New Launch: TJ Home Improvements

TJ is a dear friend of mine and an exceptional contractor who runs his own home-improvement business. He takes pride in getting things right and on time. He has a solid work ethic and the results of his outcomes speak for themselves. He transforms old places into dream spaces for his clients.

He showed me his projects on his phone and I suggested that he needed to put them on his website. He had a website, but it was outdated and he didn’t bother to renew it. His website went offline in May 2024 and I offered to reinvigorate it, but he declined. Then suddenly, several weeks ago, he took up my offer. Similar to what he had done for his clients’ homes, I gave his digital home a new life.

The goal for the website is to show off his projects. The homepage features a responsive slideshow that displays two sets of images. On small screens, only vertical photos are displayed. On large screens, only horizontal photos are displayed. This method, which uses the HTML Picture element, solves the issue of tiny landscape photos on small screens or large portrait photos on large screens.

For the showroom section, all photos are displayed for potential clients to scroll through at their own leisure to see how TJ helped his clients reimagine their dream homes—together.

One of his recent clients had written a genuine review of the project they worked on together. She even took photos, which look professional. To show their fruitful collaborative effort, I put together a page. It was indeed, “A Dream Kitchen Realized.”

TJ Home Improvements website is typeset in Colophon Foundry’s DM Sans, which was based on Indian Type Foundry’s Poppins, designed by Jonny Pinhorn. DM Sans is a low-contrast geometric sans serif family with a simple, modern vibe.

TJ wanted to keep his original logo, which he created himself, but he handed me a low-quantity JPG file. I redrew it based on a grid system and reset the type using Univers, designed by Adrian Frutiger.

TJ is thrilled with his new website. Even though he lands most of his contracts through word of mouth, the website showcases his body of work. If you live in the DMV (District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia) area and would like to remodel your home, I highly recommend TJ Home Improvements. Don’t take my words for it, just take a look at the TJ Home Improvements website.

LibGuides Updated

In the last couple of days, I spent some times revising the look and feel for the Law Library’s LibGuides. I put in custom CSS rules to override Springshare’s default styles so that the page has a bit of our brand elements. I also made sure the colors passed accessibility test. It was a nice, little project.

ICFC

Introducing a brand new visual identity for the Institute for Consumer Financial Choice at Antonin Scalia Law School. Typeset in Nickel Gothic Variable, designed by David Jonathan Ross.

Brand Identity Refresh for Simplexpression

A newly refreshed brand identity for Simplexpression is typeset in NaN Druid and NaN Druid Sans, designed by Anna Khorash and Reymund Schröder.

Simplexpression, a small jewelry design studio based in Fairfax, Virginia, is created by Dana Nguyễn. With her background in chemical engineering and her passion for design, Ms. Nguyễn strikes the balance between structural precision and natural beauty to elevate her craft in jewelry design. Her love for organic shapes and pure colors, both in her work and in her life, presents a simple expression on any occasion.

InBalance

Visual identity for InBalance, Antonin Scalia Law School’s health and well-being initiative. As part of the initiative, the law school hosts various programs and posts helpful information that supports law student well-being. Typeset in Nickel Gothic, designed by David Jonathan Ross.

Brand Identity for NSI

Brand identity for the National Security Institute at Antonin Scalia Law School. Typeset in League Gothic, designed by Tyler Finck, Caroline Hadilaksono, and Micah Rich. Even though this is not the official logo for NSI, I like to keep it for my portfolio.

Familý

A few years ago, my mother’s youngest sister shared with me stories she had written about her parents, sisters, and brother. She wrote about their lives in great detail and her narrative came from her heart and memory. The stories helped me understand their legacies; therefore, I asked her permission to preserve them in online book format so we can share them with the younger generations. I edited her stories in Vietnamese and English. I put the website together. I also came up with the book title. Familý was a play on my mother’s family name: Lý. For the visual identity, I pulled together NaN Serf and its sibling NaN Serf Sans, designed by Daria Cohen, Fadhl Haqq, Léon Hugues, Jean-Baptiste Morizot, Luke Prowse, and Florian Runge.

Building Block

My father was a builder. When I was a kid, he took me on the roads to watch him built houses, temples, and theaters with his crew. In his tribute wordmark, Hồ Hữu Tỷ (his name) fit together like a building block. I love the way squares and circles are built together to make up Megazoid, designed by David Jonathan Ross.

Wordmark for CAS

Yesterday, I decided to rework and refine the wordmark for Scalia Law’s Career & Academic Services. It is set in Acumin Variable, designed by Robert Slimbach, to give give a nice and balanced text block. The colors came from Scalia Law’s branding.

New Vietnamese Typographic Sample: Những Bài Không Tên

The name Vũ Thành An is synonymous with “Những bài không tên,” a series of untitled Vietnamese love songs. Because these songs were written about his past lovers, the famed Vietnamese musician and composer didn’t want to reveal their names. The first ten songs in the series had been covered countless of times by several generations of Vietnamese singers. The rest hadn’t been recorded much; therefore, I would like to put together a collection so the pieces can be read as poems. Even though the series has 112 songs, many of them are missing. I collected as many of them as I could find. For typesetting, I selected NaN Druid and Nan Druid Sans, designed by Anna Khorash and Reymund Schröder. Enjoy reading!

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