Joshua Blankenship

Not so much. Design Diaspora.

I really want to like Bluesky, especially since Magic: the Gathering Twitter has nearly completely migrated here, but is there a reason I have to re-login to the website every single day?

I know they say bros before hoes, but the only people who like my tweets anymore are porn bots* and my mom†.

* Porn bots aren’t people.

† My mother is not a hoe.

Read the full case study on (our new site!)
→ warm.design/arktos

Once we got past drawing rad bear logos (“arktos” is Greek for “bear”) and went all in on the DNA metaphor, it became one of those visual motifs where you think “this has all been done before — how can we make anything different?” But like a runaway experiment, it all grew from a few key images.

🧬New work for Arktos🧬

Warm has been working with Arktos Life Sciences to give their groundbreaking bioscience research a life of its own. I can’t recall the last time I’ve learned so much about the world in a project! It’s 24/7 geeking out.

Full case study link below ↓

Happy new year! First day back in the studio. Let’s begin the year in the way we want to proceed — making something just because. Akinterest Chapter VIII is available for your moodscrolling enjoyment. akinterest.com

“The only GLOCK in this house is a Glockenspiel” is something I just said. Happy New Year!

Middle age health and wellness includes learning about things like “Calcaneal Bursa” — real Star Wars outer rim moon name vibes.

How is it possible that we still haven’t solved easy group text messages in 2024? “Hey, can’t figure out how to add this person so I’ll just start a new thread!” “Yeah, your email worked before bozo with the Android joined, but now I need a phone number.” Maddening.

I’m underdressed? For what? Letting the soft animal of my body love what it loves? Nice try.

Thinking about how much “easier” it feels to do a whole design system than it is to make a little one-pager website with just right copy, color, and visuals.

“A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier.” — Mies van der Rohe

Pattern recognition is such a mind opener. Like when you realize every kitchen you like on Pinterest doesn’t have corner cabinets and now you understand why you hate your own kitchen.

“Babe, look at this cyber Monday deal on a 10lb bag of black soldier fly larva for the chickens.” Strange times.

Music 2024 = @blankenship See Instagram 'Music 2024' highlights from Joshua Blankenship (@blankenship)

I’ve been playing guitar for a long time, but only had an electric for a little while. Feeling good about my progress. It doesn’t feel like a foreign object anymore, or a completely different instrument like it did when I started. Here’s a year worth of highlights. www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2...

Dudes, Arcane is so good.

Big Sting — Glory Day Loflin Acrylic Paint on Wood Panel *wired & ready to hang 18” x 24” 2024

Obsessed with this painting my friend Glory did. “Big Sting!” She’s having a studio sale today. www.glorydayloflin.com/shop/banana-...

Vince Guaraldi is on, the kitchen smells like sauté -ing onions, and the kids are in here sous-ing going “Yes, chef!” to everything. Thankful barely cuts it.

Sometimes it’s invention time; sometimes we help make existing things better and more functional. @warmdotdesign.bsky.social’s recent work for Company Bureau was a little like brand therapy (for all of us!) as we all collectively realized what they were after was modernization, not reinvention.

This is now bone of
my bones, and flesh of my flesh:
she shall be called girrrrrrrrrrl.
— Genesis 2:23, haikupickuplines.com translation

Warm Warm is a new brand design studio from Joshua Blankenship & Matt Yow. We make identites, websites, publications, and more.

Our brand studio warm.design has some availability until the Christmas holidays while one of our clients is in heads down mode and another is closing their next round of funding, so if you’re looking for a design partner, we’d love to chat!

One of the only downsides is sometimes they need to pause that work to (rightly!) focus on their product and market before our work is the best it can be.

One of the many benefits of working with early stage companies is being able to collaborate directly with founding teams to shape foundational aspects of a company’s brand, voice, and perception.

I can hear this photo

When you’ve been collaborating with an architect on a full house renovation (likely a few years out) and you suggest some changes to the flow and layout and get the “I like it! It is smooth and practical.” response — feels good, man. Nice knowing enough to be dangerous.

🦊 🤌 🐶

Working at the intersection of quick brown fox and lazy dog

When I lived in Dallas, there was a laundromat near my Lakewood studio apartment. Every month they’d clean up the graffiti on this friendly sun, and by morning someone would paint back the gap in his teeth. Commitment to the bit.

Cormac McCarthy’s Secret Muse Breaks Her Silence After Half a Century: “I Loved Him. He Was My Safety.” When he was 42, Cormac McCarthy fell in love with a 16-year-old girl he met by a motel pool. Augusta Britt would go on to become one of the most significant—and secret—inspirations in literary history...

Well, boy howdy, this is a wild ride. www.vanityfair.com/style/story/...

Ah! That’s it! Thank you!