Tonight is our last night at Iberostar in Bayahibe, Dominican Republic. A week of vacation has flown by. On one hand, I’ll miss the fresh fried eggs for breakfast, the calamari curry for lunch, the grilled lobster for dinner, the exotic fruits, the various desserts, the endless cocktail drinks, the warm beach water and the fun swimming pool. On the other hand, I am getting burned out from chasing after the terrible two that had been known as the little boy who runs all over the property.

With the all-inclusive package, our family, which consists of the four of us, my mother-in-law and the three members from my sister-in-law, didn’t have to worry a thing. Our beds were made when we were having fun on the beach. Our food was ready whenever we were hungry. Above all, what made the experience pleasure were the people. From bartenders to room cleaners to chefs, they made the guests satisfied by being attentive.

For example, the interaction I had with the supervisor at the buffet restaurant left a positive impact. The first night I asked him for some cereals, specifically Fruit Loops, for Dao since he didn’t eat much dinner. I also requested milk for Dan. He gave me a bowl of cereal and a carton of milk to bring back to my room. The next day, I asked him the same thing. Not only he came back with what I asked for yesterday, he also introduced me to one of the chefs. He told me that he would be off the next day and said to tell the chef whatever I needed. When he came back the following day, he asked me if I got what I needed.

With just that one level of personal attention, especially with guests who have children, he made my experience at Iberostar a memorable one. This is my third all-inclusive vacation and each one met my expectation simply from the people in the hotels and resorts. They know exactly how to engage their employees.

Wynton Marsalis expresses his spiritual side through soulful singing, instrumental chanting and New Orleans swinging. Though not as monumental as John Coltrane’s Love Supreme, it has uplifting moments like the exhilarating of “In the Sweet Embrace if Life.”

The Vietjazz Band is a presentation to engage employees. At Vietjazz, we specifically value these nine chops in our colleagues: improvisation, communication, teamwork, flexibility, spontaneous, innovation, honesty, passionate and reliability. To become part of the Vietjazz band, which means to be rewarded or promoted, a Vietjazz employee needs to demonstrate those nine skills.

For the execution, I chose a slide (PowerPoint) format for HR people to use in employee or recruiting presentation. The slides are made up of bold typography set on bright, upbeat colors. For each slide, I selected a serif typeface that communicates each skill set. I had tremendous fun doing research, coming up with the contents and designing the pieces. It’s another great learning experience for my course on Brand Identity Design (AVT 614). Check out the PDF presentation.

For my graduate course on Brand Identity Design (AVT 614), I came up with Vietjazz Records for my project. The reason is obvious. I am passionate about Vietnamese music and jazz and my goal is to connect and advance the two distinctive musical forces. The concept of Vietjazz had been on the back of my mind for a while and I have thought of creating a side project to highlight Vietnamese music sets in jazz arrangements. over the years, I have been collecting these type of tunes and I have over 100 tracks to listen to whenever I am on the road for a long trip.

What piqued my interest in Vietjazz was the first time I heard Tùng Dương’s debut Chạy Chốn. Both the bossa-nova flavor on title track and the country-blues feel on “Trăng Khát” hypnotized me. The way Tùng Dương bent the notes, changed the phrasing and played with the syncopation to get the Vietnamese lyrics to mesh with the jazz sound were quite inventive. On top of that, Trần Mạnh Hùng and Lê Minh Sơn played some of the best jazz and blues solos coming out of the Vietnamese music scene.

As a jazz fan with Vietnamese music in my blood, I love the marriage between the two distinctive musical landscapes and want to explore more in this direction. In my informal research, what I have learned is that most Vietnamese listeners aren’t familiar with the jazz sound. My goal for Vietjazz Records is to produce and promote Vietnamese music with jazz flavors. From signing artists to album concepts to art direction to distribution, Vietjazz will be involved in every aspect of crafting an experience.

Since the target is to reach Vietnamese listeners around the world, the web would be the best medium for the company. The web would give us the limitless possibility to create a true experience. Once the album is set to release, the customers would be able to get it immediate through our web site.

That was my pitch for Vietjazz and my professor approved the concept. During the course, I spent weeks developing the logo. I literally did a hundred variations before we came up with the final version. I am happy with the result. The logo consists of eight vertical bars, which could be interpreted as the piano keys. The slight tilting and offset of each bar conveys spontaneity. All the bars are in blue expect for the green accent on the letter “j” to signify syncopation.

After the logo, the next assignment was to develop the stationery, which included business card, letterhead and envelope. Designing and developing the three applications for the brand were the most fun part of the project. I chose the web site, the mobile app and the vinyl album cover for Vietjazz. Designing the vinyl cover were the most challenging one. I had to paid Goodwill a visit to see a a vinyl record were designed.

