Demetri Martin’s Live (At the Time) is a Twitter-style comedy. He had gone through an hour of one-liners like: “I want to see a snake eat spaghetti;” “Fall is the only season that has two names, as if it has gone through a sex change;” and “I think Jesus was one of the first scarecrows.” They are short, but  well-crafted. Though not a fan of quick jokes,  I still find this routine enjoyable.

Dr. Lunde has accomplished a daunting task of putting together a 900-page reference on computing text in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese. Like Robert Bringhurst who wrote the eloquent foreword, I find this book useful, particularly the coverage of the Vietnamese language. A must-have guide for anyone interested in typography beyond the Latin alphabet.

I am pleased to announce that one more boy will be joining our little family early next year. I nicknamed him Done because we’re done with baby-making after him.

I must confess. I was hoping for a baby girl—even the boys wanted a baby sister so that mommy won’t be outnumbered—but we are happy with what we get as long as the baby is healthy. He is doing great so far.

My poor wife has been going through quite a bit of challenges in the first trimester. She has been experience nausea and fatigue much longer than she had in the past. She bears all the pains in carrying a new soul. Mad love and respect.

A breezy and beautiful introduction to the world of typography around us. Striking photography and brief design backstory make it a pleasurable and informative visual reference for both casual and serious typographic apprentices. Currently on sale on Amazon for $5.56. Can’t beat that bargain.

I’ve been back from our family reunion for a week already, but haven’t had a chance to blog about it. I had been busy at work, preparing the syllabus for my teaching engagement, and hammering away with my final project.

In any rate, this year’s reunion was fantastic. It was a whole week filled love, laughter, food, and liquor. Between Saturday evening to Wednesday night, we emptied one Johnny Walker, one Rémy Martin V, one Grey Goose, one Hornitos, one Don Julio, six Patróns, and cases of beers.

This year’s spot was phenomenal. We rented a house right by the beach in Destin Florida. The water was clear and warm. The sand was white. A typical day for me was waking up early around 7AM, went running, and dived straight into the beach. Read or listened to music until my wife texted to tell me that the kids had woken up.

I headed back home, took a quick showered, got the kids ready to join the big family for breakfast. Depending on the kids, we would either go to the beach or mini golf and arcade. After lunch, we spent the rest of the day at the pool.

Everyone then gathered back into the big house for dinner. After dinner the men made more food for drinking. We ate some more, drank a whole lot, sang karaoke, and even danced. The kids also showed off their singing and beak-dancing skills. Đạo even performed two songs. Pour Đán who could barely made it to dinner. Because of all the water activities, he crashed before had a chance to finish his food.

We drove from Virginia to Florida and back. Each trip took us two days, but I enjoyed driving.

This year the reunion in Destin was much better than San Diego last year. Those couldn’t make it this year really missing out. We definitely should go back to Destin for a reunion in the future.

My book is featured on a German site: „Professional Web Typography“: Ratgeber für die perfekte Webtypografie. Thanks to Denis Potschien for covering it.

An essential guide to create effective advertising design. From the creative process to typography to layout, Blakeman provides the foundation for designers to build upon on their own. It’s a good reference if you can get past the Copperplate headers.

Concise writing and clear illustrations complemented with excellent real-world examples make this book a must-have reference on typographic elements for print and digital designers.

A good overview on the history of typography, legibility, and book design. More relevant to graphic than web designers, but it is still an informative read on typographic design.

Robyn Blakeman, The Bare Bones of Advertising Print Design, (p.44):

Effective use of white space is the key to an organized design that enhances readability and legibility. Readability is achieved when a viewer can read an ad at a glance. Legibility refers to whether, in that short look, they understood the message.