I took a little over 12000 photos this year. About 2000 of them are worth editing, saving, and backing up. I’ve said before it’s easy to take a good photo of a person, but without a subject in the frame I’m usually in for a challenge. As this year winds down I’ve had a chance … Subject Not Detected
My favorite thing about this ever-growing list is that the format doesn’t tell you what my opinion is, only that it has changed. But nothing on this list has changed…twice. That’d be 360, right back where it started. Ridiculous! I shared this on Instagram but I like the images big on desktop 👍 Font in … 180s
My favorite things to make usually have a physical and digital form. Take photos, for instance. I can print a lot of them, inexpensively, from my phone (wild). But the ease of texting a picture of my kids to their grandparents is also amazing. Easy. Fonts are wonderful things to create, because they often start … Video vs Screens
It was only a matter of time before Allison and I started working together again, professionally speaking. Almost a year ago we tossed around the idea of starting a branding studio. At the time we were both doing our own separate things–I was making fonts and freelancing and she was taking photos and…also freelancing. But, … Relays
That title is a hacked appropriation of a well-known line from Seinfield which–unsurprisingly–you can stream in its entirety on Netflix (among other movies and shows). The stuff you want to watch or didn’t know existed? It’s everywhere. If you don’t mind paying. But if you actually have time to enjoy this stuff, it’s a wonderful … These Streaming Services Are Making Me Thirsty
This is new, all of it. The URL. The code. The–dare I say…strategy? Even this font I’m typing in. For a long time my website served as a portfolio, or as a blog, and at some point it was a shop. Now it’s all of those things at the same time, which seems ambitious but … What I’m Doing With Fonts Now
I released another new album as Adventureson. Unlike the January release of Ghost Bones, the latest is much darker, far more anxious. Maybe even more ambitious? The first and last track sound very different from the rest, but still fit within the same vibe. It might be a sign of the times, but it also … Doom As I Say Not As I Doom
It’s still strange to me that my wife and I own this house and land that we live on. Partly because the concept of“owning” land (stolen, at that) is weird, and partly because the housing market right now is completely insane. We’re just thawing out from our fourth winter at this old (mostly from the … This Land We Live On
I take a lot of pictures. Not too many, but probably more than the average person. Most of them come from a camera that isn’t attached to a phone. My current camera–a Fujifilm XF10–fits in my pocket. That’s pretty miraculous since it contains an APS-C sensor, which is considerably larger and more impressive than anything … What Do I Do With All These Photos?
After releasing music under my own name for almost a decade, I’m giving myself a band name. There’s no reason for this other than I want to publish music under something that reads/feels like the sounds I’m creating. There are too many Tylers out there. There are always weird things that happen with my last … Adventurson
Once a month I’ll inevitably get an email from Paypal saying that “a nice dafont visitor” threw a couple bucks my way. Almost always $5. It’s awesome and absolutely unnecessary (because everything I have on dafont is 100% free or open source). It’s also inspiring. I ultimately end up visiting DaFont and get lost in … DaFont Food Court
I haven’t mentioned this on my website but on January 1st I began a 52 week long project. The goal? Record one song every seven days. All year. It occurred to me that I should check in – with myself – at this halfway point. Right here. Unfortunately at week 18 my laptop died (brand … Twenty Fifty-Two
What better way to start a quarantine/lockdown than with semi-ominous instrumental music, right? These six ambient tracks span three years of on-and-off composition and production. They were written after moving from a small city (of 30,000) to a tiny town (of 3000) with lots of space to roam, physically and mentally. Pairs best with isolation, … Vast
I’m writing this on a Monday, but the title comes from the fact that I spent many hours yesterday finalizing on improvements made to League Mono and League Spartan. The latter is something I’ve been updating on and off for the past year (since forking a version to make variable in 2018). League Mono has … Open Source Sunday
This blog post started as a silly note on my phone. Less than a note really, just a list of every digital camera I’ve owned and used and loved and hated since 2003. Very quickly: I’m not a pro photographer but have supplemented my freelance career with photo gigs (weddings and headshots, y’all). Most of … New Year, Old Cameras
I just finished downloading all of my content from Flickr. It amounts to 21 ZIP files that Flickr prepared when I requested my archive, totaling almost 62.5 gigabytes from about 10,000 photos. I joined in 2007 when I was scanning old film and photographing with a $200 point and shoot. My account is now deleted. … Farewell to Flickr
This is a quick (relatively, it’s 18 minutes long) video tutorial on converting an existing single style font to a multiple master/variable compatible font in Glyphs. It’s not a perfect tutorial, but it should be enough for you to get started if you’re on a mac. As mentioned in the video, this is all possible … Making a Variable Font in Glyphs
I recently made a quick (15 minute) video tutorial on introductory letter making in Glyphs Mini 2. I think it is an improvement over my previous video.
