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mwichary's profile
Marcin Wichary
Marcin Wichary
Marcin Wichary
@mwichary

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Marcin Wichary

@mwichary

Writing a book about the history of keyboards: http://aresluna.org/shift-happens  · Design manager @figmadesign · Typographer · Occasional speaker · He/him

San Francisco, Calif.
Joined October 2009

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    1. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 15 Apr 2018
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      Good news, though: The chapters I wrote later in the process were so much better. That means, I think, I’m becoming better at this, right…?

      1 reply 0 retweets 9 likes
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    2. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 15 Apr 2018
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      Next stops? Need to rewrite a bunch of things towards the second manuscript, including the beginning. (I have tons of TKs inside, and notes outside.) Then, show it to more people.pic.twitter.com/Oq4w1KxZIN

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    3. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 30 Apr 2018
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      These icons make sense to me today. But I’m pretty sure that won’t be the case tomorrow.pic.twitter.com/mppnZ4Uj6y

      1 reply 0 retweets 10 likes
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    4. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 11 May 2018
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      Marcin Wichary Retweeted A.J. Kandy

      On a completely unrelated thread, someone just showed me this fascinating keyboard I’ve never heard of. I believe that at this point in my life EVERYTHING WILL SOONER OR LATER CONNECT TO KEYBOARDS.https://twitter.com/AJKandy/status/995017378789441536 …

      Marcin Wichary added,

      A.J. Kandy @AJKandy
      Replying to @chriswearly @mwichary
      Here's a fun example of an early 80s synthesizer that had a rare (at the time) 14-segment alpha display: The Kawai SX-240. You could type on the keyboard to name your patches. Not long after, the industry switched to LCD and VFD, and LED was relegated to numeric displays only. pic.twitter.com/8qcD9EhnCt
      3 replies 0 retweets 14 likes
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    5. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 12 May 2018
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      Case in point: I just plotted a drive to a park I had bookmarked for years. I zoom in to see where the Google Maps route drops me off and I see… a keyboard maker. 0_Opic.twitter.com/LAlpwTRlZO

      1 reply 0 retweets 19 likes
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    6. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 16 May 2018
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      I just randomly stumbled upon photos of trial title slides for the first talk I ever gave about keyboards, internally at Medium in 2014. (The last one was what I went with.)pic.twitter.com/HMjFLpUdh5

      1 reply 0 retweets 11 likes
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    7. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 16 May 2018
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      …which nicely dovetails into something a friend just sent to me, which is *holy crap amazing* and one more great reason to finish the book. (Not that I already don’t have a few…)pic.twitter.com/mG6D9XPjGn

      1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes
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    8. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 17 May 2018
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      Unexpected part of writing the book: testing different microphones for recording my voice and also the sound of keystrokes.pic.twitter.com/nidYz6knHG

      3 replies 0 retweets 15 likes
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    9. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 27 May 2018
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      Rewrote the opening chapter today, and then played a bit with Blender to see if I can render a nice key. Still a lot of improvements to be made, but could be an interesting visual option.pic.twitter.com/BxcqF32ua5

      6 replies 0 retweets 32 likes
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    10. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 31 May 2018
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      Okay, something amazing just happened. I peeked into one chapter to check something – the one about teletypes and terminals – started reading it and… couldn’t put it down. I couldn’t put down my own book!

      3 replies 0 retweets 34 likes
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      Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 31 May 2018
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      (This is… not a familiar feeling, or something I really know how to even wrap my head around.)

