Latest / The Feed & The Thread / The Feed & The Thread - Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Transcript

The Feed & The Thread - Wednesday, January 28, 2026 · The Feed & The Thread

• 0:00
  Today we're covering Velocity, a new font designed for branding
• 0:03
  with its compactness and curvature, and we'll hear what
• 0:06
  the community is saying about why translation icons often use
• 0:09
  “文A” and explore some design critiques on candle packaging.
• 0:16
  Welcome to The Feed and The Thread, brought to you by
• 0:18
  Chicago Camps. Our next UX Camp event is coming up on February
• 0:21
  twenty first. We're still accepting presentations, so
• 0:24
  submit your talk today!
• 0:32
  The industry's been busy over the past day. Here's what's
• 0:36
  catching our attention and worthy of yours. In a new piece
• 0:39
  titled "Velocity: Fast & Beautifully Furious," John
• 0:42
  Boardley at I Love Typography introduces Velocity, an all-caps
• 0:46
  sans serif font designed for branding and contemporary
• 0:49
  design. The article highlights its compactness, curvature, and
• 0:53
  forward momentum, making it ideal for large typesetting.
• 0:56
  With 12 stylistic sets and three diacritic sets, Velocity offers
• 1:00
  flexibility across various applications, positioning itself
• 1:03
  as a valuable addition to any designer’s toolkit. At UX
• 1:07
  Design.cc, Dalladay's latest article, "Today’s organisations
• 1:10
  don’t have an AI problem — they have a thinking problem," argues
• 1:14
  that many organizations are mistaking speed for intelligence
• 1:18
  when implementing AI. The piece emphasizes the importance of
• 1:21
  thoughtful application rather than just rapid adoption,
• 1:25
  suggesting leaders critically evaluate how AI fits into
• 1:28
  broader organizational goals to ensure genuine value. Also
• 1:31
  publishing recently: heyDesigner, TPGi (The Paciello
• 1:34
  Group), and UXPin Studio. Be sure to check them out in your
• 1:38
  feeds!
• 1:46
  Okay, let's see what the community is buzzing about this
• 1:49
  time around? So over in the Design subreddit, there’s this
• 1:52
  debate heating up around translation icons and why they
• 1:55
  often feature “文A”. Lots of upvotes on that one already! And
• 1:59
  u/Xminus6 chimed in with a pretty interesting point: "Also
• 2:02
  the ‘中’ is specific to the country name and perhaps too
• 2:05
  specific and limiting. Whereas ‘A’ is just a general reference
• 2:09
  to many romance languages." I mean, when you’re aiming for
• 2:12
  broad appeal, you gotta think globally. Meanwhile, another
• 2:15
  thread in the same subreddit is exploring restraint in candle
• 2:19
  packaging design. It's looking for some feedback, but only ten
• 2:22
  upvotes so far. Still, there are some thoughtful comments like
• 2:26
  this from u/sabre35_: "My absolute guess here is that the
• 2:29
  character is distinguishable enough as a foreign character,
• 2:33
  but also not visually complex such that it’s easily legible as
• 2:36
  a glyph at the scale of small app icons." Can't argue with
• 2:40
  that – simplicity in design often wins. And speaking of
• 2:43
  thoughtful design choices, folks are really diving into the
• 2:46
  specifics and nuances here. It's pretty cool to see folks trying
• 2:50
  to get feedback on something so detailed, but it’s worth
• 2:53
  checking out if that’s your thing. That's what folks are
• 2:56
  buzzing about today! Lots to chew on!
• 3:06
  Chicago Camps is hosting UX Camp Winter on Saturday, February
• 3:09
  21st. There will be plenty of great presentations, all online,
• 3:12
  so you can join from anywhere in the world! Tickets are only
• 3:15
  thirteen dollars and fifty cents and there are plenty of
• 3:18
  complimentary passes available thanks to the generosity of the
• 3:21
  community. Get tickets now at Chicago Camps dot org. They've
• 3:24
  also got a Proposal Counselor to help you create your
• 3:27
  presentation proposal and get on stage! Submit your idea today!
• 3:38
  Today, we talked about the new Velocity font and its
• 3:40
  versatility in contemporary design. And in the community
• 3:43
  discussions, it's interesting how even something as small as a
• 3:47
  translation icon can spark a global debate on design
• 3:50
  universality. Thanks for tuning in — we'll catch you next time.
• 3:53
  That's The Feed and The Thread for today. Keep designing with
• 3:57
  intention!