20/11/2024
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Satin PolymerMy name is Baptise, and in 2088 I made a typeface I named "Satin polymer". It wasn't particularly versatile, too tacky and way too amateurish, I just threw some vectors together and put it up on my website for 99 cents. I never made a living with my assets, my whole collection of typography that's been accumulating over the past 12 years has collected me 3 thousand dollars total, which including other stuff with more demand like game assets and textures was not worth writing home about for a passive income.
a couple months after I published the font someone with the name "TheRetardedHypnogogic" bought my font, I didn't realize at first because I was away with friends at a vacation, when i saw their name I was a bit satisfied and I tried looking them up online, they had used satin polymer on their debut album cover. I followed their socials as inconspicuously as I could. You've heard the album, you know what it sounds like, it doesn't need explaining from me
A couple months later They changed their handle to 'TyrranoDiane' and they posted a live performance of their album with a live set, they were wearing a mask. Satin polymer was used on some of the banners, it was clearly a cheap set, the cameras weren't good, this was a budget production. They began livestreaming music from their home, due to timezones i would stay up until 1 am watching them and it became a comfort thing, satin polymer was everywhere to be found. One time when my friends were over late I put on the livestream on my television and their music was playing while we were trying to figure out how to play beer pong, that game is for losers.
I slowly watched TyrranoDiane gain a hate following, I wasn't exactly sure what would have warranted that until I found their twitter account where people were just making fun of them and I guess TyrranoDiane didn't know not to respond to those people so they were just perpetually rallying with each other. I thought I should have reached out at that point since through some digging apparently TyrranoDiane does not have the support of their family, I felt gross for knowing this so I held off. TyrranoDiane should have dropped paying attention to the disrupters but I have never been in that situation so I wouldn't know.
They kept releasing albums, I slowly lost interest since I got hired in a game company for my graphic design work which is my actual source of income and my main passion, I took an airplane and started living near the creative studio, I've made friends with some of the most talented people I know, I still had time for friends and I was doing economically very well. TyrranoDiane showed their face for the first time, they had a birth mark that affected their whole face. I felt pretty bad but I stopped caring really quickly because that didn't seem like the right thing to feel. There was a movement being made working against the hate mob, the hate mob too started taking a mellower, more covert tone.
I didn't have to stay up as late to watch TyrranoDiane's livestreams, they stopped wearing the mask and they just showed their face as it was. I saw one or two people say something to the effect that that was a brave creative choice to make but that still felt wrong. Obviously it's because those people subconsciously felt bad.
The creative studio I worked at went bankrupt and I was being temporarily relocated to pretty much no work before they found another suitable job for me, my friends were also busy with work so I spent a lot of time alone. I tried to retain a social life during this but I spent most of my time at home on the computer looking for work and being excited about TyrranoDiane's lucky break with their new album 'megalomania and me' featuring satin polymer on the cover. People were reviewing this album, putting it in their favourites lists, and satin polymer became entirely associated with Tyrranodiane. I wanted to reach out at this point as well because I thought it would be creatively important but I held off since I'm insecure about people thinking i'm a moochy networker.
for the visuals of 'megalomania and me' TyrranoDiane began doing creature design makeup on their face, it was very alien and intoxicating in a way which perfectly complimented their music, it looked very bad at first but the style of which would go on to be universsal. It was also during this time that they began getting torrential amounts of stalking and other elevated kinds of harrassment. It became extremely depressing, especially since I was on the internet for long amounts of time and I wasn't really getting a break from the rot.
I became an illustrator for another video game company, went to see my friends at my old place again, started making new friends in the new place, met a boy. TyrranoDiane was releasing more albums, doing interviews, photoshoots, their real name was Solomon Diane, their home address was leaked, they moved away, they kept getting more famous, they were collaborating with famous recognizable artists, they were having iconic moments that have since become immortalised on the internet. People were posting memes with Satin Polymer, autistic people were sending me messages about the typeface and god bless their souls but I blocked them and officially became a private person after that.
TyrranoDiane was alternatively famous, they were an alt-celebrity. A makeup icon, a music legend. I never listened to all of their tracks though i'm sure there's great stuff out there, I don't really tell my friends about them since that gets weird really quick. Sometimes when I've hit low points I wonder if I should've ever reached out to them but my distance felt integral. people are out saying "TyrranoDiane saved my life", which as a concept sounds kinda dumb but makes sense emotionally. TyrannoDiane was many people's favourite artist and TyrannoDiane would influence people for generations to come. People recognized satin Polymer as being of TyrranoDiane, not of me and I was perfectly okay with that. Now all of that being said I just want to live in reality and say I seriously doubt all of this fame ever brought Tyrranodiane any real friends. They were always extremely cynical and nihilistic which they cultivated into a persona but I didn't like that. I don't think I've ever seen them in a picture with other people who didn't look like they had a business reason to be there.
It was a really warm summer night in the city. I was with my boyfriend, we were having dinner at a Greek place, I was really working my way through several prawns. I received a notification on my phone, one of my friends' wives were pregnant with a baby boy. I made it a big deal not to touch my phone and smudge the screen and when that course was done I went to the bathroom for a quick break, I congratulated them and for a short moment went on socials out of habit. Solomon Diane passed away from septic shock after the roof of a warehouse collapsed onto them, they were backstage with 2 fans and one of their organizers.
I had no good way to feel about it, I was upset but not especially much, I continued the dinner just fine, brought it up with my boyfriend, he was pretty upset by it and we moved on from then. I thought it might be nice to make a public statement about Solomon but that would sound very unserious "In case you don't know I'm the person who made satin polymer" no one cares. I really wanted to though because I'm relatively well spoken, I could've said something sweet and made a big statement about how i was there since the beginning, I still think it'd be inappropriate.
I still stay up late, and I still make typefaces from time to time. I try to make them as weird as possible now since there's a clear creative appeal to them and I guess it took someone else to show that was the case. I still think it's weird that I think I have anything to do with Solomon after just making a font they like, but it would have been nice if I did.