Elizabeth Goodspeed
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goodspeed.bsky.social
Elizabeth Goodspeed
@goodspeed.bsky.social
Independent designer, writer, trend spotter, & casual archivist (she/her)
One small step for advertising; new Casual Archivist issue about proto-virality and 1960s moonvertising 🌝
casualarchivist.substack.com/p/apollo-11
One Small Step for Advertising
Today’s collection is a series of moon-themed ads from 1969-ish. I found these via my local library book sale, which is put on twice a year by a group of chatty octogenarians (plus one sprightly fifty...
casualarchivist.substack.com
January 21, 2026 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Goodspeed
🌙🚀 One Small Step for Advertising
by Elizabeth Goodspeed @goodspeed.bsky.social
Moon-themed ads from the 60s.

+ The E. F. Caldwell & Co. Collection at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum Library
#ads #vintage #Ephemera
casualarchivist.substack.com/p/apollo-11?...
January 21, 2026 at 1:08 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Goodspeed
Great look at the distinct design of one of the goofiest board games of the year.
Magical Athlete — Elizabeth Goodspeed
elizabethgoodspeed.com
December 19, 2025 at 2:50 AM
Reposted by Elizabeth Goodspeed
Responding to @goodspeed.bsky.social timely op-ed in The Architect's Newspaper about how rebranding some websites is a problem in search of a solution www.archpaper.com/2025/12/nati...
www.archpaper.com
December 13, 2025 at 6:18 PM
I wrote a piece for @archpaper.com about 18F, the National Design Studio, and the insidiousness of “rebranding” government services instead of improving them. Thanks to my editors for letting me use the phrase “tread on me daddy” in an architecture publication 🫡
www.archpaper.com/2025/12/nati...
www.archpaper.com
December 15, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Reposted by Elizabeth Goodspeed
I like this a lot.

@blackfreelance.bsky.social this is about designers but might be of interest to you.
How many designers does it take to be a studio? I wrote about how "studio" has shifted from structural descriptor to signal; shorthand for how a practice wants to be read. But as "studio" stops signaling size + authority, do mythologies around growth collapse too? www.itsnicethat.com/articles/eli...
Elizabeth Goodspeed on how many designers it takes to make a studio
The question of what counts as a “studio” – and what you call one – reveals the industry’s ongoing tension around identity, ambition and scale.
www.itsnicethat.com
December 10, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Goodspeed
🥭 Elizabeth @goodspeed.bsky.social on how many #designers it takes to make a #studio
#itsnicethat
The question of what counts as a “studio” – and what you call one – reveals the industry’s ongoing tension around identity, ambition and scale.
#design
www.itsnicethat.com/articles/eli...
December 12, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Goodspeed
⚫ Signs of Life
by @goodspeed.bsky.social
at #SunsetOverSunset
Signs are actors. Some are wallflowers, barely speaking above a whisper, while others shout and flirt, beckoning for attention.
#sign #design

www.sunsetoversunset.org/stories/signs
December 12, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Goodspeed
“the United States is a lot more generous to corporations than it is to people”

I’ve written about why I’m an S-corp as a freelancer, but this is the distillation of it all

We find safety and security in numbers…and as corporations
How many designers does it take to be a studio? I wrote about how "studio" has shifted from structural descriptor to signal; shorthand for how a practice wants to be read. But as "studio" stops signaling size + authority, do mythologies around growth collapse too? www.itsnicethat.com/articles/eli...
Elizabeth Goodspeed on how many designers it takes to make a studio
The question of what counts as a “studio” – and what you call one – reveals the industry’s ongoing tension around identity, ambition and scale.
www.itsnicethat.com
December 13, 2025 at 7:13 PM
I collaborated with CMYK and Angela Kirkwood on the redesign of cult classic game Magical Athlete! I worked on the brand identity, art direction, and all the graphic design for components like cards & tokens. Now ask me how much math I had to do to make an evenly spaced game board with 31 spaces...
December 8, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Goodspeed
Elizabeth Goodspeed reveals the industry’s ongoing tension around identity, ambition and scale. https://ow.ly/xTc150XBTmR
December 4, 2025 at 6:30 PM
How many designers does it take to be a studio? I wrote about how "studio" has shifted from structural descriptor to signal; shorthand for how a practice wants to be read. But as "studio" stops signaling size + authority, do mythologies around growth collapse too? www.itsnicethat.com/articles/eli...
Elizabeth Goodspeed on how many designers it takes to make a studio
The question of what counts as a “studio” – and what you call one – reveals the industry’s ongoing tension around identity, ambition and scale.
www.itsnicethat.com
December 5, 2025 at 10:22 PM
I wrote about the changing typographic landscape of Sunset Strip as seen through Ed Ruscha’s photos of the street from 1965-2007. Published on Sunset Over Sunset, a new website from @gettymuseum.bsky.social that explores different stories of urban LA history 🪧 www.sunsetoversunset.org/stories/signs
Sunset Over Sunset
Explore the histories of Los Angeles's iconic Sunset Boulevard through the photographs of artist Ed Ruscha.
www.sunsetoversunset.org
December 1, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Goodspeed
🚂 All Aboard!
Casual Archivist by @goodspeed.bsky.social
Guest: Vedad Siljak
Tyco Toys
* Fonts In Use @FontsInUse@typo.social
#Ephemera #Typography #VedadSiljak
casualarchivist.substack.com/p/all-aboard
November 13, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Reposted by Elizabeth Goodspeed
LA palette cleanse: really great graphic design deep dive into the Ruscha Sunset archive by @goodspeed.bsky.social focusing on the evolution of the signage

