Even though Mitchell and Wightman’s comprehensive manual focuses on book typography, many principles could be applied to any form of typesetting. From leading to spacing to massaging, this book delves into great details with clear visual examples to demonstrate the subtlety of good design. The book itself is a beautiful design with the main text set in Albertina. If you’re designer who cares about readability, Book Typography is a must-have as a reference.
For my video résumé, a graduate project in my class on professional design practices, I knew from the start that I would not appear in front of the camera talking about my résumé or my work. I took the professor’s advice to create something that I am passionate about to give potential employer my personality. My passion is for web design and typography; therefore, I created a short typographic motion to show why I love the web and why now’s the time for an exciting transformation to be a web designer. I used FreightSans, a strong, bold sans-serif typeface, to tie the video into my personal brand.
For the musical score, I sampled a clip from Charlie Parker’s “Now’s the Time.” The tune was written in the mid 40s when jazz was dominated by white swing band including Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Jimmy Dorsey. Parker wanted to take jazz back to Black American; therefore, he and Dizzy Gillespie started the bebop moment. Bebop required virtuosity and the ability to play furious speed. “Now’s the Time” is one of the pieces that marked the transformation from jazz dance club to the street. I wanted to use that transformational vibe to show “Now’s the Time” to be a web designer as typography is making its into the web.
For the leave behind project for my class on professional design practices, I created a six-panel accordion to be given out after a job interview. I wanted my perspective employer to know that I care about typography and that I pay attention to the type world. The front side of the piece has my contact information, a bit about myself and the title panel that reads: Jan Tschichold’s Typographic Rules. On the interior side, I listed out the six rules Tschichold has created. Because I wanted this piece to be simple, easy to produce and convenience to give out, I based the panel on the size of the business card. The final product ended up looking like my business card, but has some extra typographic information. If I would go to a real job interview, I would make this pieces ahead of time and give them out the interviewers instead of my business card. Killing two birds with one stone.
From Blackletter to Comic Sans to Ubuntu, Walters’s stories on Fifty Typefaces That Changed the World are concise and compelling. The visual examples also make it a great coffee table book.
Vài phút nhìn lại:
David Ogilvy:
When the client moans and sighs,
Make his logo twice the size.
If he still should prove refractory
Show a picture of his factory.
Only in gravest cases
Should you show the clients’ faces
With the effort to make Visualgui into a consistent brand, I decided to play up the logo quite a bit. I settled on League Gothic typeface after using it on my business card and other print materials I have done for my class on professional design practices.
For this new update, I also want show how beautiful and responsive a designer can do with SVG, especially with typography. The logo is only 3K since I designed for mobile first. The actual size of the logo is 320px wide, but it can scale up all the way to however your screen can accommodate. If you visit this site on a mobile phone, you can see that the logo is not large at all.
With the humongous logo, I am losing the big image hero on the homepage. Even though I am going to miss it. I have always had trouble filling it in. If I don’t change it for two weeks, I feel it started to get old. I am also wanting to move away from doing that updates as well.
I have been revisiting Miles Davis’s early work and loving his fine-ass ballad playing. Here are a few albums I am enjoying.
This album kicks off with the heart-rending rendition of “It Never Entered My Mind.” Miles played the mute trumpet as if he’s about to cry. “In Your Own Sweet Way” is another sensational standard with the Miles touch.
Miles played a few bebop numbers including “Salt Peanuts” and “Well, You Needn’t,” in which he sounded less confidence than the ballads “When I Fall In Love” and “Something I Dreamed Last Night.”
Relaxing to some mid-tempos like “If I Were A Bell” and “If I Could Write A Book,” but the beautiful ballad is “You’re My Everything,” in which Miles told Garland to play some block chords.
Miles’s take on “‘Round About Midnight” didn’t sit well with Monk, but it was his admission to Columbia record. His muted tone cuts straight to the emotional core.
This is a Cannonball Adderley’s album, but Miles stole the spotlight on “Autumn Leaves.” This is one of the finest ballad-playings period.
Miles plays with title track without the muting device and his lyricism was still impressive. “All of You,” “Stella by Starlight,” and “I Thought About You” were beautifully played from the all-star band.
One of the challenges of working on the portfolio project [for my class on professional design practices] were choosing the works I would like to showcase. Instead of picking out 6 to 8 random pieces, I wanted to focus on a specific audience. After doing some research, I want to cater my portfolio for an interactive agency I had wanted to work at. Based in New York, Big Spaceship worked with clients in the entertainment industry including HBO, 20th Fox Century, Miramax and Ken Burns. In this portfolio project, I have carefully selected the pieces that show a variety of range, but still related to entertainment.
A prototype of a tablet app that would allow users (Miles Davis’s fans) to create their own sketches of Miles based on the records that they love. The app is straightforward with intuitive user interface to let users play around on their tablet. They could change the texts, draw their own sketches or import photos into the app. They could share their work with other fans as well as social media networks.
Vietjazz is a recording company that connects and advances the two distinctive musical forces: Vietnamese music and jazz. I came up with the concept as music lover of both sides and wanted to married them into one. I designed the logo, stationery, applications (web site, app and album cover). I developed the responsive web site and all of its contents to provide the simplest standards and guidelines for the consistent use of the Vietjazz visual identity.
As a father of two boys, I could related to Adam Mansbach’s Go the Fuck to Sleep. The inspiration came from Samuel L. Jackson’s narration of the book. I chose a straightforward san serif typeface to match up with Jackson’s expressive voice. The project turned to be a fun, experimental typography in motion.
Ao Trang is a non-profit organization that puts out a calendar each year featuring stunning photography of Vietnamese traditional white dress. In the past years, Ao Trang has donated over $136,000 to aid orphanages in Vietnam through direct delivery of practical supplies. The creative team at Ao Trang commissioned me to do a motion slideshow to showcase its photography. After browsing through its collection, which featured pure, modern Vietnamese’s beauty of the traditional white dress, I chose a musical piece that has the fusion of Vietnamese folk poetry and ambient futuristic sound. The combination of the images and musical score produced an organic, rich, and lyrical presentation.
A special collaboration with photographer Justin Maxon to raise awareness of the victims of Agent Orange. The inspiration came from Thuy Tien’s soul-searching rendition of Trinh Cong Son’s “Xin Cho Toi.” The solo piano accompanying the painful but hopeful vocals sets the right tone for the message.
A graduate assignment to redesign the look and feel of the film rating system. The content, which based on MPAA rating system, stays the same. My job was to improve the visual information of the five major ratings: G, PG, PG-13, R and NC-17. The new system uses visual progression to give viewers clear indication of each rating. I chose Adrian Frutiger’s Univers for its legibility.
The Queen of Comedy is funny and filthy as fuck. She delivered an hour full of raw, entertaining materials ranging from sex, celebrity and more sex. Her advice on maintaining a relationship is to respect and say “please.” Even if you have to say, “Would you please stay the fuck out of my face.” If you have NetFlix, check her out.