Even though I had a blast designing the applications, my favorite assignment for the course was the development of the brand guidelines, which was our final project. I had never done a branding guide before; therefore, I loved the new challenge and I could also pull everything together for a portfolio piece. While all of my classmates chose to do a book, I convinced my professor to let me do a web site. The reason was that my company is primarily online; therefore, it makes much more sense to go with a web version. In addition, the brand guidelines are constantly changing; therefore, the web could be much quicker to update and could save some trees. A third reason would be that people could download and use our logo and templates immediately.

I spent quite a bit of time researching big companies like Apple, Adobe and Facebook to see how they have created their brand guide. I also picked up some great tips from MailChimp and Squarespace. The Vietjazz Brand Guidelines turned out quite well. It’s responsive and intuitive. Even though I had spent quite sleepless nights working on it, I am very proud of the outcome.

The branding class is one of the best courses I have taken at George Mason. The professor is awesome. He has real world experience and his critiques were very constructive most of the time. From our interaction in class, he values simplicity and he is a typographic geek. One of the things that I learned from him in this class is that every design decision has to have a reason. You can’t just pick a color or a typeface simply because it looks right or feels right to you. Especially for a brand, you have to have a reason for it like Tiffany has its distinctive blue, Coca Cola has its red and Starbucks has its green. Overall, this semester has been quite rewarding for me even though I had my moments of stress and anxiety.

Without further ado, I am proud to present the Vietjazz brand guidelines.

Lần đầu nghe Y Phương song ca cùng Nguyên Khang qua một liên khúc Trịnh Công Sơn trong video Asia 53: Bốn Mùa thu hình vào năm 2007, tôi có ấn tượng ngay. Tuy kỹ thuật nén hơi còn kém nhưng cô bắt những nốt cao dể dàng. Còn khi hát thấp, giọng Y Phương có nét dịu dàng tựa Ngọc Lan.

Từ đó tôi thường chú ý những hoạt động của cô. Trong vài video của trung tâm Asia, sự xuất hiện của Y Phương có phảng phất hình bóng Ngọc Lan. Nhưng đến nay Y Phương mới cho ra mắt một sản phẩm đầu tiên do chính cô thu âm chứa đựng nhiều ảnh hưởng và màu sắc của Ngọc Lan.

Với nét hòa âm đơn giản, nhẹ nhàng và sang trọng, Y Phương gợi lại những hình ảnh thời vàng son của Ngọc Lan qua Tình Vẫn Thiết Tha. Album mở đầu với “Chuyện Tình Yêu,” một trong những nhạc phẩm được ưa chuộng của Ngọc Lan. Tiếp theo “Chờ Phone Của Anh” là một bài đã gắn liền với tiếng hát Ngọc Lan. Cả hai Y Phương đều thể hiện rất tốt.

Riêng “Bài Ngợi Ca Tình Yêu” là một trong những nhạc phẩm đã khiến tôi đam mê giọng hát Ngọc Lan. Cho đến bây giờ tôi mới nghe được bản tương đương như vậy. Y Phương đã bỏ ra rất nhiều thời gian để nghe kỹ cách hát của Ngọc Lan trong nhạc phẩm này. Vì cô đã chuyên chở lời ca nhẹ nhàng và điêu luyện. Tuy hình bóng của Ngọc Lan hiện ra rất rỏ nhưng Y Phương có đặc điểm riêng của mình trong đó. Khác với giọng trong trẻo của Ngọc Lan, Y Phương có một chút khàn. Nhà sản xuất cũng nhận ra được điều này nên đã soạn cho Y Phương một lối hòa âm theo nhiệp điệu bossa nova rất nồng nàn và trang nhã.

Từ bài tựa đề, “Yêu Nhau Đi,” “Ngàn Đời Chờ Mong” cho đến “Người Yêu Ơi Giã Từ,” bài nào cũng có sự xuất hiện của Ngọc Lan. Riêng “Người Yêu Nếu Ra Đi” Y Phương muốn tỏ lòng kính trọng đến với thần tượng của mình: “Người yêu nếu ra đi, một hôm nắng lên cao / Xin hãy mang đi theo, cả mây trắng trong veo.” Đến đoạn cuối cô chuyển sang lời Anh, “Please don’t go away.” Như hàng triệu trái tim đã yêu mến Ngọc Lan, Y Phương cũng tiếc thương và không muốn Ngọc Lan ra đi. Cám ơn Y Phương đã đem lại cho những ai hâm mộ Ngọc Lan những kỷ niệm khó quên.

Viết cho iLoveNgocLan.com

The collaboration between fusion guitarist/composer Nguyên Lê and avant-garde pop singer Tùng Dương should have been a groundbreaking one. Unfortunately, the recording of Độc Đạo turns out to be a missed opportunity.

