 September 2014
-
Goodbye Digest, hello Lagom
05 September 2014
-
Viewport Industries has now closed for business
02 September 2014
-
On digital publishing in 2014
12 August 2014
-
Google’s Material Design
26 June 2014
-
Typekit updates for CC 2014
20 June 2014
-
Advanced web typography: Responsive web typography
09 April 2014
-
Advanced web typography: Justification & hyphenation
09 April 2014
-
Advanced web typography: Kerning
08 April 2014
-
Advanced web typography: A recap on OpenType features
08 April 2014
-
Say hello to Skull Tubes
31 March 2014
-
A lament for Readmill
29 March 2014
-
Celebrating non-venture-backed companies
05 March 2014
-
This is not 2013 in review
03 January 2014
-
-
2013
-
CSS Regions and Edge Reflow
27 September 2013
-
Digest is out now
14 August 2013
-
Digest’s typography & grids (part 1)
07 August 2013
-
My new magazine: Digest
29 July 2013
-
Countdone is now available in the App Store
26 June 2013
-
3 reasons I’m excited about WWDC 2013
04 June 2013
-
Hello, Typekit
23 May 2013
-
Studio diary 2013: part 2
15 May 2013
-
You should come to ConfShop
10 May 2013
-
Typographica’s favourite typefaces of 2012
18 March 2013
-
Beware the free, invisible service
14 March 2013
-
Responsive web design: the war has not yet been won
01 March 2013
-
Coming soon: Countdone for iOS
21 February 2013
-
Designers I would recommend
08 February 2013
-
Somerset to San Francisco in pictures
03 February 2013
-
Studio diary 2013: part 1
09 January 2013
-
-
2012
-
2012 in review
31 December 2012
-
Thirty-three
18 December 2012
-
Quatro
13 December 2012
-
A new model for the musician-to-listener relationship
28 November 2012
-
Hammer
22 November 2012
-
A conversation with Erik Spiekermann
20 November 2012
-
Typecast joins Monotype
30 October 2012
-
Music collections in the era of the cloud
24 October 2012
-
So, this is what I missed
19 October 2012
-
What did I miss?
17 October 2012
-
Thank you
23 September 2012
-
Why we created Insites: The Book
21 September 2012
-
Good riddance, PayPal
04 September 2012
-
Review: Doxie Go WiFi scanner
01 August 2012
-
Has adaptive design failed? Of course it bloody hasn’t.
23 May 2012
-
Tomorrow’s web type today: from Qaegkvwyz to Qaegkvwyz using stylesets
15 May 2012
-
Tomorrow’s web type today: Say it With a Swash
14 May 2012
-
Tomorrow’s web type today: Expert subsets for css in 123
12 May 2012
-
Tomorrow’s web type today: The fine flourish of the ligature
10 May 2012
-
The cloud-centric Mac set-up: 8 months on
10 April 2012
-
Ideas of March 2.0
15 March 2012
-
Responsive Summit
28 February 2012
-
Better background images for responsive web design
15 February 2012
-
Review: Mantis Stand for iPad
10 February 2012
-
Dog days
25 January 2012
-
A better Photoshop grid for responsive web design
20 January 2012
-
-
2011
-
2011 in review goals for 2012
29 December 2011
-
Announcing Insites: The Book
21 December 2011
-
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
16 December 2011
-
8 Faces #4
06 December 2011
-
Viewport Industries & The 2012 Experiment
17 November 2011
-
The typography-out approach in the world of browser-based web design
07 October 2011
-
Steve Jobs
06 October 2011
-
Help us raise $35,000 for clean water in Ethiopia
30 September 2011
-
The Kindle Fire
29 September 2011
-
Review: ColcaSac MacBook Air 11" sleeve
22 September 2011
-
Extensis’ Web Font Plug-In
13 September 2011
-
Choose your web fonts wisely
01 September 2011
-
The relevance of the baseline grid
24 August 2011
-
Profiled in Computer Arts Projects
23 August 2011
-
I'm redesigning Smashing Magazine
18 August 2011
-
8 Faces #3
17 August 2011
-
A note about my new Mac set-up
09 August 2011
-
A cloud-centric software licence
25 July 2011
-
Three things
08 July 2011
-
Font-weight in the age of web fonts
07 July 2011
