Jason Santa Maria

Designer and co-founder at A Book Apart, and leading Product Design & Research at Netlify.

I love and geek out on books, pencils, horror movies, fonts, smart quotes, photography, and games — both video and tabletop. I live and work in Philadelphia under a pile of books.

Public Key

npub1j2h3l3wu5c0hkjepdnefkx40y67ev5q7d4cq34ljmlwpduynvsnqyasm73

NIP-05 Address

jasonsantamaria_at_typo.social@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsf9tclchw2v8mmfvskeu5mr2hjd0vk2q0x6uqg6ledlhqk7zfkgfsrgq0fp

Author Public Key

npub1j2h3l3wu5c0hkjepdnefkx40y67ev5q7d4cq34ljmlwpduynvsnqyasm73

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Last Notes

2025-03-06 21:19:05

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@nprofile…pn60 So many good fonts!

2025-03-06 19:59:42

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@nprofile…pn60 Heck yes to this redesign! Really wonderful work 🙌

2025-03-06 19:33:46

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@nprofile…6d43 Thank you! 🙌

2025-03-06 18:37:13

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@nprofile…gqk6 Thank you, me too!

2025-03-05 22:14:46

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@nprofile…dpfj Thank you!

2025-03-05 21:03:53

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@nprofile…rnt9 Oh hell yeah, I used to love my black high tops.

2025-03-05 19:32:09

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@nprofile…pn60 yeah but I wrote “business” on it after only two tries, so

2025-03-05 19:26:16

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@nprofile…pn60 *puts on business hat*

2025-03-05 19:06:45

📢 Some news: After working in-house for the last decade, I’ve decided to jump back into contract design again!
I wear lots of design hats: UX, product, editorial, branding, type design, and writing. I’ve also worked across many fields like start-ups, non-profits, type foundries, publishing, and more.
I love to collaborate to make useful and fun things. Consider me for your next project: https://jasonsantamaria.com/

2025-03-03 17:18:30

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@nprofile…yre4 Yes 🙃

2025-02-26 00:49:19

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@nprofile…6d43 @nprofile…p0pl Holy moly this is fantastic, Jen!

2025-02-24 16:31:22

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@nprofile…z8lh Beautiful!

2025-02-22 21:38:09

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@nprofile…t9fv Oh nice find! I also posted on some transit subreddits to try and track down the company and route mine is from. I think I have some general ideas, but can’t totally confirm.

2025-02-22 14:34:32

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@nprofile…t9fv Wow, this looks amazing! I ended up splitting mine in two so that I could hang more of it. It has a sewn seam I undid (figuring that I could always resew it if I wanted). But, like you, I had always imagined hanging it in a really stairwell too 😂

2025-02-22 03:08:38

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@nprofile…pgtd This is fantastic! Really great work 👏

2025-02-21 16:07:12

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@nprofile…d9cp Wow, thank you so much, Kjell! ❤️

2025-02-21 16:06:02

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@nprofile…t7na Wow, looks great! Thank you!

2025-02-20 18:47:12

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@nprofile…l5kr Thank you! I’m having a lot of fun learning and making them <3

2025-02-20 15:11:02

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@nprofile…fzqg It will probably come as no surprise since I used it all over ABA, but Titling Gothic was my go to for super condensed type. Loads of options for width and weight: https://www.myfonts.com/collections/titling-gothic-fb-font-font-bureau

2025-02-20 15:09:05

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@nprofile…cu2p Wow, thank you so much for the kind words! I agree, it’s always held an odd allure and charm for me. I’m so happy to put it all together.

2025-02-20 15:06:12

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@nprofile…t0h7 Thank you so much, Daisy! We share some nerdery :D
My research showed the same — lots of similar but slightly different letterforms around this time being used. I’m still researching why that is, if they all stem from some similar specs and are just implementend differently.