Even though the title track is striking, especially with the arrangement switches from organic vibe with electric guitar to bowed string to uptempo Afrobeat, Tùng Dương’s heavy, roaring delivery doesn’t blend in seamlessly with Nguyên Lê’s fusion orchestrations. Most of the time, Tùng Dương’s voice is overpowering and he only has one set of flow throughout the album. What even worse is when Dhafer Youssef joined him on “Bài Ca Trên Núi.” Their roaring and snarling make the track hair-raising loud. In addition to Vietnamese tracks, Tùng Dương butchers Björk’s “All is Full of Love” as well as Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” His phrasing on “Your phone is off the hook / Your doors are all shut” sounds trite. Placing a Björk’s futuristic vibe in Vietnamese traditional sound is quite capricious. As for “Redemption Song,” Tùng Dương lacks the Jamaican’s nuances to pull off lines like, “Old pirates, yes, they rob I / Sold I to the merchant ships / Minutes after they took I.”

As for Nguyên Lê, his guitar chop is very distinctive, but it has the same aching sound in most of his playing not only on this album. Unlike many raved reviews coming from the media in Vietnam, Độc Đạo is a big disappointment.

Dave Holland’s Prism is made up of the leader’s propulsive, melodic bass lines, Kevin Eubanks’ soul-stirring rock guitar, Craig Taborn’s virtuosic jazz keyboard and Eric Harland’s snazzy big beats. From the chaotic opener, “The Watcher,” to the calm closer, “Breathe,” the all-star quartet takes listeners on a breathless journey through its spellbinding, spontaneous sounds of fusion. While the album draws a few hints from Holland’s jazz-rock work with Miles Davis, the strongest influence, however, is that Holland has learned one of the important leadership styles from Miles: how to get the best out of your musicians.

Ahmad Jamal has been playing the piano for 80 years. At 83, he still swings hard on his new record Saturday Morning with bassist Reginald Veal and drummer Herlin Riley. Whether improvising over Afro-Caribbean rhythms on “Back To The Future” and “One (Ahad)” or weaving together Duke Ellington’s ballads on “I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good,” he shows no sign of slowing down. With his virtuosic playing on “Edith’s Cake” and “I’m in the Mood for Love,” Jamal proves that his chops and still amazing and that his age ain’t nothing but a number.

Unitea is a fictitious tea company I developed for the final project of my graduate design seminar. The goal was to build a brand with a unique story. The concept behind Unitea is the playoff on the word “unity.” When we gather around drinking tea, we unite. Tea brings people together. In Vietnamese tradition, a marriage between two individual is started with tea. I can still recall the day I served tea to my in-laws to ask them permission to married their daughter.

The story of Unitea is that we’re passionate about pure, organic tea and the inspiration for the company came from our grandfather whose expertise taught us the art of growing and drinking tea. He used tea to serve, connect and unite his community and we want to take that approach in a much larger scale.

For the project, I designed a clean, classy logo using Baskerville typeface with the three leaves on the dot of the letter “i” to signify unity. To build a unique story about our brand, I developed a campaign web site to inform our customers the things that we care most about. The intention of the web site is to highlight the five core principles of our brand: clarity, connectivity, community, charity and creativity. I called them “The Five C’s of Unitea.”

One of the most challenging parts of the project has to be coming up with the writing for each individual component. I had to do quite a bit of research. Even though I am not a great writer, I enjoyed the writing process as much as the design process. Unitea is one of those class projects that turn into a portfolio showcase.

If you’re looking for some soothing instrumental Vietnamese ballads to get you into the holiday spirit, check out Quang Thắng’s Tình Yêu Cuối Đường. He plays some melodic saxophone rendition of familiar tunes including “Bao Giờ Biết Tương Tư” (Phạm Duy), “Anh Còn Nợ Em” (Anh Bằng) and “Trái Tim Bên Lề” (Phạm Khải Tuấn).

If you’re looking for something more innovative, however, this record isn’t it. The main issue here is that Quang Thắng plays every note as perfect as it was written. Even for the jazz rendition of “Phút Cuối,” he never breaks out of Lam Phương’s melodic lines. It’s a missed opportunity not to improvise on such a popular tune. The perfect example would be Coleman Hawkin’s rendition of “Body and Soul.” He didn’t even reinstate the melody because most people knew the ballad.

Another major drawback is the lacking of spontaneity since Quang Thắng played his saxes over pre-arrangements rather than with a live band. You can’t just blow your horn over a recorded rhythm section unless you’re Miles Davis. Even Miles needed talented producers like Marcus Miller to provide him with top-notch arrangements for Tutu.

While “Thuở Ấy Có Em” (Huỳnh Anh) has a wonderful bluesy feel to it, Quang Thắng plays the melody note for note. When I hear this tune, Miles’ advice comes to mind: “Don’t play what’s there; play what’s not there.” Then again, maybe Quang Thắng’s intention is just to make a soothing record.