      11:38 PM - 31 May 2018
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        2. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 4 Jun 2018
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          Finished the second draft! Rewrote the opening and the ending, rearranged the most confusing things, cleaned up tons of small challenging bits. This is the first version of the book I’d be happy to show to people in its entirety. 😬pic.twitter.com/tdRh9WO4Pp

          3 replies 0 retweets 19 likes
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        3. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 4 Jun 2018
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          Also, it’s fun to see the style guide taking shape.pic.twitter.com/EUJn5rQ54c

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        4. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 6 Jun 2018
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          Unexpected benefit of writing a book – creating an RTF to HTML converter. (I’m not sarcastic. I’ve always been curious. What a weird format it’s been so far.)pic.twitter.com/XUR6CUdS2w

          4 replies 0 retweets 14 likes
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        5. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 7 Jun 2018
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          This might seem like the most ridiculous manual approach, but this way I will know exactly which special characters are in the book – and be ready to make sure they’re eventually typeset properly. Also, fun to see a good ol’ manicule right next to the only emoji in my book.pic.twitter.com/1FIWagg5AM

          2 replies 0 retweets 14 likes
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        6. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 11 Jun 2018
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          Marcin Wichary Retweeted

          I was recently on @mathowie’s awesome podcast Hobby Horse, talking about Pac-Man, the Phelan Building, Medium, and – chiefly – the sequence of events that led to the keyboard book, and where am I with it today. https://twitter.com/mathowie/status/1005621336738152449?s=21 …

          Marcin Wichary added,

          This Tweet is unavailable.
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        7. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 19 Jun 2018
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          The project’s become difficult again – so it goes – and America is breaking my heart, so this milestone feels hollow, and yet: For the first time, I sent the book in its entirety for someone to read and give me feedback. Egads!

          1 reply 0 retweets 11 likes
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        8. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 19 Jun 2018
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          Also, I made this modern web reading environment for it, and it was exciting to see the book in a different livery for the first time. I’ve so far only known it in Scrivener, typeset in Tisa Pro… but here it is in the beloved Mercury Text (and some Maison Neue strewn around).pic.twitter.com/Zma1RSFTRb

          1 reply 0 retweets 8 likes
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        9. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 19 Jun 2018
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          (I also set up my first virtual server and wrote my first Node server app in the process, which was a classic “use something you have to do as an excuse to learn something new” scenario.)

          1 reply 0 retweets 10 likes
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        10. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 19 Jun 2018
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          Also, this numero is so, so gorgeous. I like that its presence tells a story: there in all the early chapters, talking about typewriters like Remington №2 and Underwood №5; gone later, since we stopped using it. But tell me that “iPhone №10” doesn’t have a nice ring to it.pic.twitter.com/eJ3CAD9QkC

          1 reply 2 retweets 19 likes
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        11. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 22 Jun 2018
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          Discouraging to send an editor specific documents saying why there is no book like this one, and comparing it to all the existing books about typewriters… only to hear her say “I took a look at Amazon, there are a million books that try to do the same thing.” *A million books.*

          2 replies 0 retweets 3 likes
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        12. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 22 Jun 2018
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          BTW hilariously that numero above is not from the font I chose for text… but from Times. Times! It’s awesome to know even an old, worn down typeface still can hold a few surprises.

          1 reply 1 retweet 1 like
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        13. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 25 Jun 2018
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          Preparing example spreads for a potential publisher, imagining this book as a full-colour 8"×10" volume. This is starting to feel rather real!pic.twitter.com/fjctlNSvPT

          3 replies 0 retweets 19 likes
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        14. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 25 Jun 2018
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          Update on the book piles! One is really trying to make a run for it.pic.twitter.com/L2qbgAfEUM

          2 replies 1 retweet 26 likes
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        15. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 25 Jun 2018
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          Not going to lie: making mock-ups like these where I know the text is real, and photos will be, is SUPER fun.pic.twitter.com/Ra4nrwyWBS

          4 replies 2 retweets 39 likes
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        16. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 1 Jul 2018
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          First (printed) prototype of my book, with a temporary cover, and no photos – but every single word of the text all there. Already with tons of sticky notes for all the things I noticed that need fixing.pic.twitter.com/UJ0ZF8bBgh

          4 replies 1 retweet 38 likes
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        17. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 1 Jul 2018
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          You know what was surprisingly emotional? Seeing a table of contents with page numbers, and then being able to go to that page and just… start reading.

