wanderingstan

RC4 is little bit of computer code that you probably use every day without knowing. It quite possibly made the web into a viable business platform by providing a means for secure monetary transactions online. The original code was created by RSA Systems and has never been released. But one guy figured out some code that works exactly the same, and in 1994, posted the code you see above to a mailing list. The rest is history.

Recently I’ve been fascinated at how important computer code has become to our lives, yet is so unknown by most people. So lately I’ve asked techie friends what they would nominate as the most “important” code. RC4 was the suggestion of Luke Howard.

(Sorry for the low quality and distortion. I couldn’t find a scanner so just used a digital camera and photoshop.)

Previously in lettering:

• Sleepwalking through time
• Somewhere in the Colombian Jungle

Another page from my old journals, where I experiment with lettering. Emphasis here was on strict verticals, but to make all horizontals as fluid and swirly as possible. Done with the usual black ballpoint.

I think this is from 2008, after getting back from Colombia. I especially like the short entry at the bottom from when I’m sick—you can feel the sickness in the letters! Seems my best work always comes from extremes of emotion: either elated as in the previous example, or feeling down as is the case here.

Previously: Lettering: “Somewhere in the Colombian Jungle”

All Lettering Posts

"Somewhere in the Colombian Jungle"

While my notebooks fill up with “things I should really blog about” entries, I was encouraged recently to share some of my favorite handwriting styles. That, and I was excited to find the My Handwriting Flickr group for inspiration. Most of you know that I’m a bit obsessed with letters, and in my mostly-daily journal I try to create new styles whenever I can.

This is a journal entry from 2008 after visiting the “Lost City” of Ciudad Perdida in Colombia. Inspiration was all (hundreds of them) stone circles that marked where homes once stood a thousand years ago–so goal was to exagerate all the circles in the text, and in all random-seeming sizes like in the city.

More about Ciudad Perdida at Wikipedia

On Flickr

…and greetings to all from Berlin!