The Colophon.
Type, palette, sources, and the standard the house holds.
The text of the Atelier is set in EB Garamond, by Georg Duffner — a digital revival of a sixteenth-century French punchcut. Metadata, eyebrows, and chapter numbers are set in Inter Tight, by Rasmus Andersson. Japanese chapter numerals and kanji are set in Noto Serif JP, by Google and Adobe. When the network is absent — on a flight, or in a hotel without wifi — the document falls back to Georgia, system-ui, and Hiragino Mincho ProN respectively. Typography degrades; layout does not.
The accent is a single vermilion, drawn from the Japanese inkan and the gates of Shinto shrines. It is used for chapter numerals, eyebrows, italic emphases, and the firm's signature. It is not used for buttons.
The desk works from public reference and primary sources: the Japan National Tourism Organization, OpenStreetMap contributors, the published municipal calendars of Taitō, Higashiyama, and Naniwa wards, and the ward offices' posted hours. Where a venue is named, its address and hours are verifiable on the day the plan is signed. Where a price is named, it is the price the traveller is asked to pay. The colophon of each plan names the date the sources were last consulted.
- We name the bartender where the bartender is named.
- We list the price in the local currency.
- We do not say “hidden gem.”
- We walk the route on a map before we send the plan.
- We revise editions when prices change.
- We sign every composition.
The dwarf-smith is the desk's working mark, drawn in six states: at the anvil, which appears while a plan is being composed; at speed, when the desk is quick; at the bench reading, when a plan is being re-read; at the table, when the desk is between compositions; asleep in his nightcap, when the desk is closed. He does not appear in plans; he appears in the wings.
Judgment is assisted by computation. The reverse is not true.
— The Tripsmith Curation Desk.