This is a follow up to last year’s running infographic. So I didn’t run a single race and my longest run was only 20 miles (which I realize is a very long run for some people). BUT I was more consistent than ever, didn’t get injured or miss a run because of running, increased my … 2017 Runfograph
It has never been a better time to be a graphic designer in Ithaca. I write this as someone who has made a living here doing just that since 2006. We have an abundance of talent in this town and through our new inclusion with AIGA Upstate New York we also have some programming to … Design Crawl Ithaca
I’ve spent a lot of time over the years thinking about how I get by. Many of those years I was an employee with a salary. Some years were 100% freelance/product focused, and that’s what this post is about. Let’s take typefaces, for example. It’s rare but possible to make a good one in less … Profit, Loss, and Personal Satisfaction
I packed a microphone for my annual trip to Maine. You can see it in the photo above, very small, in almost the exact center of the frame. Aside from it’s relatively tiny size, it looks fragile and dark, almost imperceptible among the rocks and nearby water. This location is about halfway between Thunder Hole … Atlantic At Acadia
I began work on League Mono at the end of 2016, and had the bulk of it in a usable form in March of this year. Why? I had been looking through the League catalog and realized that it was missing a monospace family. There’s no shortage of great, free monospace typefaces in the world (links … Fixed Width Friends
I’m writing this on a bus to New York City. A last minute getaway with my wife. After admiring the winter scene that also distracts me when I’m behind the wheel, I realize that I can make something, right now. With my laptop actually on top of my lap, the options aren’t quite endless, but … Type on Type
I was late to join my local (Upstate NY) AIGA chapter, and even later to hop on the chapter’s Slack list. Deplorable, I know, but I tried to make up for it by proposing a collaboration: a group mashup typeface. Over 30 people contributed at least one letter, number, or symbol. I have never met … Upstate NY Font
In the fall of 2015 I created a birdfeeder using a single sheet of 24″ x 12″ birch plywood. I designed the three dimensional object in two dimensions using Illustrator, then laser cut the finished product at my local makerspace. I revised the design was about a dozen times, although every single feeder that I … Laser Cut Birdfeeder
A few years ago I had an idea to create ambient music from classic literature. The concept was simple: choose a piece of writing, remove every bit of punctuation, number, and letter other than A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, then play it. And that’s exactly what this is. I took a Loomings, … Loomings
If only everyone had paid 50¢ per download It feels like not too long ago I wrote a similar blog post about hitting 1,000,000 free font downloads. A lot has happened since that was published in October of 2013. The number of documented downloads of my fonts (compiled from Font Squirrel, DaFont, and The League … Strength in Numbers
Things I’m Over Things I Could Use More Of I’ll probably change my mind about some of these, especially since this was all made using Google Chrome (but that doesn’t mean I like to use it). These lists are more for me than they are anyone else. Illustration from oldbookillustrations.com.
In 2012 I put out an instrumental album called The Return Voyage of Christopher Mackenzie (TRVOCM). The music is kind of wacky, but it is exactly what I wanted it to be: a bit of a concept album, a soundtrack for a movie that doesn’t exist, quiet. But I felt like totally making up new … TRVOCM Remixes
I used to love bright, busy, vibrant wallpaper/background on my phone. They were fun but made the locked view/home screen busy, especially at night, even with the brightness turned down. So for years I went with a solid black background and never changed it. Now I find myself drawn to subtle textures in dark shades … Grayscreens
My son and I have been going to the Maritime Aquarium of Norwalk ever since my sister moved to that area over five years ago. My favorite room/exhibit has always been the jellyfish. This video is about three and a half minutes and I could easily watch these jellyfish for 30 or 40 minutes. It … Jellyfish and Friends
A few days ago I saw this and got really excited: #twithaca this friday, come make paper creations on the laser cutter @IthacaGen http://t.co/O32IAEIe10 — Xanthe Matychak (@xanthm) December 1, 2014 Way earlier in the year I backed Ithaca Generator‘s IndieGogo project and have been following along with close interest ever since. My friend and … Laser Type
I’ve used Southpaw quite a bit since Allison and I brought it to life earlier this year. Almost every day, at the Beer co. actually. In fact, it is already on two beer bottles, among many other things. Which is interesting. I have a tendency to only use one of my typefaces for a single … Southpaw Revisited
That’s right, I made these three pixel fonts in 2007. Flash was a big thing that I seemed to spend a bit of time with, and tiny text was huge (lol). Transparent PNGs were just beginning to hit the web, and if you didn’t want to use one of about 20 browser friendly fonts, you … Pixel County Classics
Metroid has been on my mind lately. It started when my kiddo obtained Nintendo Land / WiiU and found the Metroid level, which begins with the gloriously beautiful theme from the original game. And yesterday I picked up a box of odds an ends that had been at a neighbor’s house for years which, to … Zebes – Metroid Song
Seriously. Justin James Muir takes a good photo. When he sent me a few sample portraits for his beard book, titled A Book of Beards, my (bearded) jaw dropped. He asked for my help in putting together a one page website. So I threw together a snappy experience in about seven days. Behold: bookofbeards.com The … Love for “A Book of Beards”
I’m standing on what used to be Route 61, the now closed off southern path into Centralia, Pennsylvania. Underneath the road, and much of the old town, is a fire that started burning in the coal mines 50 years ago (May 1962). Temperatures in certain areas of the fire/mines exceed 1000 degrees, signs of which … Centralia, PA
I recently released an instrumental album that tells the story of a spaceman (whose ancestors originated on Earth) returning home. I, for better or for worse, created everything independently: I wrote and recorded the music, created the font used in the designs, took the photos, and made an album microsite site. And you know what? … The Return Voyage of Christopher Mackenzie