---
title: Design for Ferrari, glitching sun, fake movies
date: 2026-03-24
source: mailchimp
original: https://mailchi.mp/pathwright/collider-march-24-26
retrieved: 2026-11-09
visibility: public
author: /people/justin-hall.person.md
---

# Design for Ferrari, glitching sun, fake movies

[![Ferrari’s all-electric Luce elegantly combines physical and digital controls](./assets/hero.webp)](https://www.ferrari.com/en-US/auto/ferrari-luce)

*[Ferrari’s all-electric Luce](https://www.ferrari.com/en-US/auto/ferrari-luce) elegantly combines physical and digital controls*

It’s spring! Check your lease, you’re living in Pollen City. This time we’re colliding Ferraris, manholes, movies, bestsellers and turning a sketch into a custom sticker. More on that last one next.

Please skip around, read what you want to. Find something interesting in your own internet travels? Send me a link

—JH

---

*Side Project*

## “Y’all Be Good Online”

This year Pathwright is a returning sponsor of Greenville’s local tech conference, [Grok Conf](https://atlaslocal.com/grok-26). Part of my work in helping make Grok happen involved doing something I hadn’t done in a while—building letters from scratch.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes peek into my process.

![My initial sketches](./assets/feature-1.webp)

*My initial sketches*

I start with a sketch. I wrote this sign-off for the footer of Grok emails — “Y’all Be Good Online”. The pen-and-paper stage helps me find what about the letters I like enough to try building digitally. I don’t achieve perfection here, I’m just out to pique my own interest.

![Guides and first-draft vectors](./assets/feature-2.webp)

*Guides and first-draft vectors*

Next I move into Adobe Illustrator. Here I’m building vector versions of the letters with guides and width markers (the circles you see below) to get things consistent.

The first version always lacks the sketch’s *zing*. That’s okay—I work from technically consistent (always a little boring) to artistically consistent.

![Circles help me get letter widths consistent](./assets/feature-3.webp)

*Circles help me get letter widths consistent*

Next I start breaking rules. I’m not sure if you know this, but even highly rational fonts like Helvetica have characters that aren’t consistent. Widths of letter vary slightly to make them *optically* correct. Heights too. Not tripping up the eye

rather than being ruler-perfect gets a font the gold metal. So I begin adjusting widths to get things looking right.

After that, it’s about flow. How does one letter lead into the next? One line into the next? How does the whole phrase look from a squinting distance? I go back to paper to re-sketch letters that aren’t working. Eventually everything fits together nicely.

![Finished lettering](./assets/feature-4.webp)

*Finished lettering*

After I finished the letters, I used them to mask in colors.

When I can, I prefer to use images with gradients in them sourced from [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/) rather than creating a gradient in Photoshop or Illustrator. The image always looks less artificial. Thanks to [Sean Sinclair](https://unsplash.com/@seanwsinclair) for this one!

![Adding a gradient—my plan all along](./assets/feature-5.webp)

*Adding a gradient—my plan all along*

Last, I order stickers. These just came in a couple days ago.

We’ll give them away for free at the Grok Conf check-in table.

![Finished stickers hot off the press](./assets/feature-6.webp)

*Finished stickers hot off the press*

I’ll level with you—I didn’t enjoy all of this process.

But boy did I find it satisfying.

I got to prove to myself I can still do this kind of thing. And I got to contribute a little creation for a crowd of tech pals whose creations I also use and enjoy.

Not bad, not bad at all.

---

## Dead Cat

*10 curious links that would have killed the cat*

[@include](./01-the-joy-of-building-slow.link.md)

[@include](./02-ferraris-first-all-electric-car-the-luce-features-very.link.md)

[@include](./03-an-interactive-map-of-walking-routes-between-towns-cities.link.md)

[@include](./04-kevin-kelly-author-and-founder-of-wired-dishes-out-50-years.link.md)

[@include](./05-scientists-just-figured-out-why-the-suns-been-glitching.link.md)

[@include](./06-the-manhole-a-1988-hypercard-game-by-the-guys-who-made-myst.link.md)

[@include](./07-the-metropolitan-museum-of-art-added-138-3d-versions-of.link.md)

[@include](./08-in-the-sands-at-the-dakar-rally.link.md)

[@include](./09-why-dont-movies-feel-real-anymore.link.md)

[@include](./10-the-annual-tournament-of-books-is-in-quarterfinals.link.md)

---

## New at HQ

*in Greenville, SC*

Here are four updates to Pathwright from Paul:

We quietly shipped a handful of small improvements last week — especially for those of you with learners registered across multiple Cohorts.

✅ **Improved Cohort Access**: Previously, when a learner's Cohort access expired, they'd hit a full-screen message blocking the entire interface. Now they can access the About page or switch to another Cohort if they're in one.

✅ **Discussion Panel**: Fixed a rare but irritating bug where learners in more than one Cohort could incorrectly see a locked overlay on a Discussion that should have been accessible.

⬆️ You can now link to Block results from the Path Navigator when you're already in the same Step.

⬆️ Replacing a background image on a Path or Banner now resets blur and overlay settings to defaults — a fresh start for the new image.

---

The daily highs are higher here at HQ in Greenville, SC. Storms moved through recently, sweeping rain across yards, sidewalks and cars. The curbs ran yellow with pollen. Better on the ground than in the air I’m breathing, I always think.

Hope you’re enjoying a little change in your corner of the world too. I’m going for a walk in a minute. Hope you get to too!

High five,

[Justin Hall](https://www.pathwright.com/about#humans)\
Editor, Partner at [Pathwright](https://www.pathwright.com/)