-
The Email Charter
04 July 2011
-
First impressions of Google Plus
30 June 2011
-
Free HTML / CSS for type & palette proposals
24 June 2011
-
Get away from your desk
02 June 2011
-
CSS transitions & media queries
31 May 2011
-
Authentic Jobs UK
26 May 2011
-
Using TextExpander to conquer email
11 May 2011
-
Tracked
06 May 2011
-
Posthumous posting
05 May 2011
-
A preview of Codex: the journal of typography
27 April 2011
-
Introducing: Insites
21 April 2011
-
Time away from email
18 April 2011
-
An open letter to Dropbox
10 April 2011
-
A cloud-centric Mac set-up
05 April 2011
-
Allow yourself a sick day
24 March 2011
-
Using web fonts in desktop design apps
22 March 2011
-
Ideas of March (a return to blogging)
21 March 2011
-
-
2010
-
2010 in review goals for 2011
27 December 2010
-
The best web conferences of 2010
22 December 2010
-
The search for the perfect media centre
22 November 2010
-
8 Faces #2
10 November 2010
-
Hardboiled Web Design by Andy Clarke
19 October 2010
-
The fine art of saying hello
15 September 2010
-
Win a special edition of 8 Faces
17 August 2010
-
MoviePeg alphabet
09 August 2010
-
On publishing
28 July 2010
-
8 Faces #1 now available to pre-order
16 July 2010
-
8 Faces: very, very soon
09 July 2010
-
EP 2 is on its way
28 June 2010
-
Starkers 3.0
21 June 2010
-
Perfect Harmony
21 June 2010
-
Pulse news reader for iPad
11 June 2010
-
Back up
10 June 2010
-
Steve Jobs on Flash
30 April 2010
-
The inevitable failure of e-readers
24 April 2010
-
Web designers who can't code
18 February 2010
-
First thoughts on the iPad
28 January 2010
-
Starkers: HTML5 the future
25 January 2010
-
Bristol bound
23 January 2010
-
The Apple Tablet
12 January 2010
-
-
2009
-
2009 in review goals for 2010
30 December 2009
-
Introducing: 8 Faces magazine
23 December 2009
-
A pet project in the works
18 December 2009
-
Branding The Money Pig
09 December 2009
-
URL ABC
27 November 2009
-
Ghostly Discovery
30 October 2009
-
English lesson #1: it's / its
13 August 2009
-
The Font-As-Service
07 August 2009
-
Starkers grows up
17 July 2009
-
‘How to design a portfolio site’ screencast
13 July 2009
-
Tutorial: Multiple single.php templates in WordPress
09 July 2009
-
Win a signed copy of Sexy Web Design
16 April 2009
-
Don't check work email outside of work hours
27 March 2009
-
Announcing... EP 1. Come and get it.
23 March 2009
-
Sexy Web Design
19 March 2009
-
EP1: the details (and how to get it for free)
15 March 2009
-
Web Directions North 2009
17 February 2009
-
Studio diary: part 5
05 February 2009
-
Studio diary: part 4
30 January 2009
-
Studio diary: part 3
20 January 2009
-
Design trends in 2009
15 January 2009
-
Let’s talk money
08 January 2009
-
-
2008
-
Goals, old and new
22 December 2008
-
Studio diary: part 2
15 December 2008
-
LittleSnapper
11 December 2008
-
Studio diary: part 1
02 December 2008
-
Write off that first hour
27 November 2008
-
A quick word on advertising
19 November 2008
-
Round-up of 2008 speaking events
14 November 2008
-
Samantha Cliffe Photography
24 October 2008
-
Speaking events in early 2009
21 October 2008
-
Build your profile to get more freelance work
13 October 2008
-
Why being freelance does not mean you have to work more hours
06 October 2008
-
Starkers for WordPress 2.6.2
18 September 2008
-
Thwart the design thieves feature in .net magazine
01 September 2008
-
Death to IE6
27 August 2008
-
Vote for my SXSW ‘09 panels
13 August 2008
-
Bypassing the new Delicious site
12 August 2008
-
Interview on Boagworld (and appearance on The BeerCast)
16 July 2008
-
Introducing WooThemes; or, How you can own my WordPress theme designs
09 July 2008
-
Tutorial: create a textured background image
28 June 2008
-
iPhone 3G disappointments
10 June 2008
-
A blessay about Twitter
23 May 2008
-
Happy National Day!
