Nathan J. Robinson writes in the Current Affairs:

[T]he New York Times, the New Yorker, the Washington Post, the New Republic, New York, Harper’s, the New York Review of Books, the Financial Times, and the London Times all have paywalls. Breitbart, Fox News, the Daily Wire, the Federalist, the Washington Examiner, InfoWars: free!… This doesn’t mean the paywall shouldn’t be there. But it does mean that it costs time and money to access a lot of true and important information, while a lot of bullshit is completely free.

We wonder why people picked up fake news and spread lies. They don’t want to pay for content; therefore, they rely on free shit.

Robinson on ads:

It’s hard for small media institutions to figure out the right balance of depending on ads, paywalls, and donations. The money has to come from somewhere, after all. A lot of the times, that means a heavy dependence on ads—the traditional model of magazines has been ad-revenue based, not subscription-based—so that paywalls are actually the less corrupted model; a podcaster who sells their product on Patreon rather than giving it away but filling it with mattress and “box-of-shit-a-month” ads has an important kind of freedom: they only have to please the audience, not the sponsors.

I am experiencing with magazine-style advertisement on this site and I will avoid selling it mattress and “box-of-shit-a-month.” I want to sell ads that actually like seeing myself. We’ll see how it goes. If it doesn’t work out, I can just take down the ads and replace them with pretty pictures.

I have been blogging vigorously for seventeen years and I still love doing it. The only downside is that I have not been able to make just enough money to pay for the hosting and the domain name. I tried Google Adsense, Amazon Affiliates, text ads, and small graphic banners, nothing worked. I even tried support from readers. That hasn’t worked either.

Back in May, which seemed like ages ago, I started adding photography to accompany the blog posts on this blog. The photos don’t have to be related to the blog posts. My goal was to add rich visuals to the layout. It had been a fun experience selecting the photos and I could always rely on Unsplash Source to load up random images. I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog posts and looking at the photography.

Today, I am extending this concept with paid advertising after thinking about it for several months. Because of the prominent space, which takes up at least half screen of my site, I have to be careful in choosing the right clients and their messages. My ideal ads are from products or services I care deeply about. Although I am not limiting the kind of ads on my blog, I would rather promote things that I enjoy such as typefaces (with Vietnamese diacritics), books, brand recognitions, and digital products.

This is an experimentation. I am not sure if I can make it work, but I want to give it a shot. I emailed several type designers to see if they were interested promote their typefaces with Vietnamese language. As much as I felt uneasy cold-calling people, I was surprised and relieved to get their support.

If you have a product or service you would like to promote to Visualgui readers (over 170,000 pageviews per month), get in touch.

Advertise directly to Visualgui readers.

What you get:

• An exclusive ad for one week.
• A half-page ad for $50 or a two-third-page ad for $100.

Traffic:

• Estimated monthly traffic requests: 186,000
• Estimated monthly unique visitors: 17,000

If you have a product or service you would like to promote, please get in touch.

I had the pleasure of working Stephen Nixon on adding Vietnamese diacritics to the latest expansion of his Name Sans. Nixon writes:

By popular demand, Vietnamese is now supported! Thanks to Donny Trương for his excellent resource on Vietnamese Typography, as well as for his specific review of the Vietnamese characters of Name Sans, which helped reveal some opportunities to make them more natural & unified. This was a push, but totally worth it for all the people it will enable to make use of Name Sans! This adds Áá Àà Ảả Ãã Ạạ Ăă Ắắ Ằằ Ẳẳ Ẵẵ Ặặ Ââ Ấấ Ầầ Ẩẩ Ẫẫ Ậậ Đđ Éé Èè Ẻẻ Ẽẽ Ẹẹ Êê Ếế Ềề Ểể Ễễ Ệệ Íí Ìì Ỉỉ Ĩĩ Ịị Óó Òò Ỏỏ Õõ Ọọ Ôô Ốố Ồồ Ổổ Ỗỗ Ộộ Ơơ Ớớ Ờờ Ởở Ỡỡ Ợợ Úú Ùù Ủủ Ũũ Ụụ Ưư Ứứ Ừừ Ửử Ữữ Ựự Ýý Ỳỳ Ỷỷ Ỹỹ Ỵỵ, plus the relevant stylistic alts (e.g. stylistic set 1, Rectangular Caps).

The new release also comes with a variable font that holds 33 font files from display to text. Name Sans is still a work in progress. If you are a type nerd and have’t licensed Name Sans yet, get it now before the price goes up in the next release.

Đúng, lúc ra đi anh rất giận. Không phải vì em làm anh mất hứng mà em đã…

Nhưng thôi giờ đây có nói gì cũng vô ý nghĩa. Thư hồi âm anh viết rồi anh lại xóa đi thôi.

This week’s photos featured graffiti arts with the message: “Fuck Trump.” He has been fucked by the Supreme Court two times in a week. The poll numbers are slipping and some Republicans are turning against him. Let’s hope he’ll get fucked this November.

This week’s photos dedicated to Black Lives Matter. The inspiration came from an image of a little girl holding up a sign succinctly explains the movement:

We said “Black lives matter.”
We never said “only Black lives matter.”
We know “all lives matter.”
We just need your help with #BlackLivesMatter for Black lives are in danger!

’nuff said!

This week’s photos come from our redecking project. You can see random photos of the project in progress or you can read my seven-part blog posts. We’re pretty happy withe the final result.

I am devastated and deeply in despair for our country. I am powerless as I witnessed another tragic death of a black man. He was lynched not standing up but laying down and not by a noose but by a knee. My heart goes out to George Floyd, his family, and Black Americans. I feel their anger and grieve. I am lost for words; therefore, I am going to let the photos speak. An image is worth a thousand words.

This week’s photos accompanying my blog are artworks by Robert Irwin. I just finished rereading his book in the last couple of days; therefore, his work is still fresh on my mind. As a designer, I have always prefer simplicity. As a result, I can relate to his minimalism. I hope you enjoy some of his works I have selected.