Visualgui 2024: Abstract Arts

The previous design of my blog, Visualgui 2023, was solid. I loved the typographic combination, the grid-based layout, and the focus on simplicity and readability. I wanted to hold on to it, but I also wanted to make a change at least once a year to keep up with the tradition.

For 2024, I wanted the visual to be playful since this is a personal blog. I was thinking along the lines of the contemporary style of Swiss design. While browsing through Adobe Stock to get some inspiration, however, I came across Yang Guoquan’s striking abstract landscape paintings. I loved his use of colors and the beauty of nature in his art. I quickly went in that direction. Since Guoquan has a series of landscape paintings, I selected one for the header, one for the footer, and one for the divider between each blog post.

To complement Guoquan’s paintings of nature, I set the headline for each blog post in Borel, designed by Rosalie Wagner. The way Wagner skillfully connected each letter drew me into Borel. Only a lowercase letter connected to another lowercase letter. An uppercase letter would throw off the connection; therefore, I made all my headlines lowercase.

To complement the handwriting headlines, I set the body text in Kaius, designed by Lisa Fischbach. I licensed Kaius a few months ago because I always had a soft spot for a reading serif face and I knew I would need it for this redesign. Kaius supports the Vietnamese language. If I were consulted, I would make a few minor recommendations, but the diacritics are good.

For huge display words as well as small texts, I selected Neue DIN, designed by Hendrik Weber, Andreas Frohloff, and Olli Meier. I was consulted for Vietnamese diacritics on Neue DIN and I just received the updated font files yesterday. I put it to use today.

For coding examples, I stay with IntelOne Mono, designed by Fred Shallcrass. Because I rarely blog about coding, I wanted to use IntelOne Mono more than just for coding examples. I set the date, which is also the permanent link for each blog post, in IntelOne Mono. I am using four typefaces for this blog. I hope I can make Bethany Heck proud of my type combination.

Unlike WordPress’s Twenty Twenty-Four, which has 119 files, Visualgui 2024 has only 3 files. I am keeping it classic until Matt Mullenweg forces me to move to Gutenberg. I can no longer keep up with the modern theme development for WordPress. I would have to use an existing theme like WordPress’s Twenty Twenty-Four and mess around with its visual editor to modify the design, which doesn’t feel right at all. I still want the ability to design a simple blog theme with just 3 files.

That’s pretty much it for Visualgui 2024. I hope you enjoy the new look. If you are reading this from an RSS feed or another social media site, head over to visualgui.com in your preferred browser.