18 May 2008
-
Learning lessons
07 May 2008
-
The to-do list problem & the ‘Things’ solution
01 May 2008
-
Week one of working for myself
26 April 2008
-
FOWD London 2008 wrap-up
23 April 2008
-
Create the perfect logo feature in .net magazine
03 April 2008
-
‘A Gosling’ by Stuart Kolakovic
26 March 2008
-
Speaking and teaching at FOWD
12 March 2008
-
Want to help create the next version of elliotjaystocks.com?
07 March 2008
-
Wordpress tutorial:how to apply a dynamic body class or ID
23 February 2008
-
I’m leaving Carsonified
20 February 2008
-
How can we stop the thieves?
08 February 2008
-
Typesites
07 February 2008
-
Free ‘Starkers’ Wordpress theme
27 January 2008
-
Video on CommandShift3
25 January 2008
-
Catastroph-IE
25 January 2008
-
Kning Disk: beautiful Swedish design
19 January 2008
-
Cooking With Beer, episode 1:‘Mussels in Hoegaarden with Chips’
11 January 2008
-
Goals for 2008
04 January 2008
-
-
2007
-
Round-up of 2007 speaking events
25 December 2007
-
Tutorial: create transparent PNGs from your application icons
19 December 2007
-
Best of CSS Design 2007 / Top Blog Designs of 2007 / snap2objects interview
13 December 2007
-
24 ways
03 December 2007
-
The iPhone can make you a better person
30 November 2007
-
Always (mis)read the label
22 November 2007
-
‘Destroy The Web 2.0 Look’ @ Future of Web Design, New York
13 November 2007
-
CSS Tutorial: better nav image replacement
27 October 2007
-
Writeroom: minimalism at its best
24 October 2007
-
A week in books
12 October 2007
-
I’m speaking at Future Of Web Design, New York
09 October 2007
-
A little story about Airbag Industries’ new Sundance Film Festival site
05 October 2007
-
I’m speaking at SkillSwap Bristol
14 September 2007
-
Win tickets to ‘iDesign’ next Tuesday
11 September 2007
-
The new iPods
06 September 2007
-
I’m speaking at the London Design Festival
01 September 2007
-
Apple’s new iMac & keyboard
08 August 2007
-
Feature in .net / Practical Web Design magazine
26 July 2007
-
I’m speaking at Oxford Geek Night 3
20 July 2007
-
5 apps for a new MacBook Pro
13 July 2007
-
Some pretty big news
20 June 2007
-
Tutorial in Computer Arts magazine
09 June 2007
-
Apollo at Adobe Live 2007
06 June 2007
-
Transcending CSS by Andy Clarke
10 May 2007
-
Thoughts on Coda
24 April 2007
-
‘Gimmi’ custom Photoshop brushes (v1)
24 April 2007
-
Three mistakes Apple have made with the UK market
26 March 2007
-
-
2006
-
Bonnie, 1994 - 2006
30 December 2006
-
Christmas shopping: online, instore
29 November 2006
-
Misunderstanding web standards
09 November 2006
-
The joke that is IE7
03 November 2006
-
iTunes 7: I take it back
29 September 2006
-
iTunes 7
17 September 2006
-
Pedantic Semantics
05 September 2006
-
Beer heaven
28 June 2006
-
This is the end…
17 June 2006
-
A change of plan
15 June 2006
-
Dracula unspectacular
03 June 2006
-
Amsterdam > Prague > Vienna
25 May 2006
-
Aboard the ship surreal
22 May 2006
-
Brussels
20 May 2006
-
New site!
18 May 2006
-
-
2005
-
Waking up to trees
05 September 2005
-
(Re)Thinking Aloud
05 September 2005
-
On the deck
05 September 2005
-
After the London bombings
07 July 2005
-
Untitled
26 January 2005
-