Ryan Gosling and a Rebellious Designer
ft. Hua Shu
Ryan Gosling is seated in a chair. But instead of being his making-women-swoon-by-simply existing-regular self, he appears to be in distress.
Soon, you realize the chair he’s seated in belongs in his therapist’s office. She asks what’s bothering him. He gulps down the lump in his throat and says:
“And then he randomly selected Papyrus like a thoughtless child just wandering across a garden, yanking leaves along the way”.
If you’ve never heard Gosling utter these words, you totally should check out this video:
He talks about Papyrus, the font that the blockbuster movie Avatar (yes, the one with the blue-skinned, human-alien hybrid creatures) used in its logo.
So it was no surprise when Hua Shu—creator of the FontDiscovery newsletter—said that Papyrus or anything resembling Papyrus is the font she’ll never use even when all hell breaks loose.
A rebellious spirit from the start, design—fonts in specific—gave Hua a space to break rules and channel her rebelliousness. Today, she is a designer, coder, design professor, Google Font contributor, and a full-time font nerd!
Hit that play button below to enjoy a 27-ish minute glimpse at the world of typography - through the eyes of a clay-loving-kid who had no idea she’d fall in love with fonts when she grew up.
This is episode #9 on The Newsletter Nerd Show.
If Apple Podcasts is your thing, check it out here.
If you’re new here - welcome! Every episode has 3 segments and in this newsletter, you’ll find a (very brief) summary of the episode. If you need the really good stuff, you’ve got to hit the play button!
Off you go, then.
On fascination with fonts
All designers like to draw. Maybe not.
Career in design
Bringing her rebelliousness to design
Helping people make better design choices
You say you have a creative sister too? Hmmm.
Why FontDiscovery?
Design and newsletter communities to know
The ultimate goal with the newsletter
Design resources
On a design trend
The second segment of the show, Reading Room is that quiet corner where you can curl up with nothing but a book to keep you company. And if you’re feeling really fancy, you can probably throw in a couple of candles and complete it with hot cocoa.
Here, however, what’ll keep you company is Hua’s voice as she reads out an excerpt from her newsletter.
She chose to read out the one about Valentines’ Day and scripts!
Time Stamp: Head to 18:49 in the podcast above for the reading
This is hands down my most favourite segment of the show and from what I’ve seen, it’s the same for the guests and listeners alike! Now, this is a segment you’ve GOT to check out the audio version of! (aka simply hit that play button)
The rules of 'Have You Ever' are simple - I ask the guest a couple of questions, and they respond with a yes or no.
Time Stamp: Head to 21:36 to check out how Hua faced the questions thrown at her!
But for whatever reason, if you choose to continue just reading, I made a visual summary for you.
As you read each question, wait for the accompanying llama to reveal its true colour.
A green llama means a YES and a red llama means a NO.
That’s how you do it, Hua👏.
With that final segment, you’ve reached the end of this episode.
This week, I have a favour to ask of you - if you’ve been enjoying The Newsletter Nerd Show, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. It’d mean the world to me and help bring on kickass guests in the future as well!
You can instead support me by buying me a 🍕.
Thank you for being here :) I hope you’re enjoying the show as much as I enjoy creating it. If you want to see anything removed, added, or simply want to share your feedback, please hit that reply button and let me know. I love hearing from you <3
I’ll see you again in two weeks.
Love,
Thank you for tuning in to the ninth edition of The Newsletter Nerd Show!
This is a fortnightly podcast show that celebrates stories of independent newsletter creators across the globe🎙️
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Thank you for having me on the podcast, Akshaya!
It was so much fun ✨🦙