I’m Arun Venkatesan, and this is the arun.is newsletter, where I share my current obsessions, inspiration from around the web, behind-the-scenes content, and more. 

In this week’s issue:

• Tiny fonts for tiny devices
• Japan redux series so far
• An end of the year giveaway

Tiny fonts for tiny devices

Recently, I purchased an Adafruit MacroPad. It’s a fully assembled keypad with twelve backlit hot-swap sockets for mechanical switches, a rotary encoder (essentially a rotating knob), and a 128px x64px monochrome OLED screen. It runs CircuitPython, so it’s completely programmable. 

I intend to turn it into a Lightroom editing device, kind of like a Loupedeck. In designing a UI and looking for fonts, I remembered a couple of stories about Apple and its use of bitmap fonts in relatively recent products. 

The first is a story about the first iPod. It had a 160px x 125px screen. For that tiny UI, they turned to Chicago, a typeface that Susan Kare developed for the first Mac that shipped in 1984. The Mac had a much larger 512px x 342px resolution, but the Chicago typeface turned out quite suited to the iPod. Even if most people didn’t notice the similarity, it gave the iPod a sense of familiarity.

Years later, Apple released the iPod Mini. It was a much more compact version of the original iPod. I remember correctly, it might have been the first Apple product to use a colored anodized aluminum enclosure.

It had an even tinier screen, a mere 138 by 110 pixels. Apple turned yet again to another past project, the Newton. The Newton experienced lackluster sales and was killed shortly after Steve Jobs returned. Still, Apple honored it in the iPod Mini by using a typeface from the failed device. 

With the introduction of color displays, Apple switched to outlined fonts on iPods. I do miss those bitmap fonts on low-resolution displays. They had a certain charm that has been lost in today’s rich displays with imperceptible pixels. 

I considered one of those old Apple typefaces for my project but wanted something a bit more unique. I found an excellent GitHub repo with a listing of bitmap fonts, including screenshots of what they look like. My current choice is bitbuntu, which has plenty of character since it echoes the larger Ubuntu typeface. More importantly, it’s incredibly compact. 

I’ll keep you updated on the progress of this project. I’m hoping not just to build a custom user interface but also to design a custom enclosure. I want to make it less a hobby project and more like a finished product.

Japan redux series so far

The first of three parts to my Japan redux series of photo essays went up last week. 

The response has been great. It started some conversations with a few people who also had transformative experiences in Japan and a few others planning to take a trip there as soon as the country opens up.

I’m in the process of writing the next issue. I hope to publish it before the end of the year.

Additionally, I’m thinking about writing up a yearly summary as well. Quite a lot has happened this year, and I think it’s a good time to reflect on it all.

An end of the year giveaway

As a thank you to all of you for following along this year. I’m going to do an end-of-the-year giveaway. I won’t reveal the prizes yet. However,  I’ll tell you that some are subscriptions and apps that I love. The contest will probably involve a survey. I’d love to get to know you better and hear some feedback about my work.

Look for more details in the following newsletter. It will drop in two weeks.

That's it for this issue. As always, this is my personal email, so feel free to respond directly.

Stay curious,
Arun Venkatesan