Topics › Design, Graphics & Visual Media

The best graphic design & typography videos, according to Hacker News

38 videos about graphic design & typography that Hacker News commenters keep pointing each other to, ranked by how many separate months they were recommended. Part of Design, Graphics & Visual Media.

Brown; color is weird

Technology Connections

5.3M views · 2020 · 8 HN recs

HN repeatedly recommends it as a surprisingly magical explainer on color perception, often cited in color-space discussions.

FarewellEtaoinShrdlu

Drinks and Dice

259K views · 2016 · 6 HN recs

Frequently recommended as an absorbing look at hot-metal typesetting and the end of the linotype era.

Mouse Cursor History (and why I made my own)

Posy

3M views · 2018 · 4 HN recs

HN treats it as the definitive, short, well-made video on mouse cursors and pulls it out whenever cursor design, pixel perfection or the tilted arrow comes up.

Computer Color is Broken

minutephysics

4.3M views · 2015 · 4 HN recs

HN cites it as the accessible go-to explanation of gamma and color blending errors in image programs.

A quick tour of TeXmacs

TeXmacs Videos

31K views · 2021 · 3 HN recs

Recommended as the quickest way to see what TeXmacs can do, as a WYSIWYG alternative to LaTeX.

Microsoft Re-Designs the iPod Packaging

Brant Walsh

1.3M views · 2006 · 4 HN recs

HN commenters bring it up whenever Microsoft product naming, branding or marketing is confusing, pointing to it as a long-running self-aware critique.

Segmented Displays

Posy

7.2M views · 2022 · 3 HN recs

Recommended as a meditative, geeky tour of alternative display designs.

WordTeX - A WYSIPCTWOTCG Typesetting Tool

Tom Wildenhain

403K views · 2018 · 3 HN recs

HN people recommend it as an entertaining example of great effort on a trivial problem, and cite the template in LaTeX-versus-Word discussions.

Badness 0 (Apostrophe‛s version)

suckerpinch

258K views · 2024 · 4 HN recs

HN readers point to it as an example of Tom7's ridiculous-but-brilliant programming projects, here tied to license parody and typesetting.

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jan Misali

3.7M views · 2019 · 3 HN recs

Recommended for readers who enjoy fascinating deep dives into the history of odd letters and the alphabet.

Pragmatic Unicode, or, How do I stop the pain?

Next Day Video

80K views · 2012 · 2 HN recs

Commenters point to it as the clearest explanation of Python's bytes versus Unicode model and the Unicode sandwich, which finally makes the confusion click.

Shop Vac (kinetic typography animation)

jmheather

1.7M views · 2010 · 2 HN recs

Praised as a standout example of kinetic typography that holds attention, and known as the earlier work that led to the animator's Weird Al 'Word Crimes' video.

There's No Crying in Flag Design

CGP Grey

20.7M views · 2023 · 1 HN recs

Linked whenever flag redesigns come up, and credited as hugely influential on how people think about flag design.

Real Life Emoji Keyboard!

Tom Scott

735K views · 2015 · 1 HN recs

Mentioned as a delightful stunt whenever emoji input or keyboards come up.

The Weird World in RGB

Technology Connections

2.7M views · 2019 · 1 HN recs

HN points to it as an accessible explanation of how color and reflected light behave, especially under LED lighting.

Papyrus - SNL

Saturday Night Live

25.9M views · 2017

Posted as a joke in threads about typefaces and typography.

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