www.sunsetoversunset.org/stories/signs
Sunset Over Sunset
Explore the histories of Los Angeles's iconic Sunset Boulevard through the photographs of artist Ed Ruscha.
www.sunsetoversunset.org
November 20, 2025 at 3:52 AM
Thank you to the folks at the @flickrfdn.bsky.social for asking me some truly fantastic questions about archiving, the ephemeral nature of digital archiving, and what I've learned from working with Brits. (As ever, Flickr remains the best website on the internet!!!) www.flickr.org/a-chat-with-...
A chat with Elizabeth Goodspeed, Casual Archivst - Flickr Foundation
www.flickr.org
November 3, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Brand designers love the control, originality and ownership of making their own fonts. But how is custom type reshaping the culture and economy of type design itself? I wrote about why so many design studios are creating fonts and what it means for the rest of us! www.itsnicethat.com/articles/eli...
Elizabeth Goodspeed on why design studios are making fonts
Custom type has become branding’s newest obsession, promising control, originality, and ownership – but its rapid rise is reshaping the culture and economy of type design itself.
www.itsnicethat.com
October 23, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Goodspeed
Elizabeth Goodspeed on why custom type has become branding’s newest obsession. https://ow.ly/zBwn50XgWpQ
October 23, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Goodspeed
@goodspeed.bsky.social on what happens when design becomes prefab. ow.ly/qB1f50X29HY
September 25, 2025 at 5:30 PM
I spoke alongside Pablo Rochat at Air's inaugural creative summit "Age of Aquarius"—we talked about about craft vs. creativity, the early AI ~*fever dream*~ aesthetic, and why actually making stuff still matters! Recorded here → youtu.be/F0QWo8R_jA0
AI, Taste & Making Stuff That Matters — Pablo Rochat x Elizabeth Goodspeed (Live at On Air)
YouTube video by Air
youtu.be
October 2, 2025 at 9:23 PM
My newest column for @its-nice-that.bsky.social is about the rise of pre-fab brand kits, "move fast and break things," and how identity is often starting to matter more than product! ⏱️ www.itsnicethat.com/articles/eli...
Elizabeth Goodspeed on what happens when design becomes prefab
Designer-led platforms promise to let you make money from unused concepts. But as off-the-shelf brand identities become the norm, designers risk losing the equity, authorship, and evolution that come ...
www.itsnicethat.com
September 24, 2025 at 5:45 PM
New Casual Archivist issue about one of my favorite niche collectives, The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift—a 1920s radical Utopian scouting group dedicated to handicraft 🦊 casualarchivist.substack.com/p/kindred-sp...
Kindred Spirits
Today’s collection is an archive of materials from the Kindred of the Kibbo Kift, a short-lived British youth movement founded in 1920 by John Hargrave, a Utopian polymath described as an “author, car...
casualarchivist.substack.com
September 21, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Goodspeed
A fantastic collection of vintage diner table mats, in today’s Casual Archvist newsletter.
More open.substack.com/pub/casualar...

And thanks @goodspeed.bsky.social
September 16, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Some new (old) work for At Heart Panadería in Atlanta—a riso-printed cookbook zine <3
September 5, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Thank you to Chloe Gordon Cordover at The Dieline for chatting with me about moodboarding and design multiverses! thedieline.com/how-efficien...
How Efficient Are AI Moodboards Anyway?
Thanks to the rise of AI, the design industry has found itself caught in a power struggle between efficiency and creativity.
thedieline.com
September 5, 2025 at 2:24 PM