2025-02-20 15:03:44

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@nprofile…w92h Thanks, Doug! I don’t think I ever wrote about my signs specifically, but I probably droned on about them to you before 😅

2025-02-20 01:33:26

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@nprofile…ltv3 I catch myself just staring at these shapes constantly! Thank you 🙌

2025-02-20 01:20:36

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@nprofile…nfxw Thank you! 🙌

2025-02-19 17:02:58

🎉 A new thing I made — Citywide, a sans serif typeface inspired by mid-1900s bus roll signs.
It has some real charm, feeling both informal and buttoned up in the same breath. It’s still a work in progress, but already a large family of widths and weights, plus italics.
Read more about Citywide and bus roll signs, and grab a license: https://shop.jasonsantamaria.com/products/citywide
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/031/597/094/497/119/original/f37857259443c4d0.png
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2024-09-10 01:19:35

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@npub1jzp…72dw I visited years ago, but haven’t been back recently (even though I am local).

2024-07-26 19:08:35

📕 My book On Web Typography is now free!
It’s 10 years old, and with A Book Apart winding down, I’d like to keep it available for everyone to read. Even though it’s about ever-evolving web typography, the information is still solid — I wrote it to act more as a guide for approaching aesthetics and function, and less about the specifics of code. Enjoy!
https://jasonsantamaria.com/#on-web-typography
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/854/362/477/723/567/original/7c91d9da7db66526.jpeg

2024-03-01 15:59:40

Some A Book Apart news: after 14 years and over 60 books, we’ve decided to stop publishing new titles. More details about why and what comes next in our post below.
The books will continue to be available through us for a time, and then through our distribution partners after that.
https://abookapart.com/blogs/press/a-new-chapter-for-a-book-apart
🧵 1/2 (small thread)

2024-02-29 16:51:21

Wow! Now a Neuromancer adaptation coming to Apple TV+:
https://gizmodo.com/neuromancer-show-apple-tv-plus-jd-dillard-scifi-ai-hack-1851295528
Their sci-fi offerings are stacked: Foundation, For All Mankind, Silo, Severance, Constellation, and more. Plus Murderbot on the way too.
They aren’t all total winners, but most are well made and enjoyable. Consistent quality is a nice change!

2024-02-27 16:03:53

🎉 Here’s a new thing — I made a typeface last year called Chonk! It’s a heavy display sans that likes to take up space.
I’ve had fun setting it really big for things like these pulpy sci-fi paperback titles, but it’s surprisingly flexible. As long as what you want to say is loud.
Currently a minimal character set, but I didn’t want it to just gather dust. If I add more glyphs, I’ll pass updates along for free.
Read more about Chonk and grab it for a few bucks: https://jasonsantamaria.gumroad.com/l/chonk
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/004/289/641/802/103/original/d1eea988510ac7ae.png

2023-12-20 15:41:37

Somehow I’ve never heard of Penpot before, a free and open-source alternative to Figma/Sketch. It’s been around for years (!), looks to have a lot of feature parity, and you can even self-host. The internet is just so vast: https://penpot.app/

2023-10-06 16:03:08

📚 There is a huge warehouse sale going on over at A Book Apart for the next week, most titles are half off! Almost all are from first print runs and there are limited quantiles left: https://bkaprt.com/sale
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/111/188/913/998/650/306/original/888ec90b98afa627.jpeg

2023-09-25 17:24:25

My single serving site Smart Quotes for Smart People turned 10 years old yesterday on National Punctuation Day!
https://smartquotesforsmartpeople.com/

2023-08-18 22:19:01

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@npub1qmc…v6gx OMFG

2023-08-11 15:03:38

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@npub1qmc…v6gx Yay! I’m glad it might be fun for others too!
I also am always up for playing font sommelier for friend <3

2023-08-11 14:26:15

I keep visual lists of typefaces to browse through when I’m looking for something new to use. It’s mostly an excuse to bookmark ones I know I already like so I can easily find them again.
If that sounds like something you’d like too, here ya go: https://www.are.na/jason-santa-maria/typefaces-tzey0yfej6y
(I finally moved this stuff off of Pinterest and have been enjoying Are.na so far!)

2023-06-20 14:27:28

😍 Just going to be staring at this new revamp from @npub1dzf…ru9u all day, Martina Plantijn: https://klim.co.nz/retail-fonts/martina-plantijn/
As usual, the design notes on his approach are insightful and thoughtful. I especially love the reimagined italics. What a wonderful update this is: https://klim.co.nz/blog/martina-plantijn-design-information/