          2 replies 0 retweets 12 likes
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        18. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 1 Jul 2018
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          A friend of mine was leafing through it on Friday and said “every time I go to another random page I see something interesting.” ^_^pic.twitter.com/L29jqtPov4 – at Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment

          3 replies 0 retweets 8 likes
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        19. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 1 Jul 2018
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          In the meantime, adding a new keyboard recorder to my 20-plus-year-old awful Pascal code just in time for tomorrow’s newsletter: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/shift-happens/ … (I’ve never before written Pascal while having internet a keystroke away to answer any questions I could had.)pic.twitter.com/HBn1Pf25l9

          2 replies 0 retweets 10 likes
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        20. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 18 Jul 2018
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          In an old catalogue, yet another illustration that seems to perfectly summarize my life. (Previous one: https://twitter.com/mwichary/status/939584916756369408 …)pic.twitter.com/KyzMwDFGIi

          1 reply 0 retweets 5 likes
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        21. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 29 Jul 2018
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          An amazing benefit of being loud about the book writing process is that people volunteer little anecdotes and stories like this delightful one:https://medium.com/@capek/a-propos-of-nothing-i-offer-the-following-which-seems-somehow-relevant-34724ae51b58 …

          1 reply 0 retweets 6 likes
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        22. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 30 Jul 2018
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          I am often amazed and often overwhelmed by the range and scope of tasks necessary to write this book, particularly since I’m also aiming to typeset and design it.

          2 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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        23. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 30 Jul 2018
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          This is an example of just one to-do branch I had to traverse today. There are so many more – and I’d lie if I said I fully understand the shape of the entire giant tree.pic.twitter.com/hVOcgSheKv

          1 reply 1 retweet 4 likes
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        24. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 30 Jul 2018
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          Going back and forth between “the writing part” (strategy) and some, incredibly tactical nuance can be a real challenge.

          1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
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        25. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 30 Jul 2018
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          Small tasks provide respite and a sense of accomplishment, but there come in infinite amounts and for a detail-oriented person can easily completely take over. Dealing with larger questions is necessary, but it often feels vague and comes without a progress bar.

          1 reply 0 retweets 5 likes
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        26. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 30 Jul 2018
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          Today, in the process of getting someone to help me figure out big strategic editing questions, I had to build a Python typesetter *inside a font creating program* to help me create a key font. Otherwise, making 517 necessary glyphs would take an infinite amount of time.pic.twitter.com/IfQaUgAQDd

          1 reply 0 retweets 10 likes
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        27. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 30 Jul 2018
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          It’s a very complicated and large to-do tree, and I keep jumping from one faraway branch to another. I’m not saying it’s bad or even that I know how to do it any other way – but sometimes it’s hard to even wrap my head around what’s going on.

          1 reply 0 retweets 9 likes
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        28. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 30 Jul 2018
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          My newsletter has become an unexpected forcing function he: every ~50 days I need to step back and give a succinct update. (Also! many thanks and kudos to @djrrb for allowing me to play with the pre-release variable font version of his excellent typeface Output!)pic.twitter.com/dZY9TNQJO3

          1 reply 0 retweets 8 likes
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        29. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 5 Aug 2018
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          I was at the Computer History Museum today and my keyboard research allowed me to give some advice and background to the IBM 1620 restoration team (which seems awesome), and now I really feel like a historian!

          1 reply 1 retweet 30 likes
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        30. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 20 Aug 2018
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          If I never had much nostalgia for analogue photography, this might be why: with digital, I can get from farm to table within 10 minutes. It’s almost too much fun. (This is just a test spread. I don’t imagine this particular keyboard making it into the book.)pic.twitter.com/8Nz2laCGqY

          1 reply 0 retweets 41 likes
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        31. Marcin Wichary‏ @mwichary 27 Aug 2018
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          My lord, I have enough photos of keyboard diagrams that my iPhone thinks a keyboard is a *person in my life*. And when I tap Show Faces, it just creepily zooms in on one random key.pic.twitter.com/qCVMvsatqK

          3 replies 26 retweets 112 likes
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