As much as I love listening to podcasts, I don’t have much time; therefore, I am very selective. Here are a few shows that I listen to these days on my commute:

DesignEDU Today: A fairly new podcast on design education hosted by Gary Rozanc. I am not quite feeling it yet because most of the guests are familiar, but looking forward to the next episode with Bob Gillespie, my classmate from La Salle University.

Fresh Air: I learn something new almost everyday listening to Terry Gross talking to all kind of experts.

Microphone Check: Keep me up-to-date on new hip-hop artists. The shows I like the most are the conversations among Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Frannie Kelley, and the rappers.

Real Time With Bill Maher: I always enjoy political humors on this show. I lost count how many time Maher made fun of Chris Christie’s weight.

Through Process: Hosted by Joshua Namdev Hardisty and Mitch Goldstein, this podcast gives me insightful tips on teaching design. I started listening to this podcast last year, but then I stopped. Just resubscribed a few weeks ago and caught up all the episodes.

Unfinished Business: I really like the new format the host Andrew Clarke has set up. In pairing up two guests with similar background and expertise, he recorded some of the most engaging conversations on web design.

The Web Ahead: Updates have been sporadic, but the episodes are top-notch. Jen Simmons is a fantastic host who carries the conversations on code and design with ease and clarity.

Not sure if I will get through every book, but here’s the list:

• Aesthetics by Nicolai Hartmann
• Design: The Groundbreaking Moments by Nina Kozel
• Design, When Everybody Designs: An Introduction to Design for Social Innovation by Ezio Manzini
• Designing Here/Now: A Global Selection of Objects, Concepts and Spaces for the Future edited by Allan Chochinov and Eric Ludlum
• Designing Multi-Device Experiences: An Ecosystem Approach to Creating User Experiences Across Devices by Michal Levin
• Founding Grammars: How Early America’s War Over Words Shaped Today’s Language by Rosemarie Ostler
• Frame Innovation: Create New Thinking by Design by Kees Dorst
• Refining Design for Business: Using Analytics, Marketing, and Technology to Inform Customer-Centric Design by Michael Krypel
• User-Centered Design: A Developer’s Guide to Building User-Friendly Applications by Travis Lowdermilk

The kids had been bugging me to take them to see Minions. We went last weekend, but it was sold out. I didn’t think the movie was going to be that good; therefore, I was not aware that it would be sold out. Took them out again this afternoon. It turned out I was right. The film was not that entertaining, but the boys seemed to enjoy it and I was able to just relax for an hour and a half. They ate almost the entire big bucket of popcorn.

An emotional documentary about Tig Notaro, a comedian who had Clostridium difficile, lost her mother, and diagnosed with breast cancer. Out of devastation, she turned to comedy and transformed the art of dark humor. The realness in her struggles came though in her performance at the Largo, a Los Angeles comedy club. Tig is fascinating film on lost, conquer, love, and comedy. A must-watch if you have Netflix.

An approachable and practical guide to web animation. The explanations are clear and the examples are useful. With easy-to-implement CSS techniques, this book will teach you how to apply simple motion to your website’s interface and interaction in no time.

Forty minutes into Chris Tucker’s Netflix special and I gave up. Although I could only get through half of his show, I predicted that I was not going to get any thoughtful material from him. He was just clowning too much. Sorry Chris.

Mệt trong đời sống. Mệt trong công việc. Mệt trong đầu óc. Như Trịnh Công Sơn viết:“Mệt quá đôi chân này, tìm đến chiếc ghế nghỉ ngơi. Mệt quá thân ta này, nằm xuống với đất muôn đời.”

Đang trong hóa trình làm dự án về đề tài Vietnamese Typography. Tạm dịch là Nghệ Thuật Chữ Việt. Bạn nào có ý kiến hay hơn xin cho biết. Với cái hóa trình này tôi muốn giúp những nhà thiết kế chữ (nhất là những người nước ngoài) làm ra những sản phẩm có phông chữ Việt Nam để thiết kế bằng tiếng Viết sẽ trở nên phong phú hơn.

Vì Quốc Ngữ của chúng ta dùng chữ Latin nên chỉ cần hiểu cặn kẻ cách đánh dấu là có thể sáng tác ra được phông chữ Việt. Dỉ nhiên điều quan trọng là làm sao khi viết ra chữ Việt nó cũng sẽ đẹp và gọn ghẽ nhưng chữ Latin. Ví dụ như chữ bạn đang đọc tên là Arno Pro của Robert Slimbach, một nhà thiết kế tài giỏi của Adobe. Tuy ông không phải là người Việt Nam nhưng nhờ có những người như ổng chúng ta mới có phong chữ Việt Nam đẹp và dể đọc. Các bạn đọc ở đây có ai biết nhà thiết kế chữ người Việt Nam không? Nếu có cho mình tên và cách liên lạc nhé.

Khi bắt đầu nghiên cứu về đề tài này tôi không kiếm được tài liệu qua sách vở chỉ. Tôi chỉ tìm được vài trang web trên mạng. Nhờ học hỏi và hiểu biết nhiều về typography và biết được tiếng Việt nên tôi cũng ráng theo đuổi. Rất cám ơn hai người bạn Linh và Trang đã giúp tôi rất nhiều trong việc đọc và sửa chữa lại bài viết của tôi. Cả hai điều giỏi cả hai thứ tiếng hơn tôi nên tôi rất may mắn.

This site is going through another restyling within two months. While I love experimenting with setting white text on black background for a change, my taste is the reverse. For this redesign, I keep the layout almost intact, but the typography is completely new.

Because I am moving away from images, the typefaces need to communicate both as visual aesthetic as well as functionality. In addition, the type must display correct Vietnamese writing; therefore, I am investing heavily in fonts in term of performance. The main typeface is Arno Pro, designed by Robert Slimbach. Because I need to use Vietnamese characters, which increased the font size tremendously, I might as well take advantage of discretionary ligatures in Arno Pro. The headings are set in big, beautiful Proxima Nova Extra Condensed, designed by Mark Simonson. As for the branding, I am loving the gorgeous Acta Poster Swashes, designed by Dino dos Santos.

For font delivery, I am now using the Web Font Loader method. In the previous version, I used Typekit’s default delivery because I could not stand the flash of unstyled text (FOUT). I changed my mind early this month when I was vacationing in a rental house with limited internet connection. My website was blank for over 30 seconds or so in a slow connection. I am now OK with the FOUT as long as the content is not blocked.

For the work section, I am bringing back SVG to create big visual impact with small file size. I am now combining all my school and personal projects as well as my book collection into the more section. Those contents are probably more for me than my visitors, but just in case you are interested. My other reason for gathering them in one place is to simplify so that when I want to redesign this site, which I hope to do more often, I could easily do so. I only have to deal with three pages instead of five or six. I even abandon my Google custom search for DuckDuckGo. That way I don’t have to deal with the search page anymore. That’s it. I hope you like the new changes.

On several occasions, my three-year-old son corrected my word choice. I am both amused and grateful.

Me: You just spit on me.
Đán: You mean sneeze on you?

Me: Look at those dinosaur bones.
Đán: You mean fossils?

Me: Look there’s a cock.
Đán: You mean a rooster?