I am a fan of Gay’s writing, particularly in Hunger. She has such an easygoing, approachable style. Over the years, I would read any opinion pieces she had written. Whether writing on politics, race, civil responsibilities, culture, or man problems, she brings fresh, smart, and honest opinions to the table. Her latest book is a collection of essays she had written in the past decade. It’s a good read.

After more than a decade of trying to choose images that convey diversity for the school that named after the ultra conservative Supreme Court Justice, I lost my passion for working with photography. Fortunately, Angela Riechers’ The Elements of Visual Grammar reinvigorated my long-lost love for the art of imagery. The text is clearly written and the accompanied images helped conveyed the message. I recommend it for design students and professionals.

Nhà văn Vũ Trọng Phụng đã tiến bước trước cái thời của ông. Làm đĩ ông viết vào năm 1936 bây giờ đọc vẫn mang tính cách hiện đại. Tôi đọc về sự dâm dục trong sách tiếng Anh cũng khá nhiều nhưng đây là lần đầu tiên tôi đọc một quyển tiểu thuyết tiếng Việt viết về cái dâm một cách tự nhiên, hồn nhiên, và thản nhiên. Cái dâm là bản tính trời cho. Dâm không có xấu xa. Chỉ có đạo đức giả mới xấu xa. Làm đĩ chứng tỏ tác giả có cái nhìn cặn kẽ về cái dâm. Ông hiểu thấu được cái dâm. Ông đồng cảm với cái dâm. Ông ca tụng cái dâm. Ông giải tỏa cái dâm để tô điểm cuộc đời. Qua những lời văn chân thật, ông cho phép người đọc muốn dâm cứ dâm. Đừng e ngại và cũng chẳng có gì phải hổ thẹn.

Typeset in Degular and Swear, designed by James Edmondson, Elliot Jay Stocks’s book is a lovely printed publication on web typography. The book features 100 clearly written principles accompanied by beautiful illustrations to help readers understand the key concepts.

From typographic fundamentals to choosing and pairing fonts to typography systems to OpenType and variable fonts, this book is a comprehensive guide to typography. Even though Elliot focuses on typesetting for the web, his principles can apply to other mediums as well.

His writing is friendly and his approach to typography is flexible. There are no hard rules in setting types. His principles serve as guides and not regulations. You just have to do it and get a feel for it. For example, he argues that long-form text can be set in either serif or sans serif typefaces, as he illustrated in the typesetting of his own book. I still prefer serif for long-form reading, especially for books with just text. The simplicity of sans-serif text always made me read too fast and skipped the words. I had to consciously tell myself to slow down. On the other hand, serif typefaces made me read slower, but retain the information better. That’s just my own experience.

If you are a design student or interested in improving your typesetting, Universal Principles of Typography is highly recommended. Thanks for the shout out to Vietnamese Typography.

I didn’t get much out of this collection of poems except for “Allen v Farrow.” At least I think I did anyway. My approach to reading poetry is either I get it or I don’t. It’s more often that I don’t.

I picked up this book because the author is half Vietnamese half American. She writes about her whiteness as well as her Asian part. Though I didn’t understand much of her poems the first read. I might need to revisit them.

This book released in 2015 when digital devices, such as iPads, started to take off. Reading it almost a decade later, it is has become out of touch. I am done catching up with the A Book Apart series.

As a visual designer, I have not ventured into voice-command territory. So’s book is a perfect primer into voice interface design. From inclusivity to diversity to accessibility to usability, this book will help make your site ready for voice-friendly design.

Before reading Higgins’s book, I didn’t realize how much thoughts, strategies, and decisions go into the onboarding process. Thankfully, Higgins explains, illustrates and walks us through designing a successful onboarding experience. A recommended read for digital product designers.

Damn, Fox’s poetry collection is dark as fuck. Here’s a piece titled “i’m not sure that god agrees”:

There was a time
when i had never
heard a man call me
stupid
pathetic
bitch
cunt
slut
idiot
and there was also a time
when i had never
felt a man’s hands
hit me
suffocate me
or throw me to the ground
but now
if one of these things
hasn’t happened
by wednesday
i consider it a miracle

Here’s another piece titled “the book of mary magdalene”:

it hurts
to see how i’ve
betrayed myself
trying to save
the souls of men
who do not want
to be saved
it hurts to see
how my legacy
will only rest
in the space
between my legs

The typesetting and the illustrations are beautiful.