The Jazz Board Game, a project for my graduate seminar class, combines my passion for design, jazz and my childhood favorite board game: Cờ Cá Ngựa. I always thought that Cờ Cá Ngựa is an original Vietnamese board game until I started to do the research for this project. Cờ Cá Ngựa is based on Pachisi, which originated in ancient India. I was a bit disappointed to learn that my only childhood board game is not original.

Nevertheless, I had a blast making The Jazz Board Game. Writing up all the trivia questions was quite a relearning experience. I designed the colorful board and even painted my own moving pieces. The best part of the project was selecting and cutting the ten-second samples of the jazz tunes for the listening comprehension component of the game.

When I first pitched my concept to the class, I did not intended to include the audio component. My classmates suggested that I should and they recommended getting greeting cards with sound. I did some research and couldn’t find anything, but then I came up with a different solution, which is using the iPhone for the audio component.

So I ended up creating an app for it using jQuery Mobile. My initial idea for the app was just a simple one-screen design with sample of the tune and info randomly loaded. That was actually all that needed to be part of the game. When I did a test run in class, however, I realized that the players have to have quite a bit of jazz knowledge to play. So I expanded the app to include trivia questions. I also added Jazz a film by Ken Burns and a resource section to help people who would like to learn more about jazz.

The app becomes an educational resource on its own in addition to being complementary to the board game. Here’s the snapshot of The Jazz Board Game and here’s the actual working app.

The current Law Library web site, which is under the Law School’s umbrella, has quite a bit of information. For the last few months, I have wanted to create a simple app that would allow students to complete a certain tasks quickly on their digital devices without going through the entire site.

I spoke to the librarians who are also my colleagues to find out what the students want to do with library services in the mobile setting. They provided me valuable information on the things that students often do such as searching for law-related books, getting access to the databases, finding out the library hours and asking the staff questions.

Last Sunday, I attended the Computer in Library workshop on “Building a Simple Mobile-optimized Web App/Site Using the jQuery Mobile Framework” and I was inspired to develop a simple web for the Law Library. Although I am building the app based on the contents of the Law Library, this is not a work-relate project. I just want to build the app to learn jQuery Mobile and not having to jump through hoops or the approval process.

The primary functionality would be to provide a set of basic information for the users. The search engine with be connected to Mason’s inPrimo, which “searches hundreds of millions of scholarly items simultaneously, including Mason’s library catalog and digital collections.” The “Ask a Library” would used a chat app, in which I am just presenting the prototype for this project. The most creative feature in this app would be the ability to locate a book in the Law Library. Once a user entered a book into the search field, it would pop up a photo and the exact location of the book. It would be very useful to include in the app.

Visualgui turned 10 last week. When I registered this domain at GoDaddy on April 8, 2003, I didn’t expect the site to last this long. At that time, I faced with bad hosting providers and domain services. Prior to Visualgui, I lost D3studio.com, which was my first site. D3, which stood for Donny Digital Design, started when I was still in college as my web design portfolio and studio. After the site went down for a week, I could no longer contacted my host. The company, which also registered my domain, went out of business. As a result, I lost everything. Lesson I learned from that experience: never put all of my eggs into one basket.

In April 2003, I decided to start from scratch again. I separated my domain from my host and did an in depth research of hosting providers. I am so glad I chose Lunarpages and been happy with them ever since. Although GoDaddy has a bad rep for its services and commercials, I don’t have any problem in regard to domain registration.

While searching for my new name, I came across a web site that listed the latest domains that became available. I can’t even recall which site it was. One of the names stood out to me was ChunkyGui.com and I immediately thought of VisualGui. The name was still available and I took it. Though I refer to it as the “Visual Guy,” the pun was Visual Graphical User Interface.

After ten years of associating with this brand, I wanted to make it more relevant to my current design direction and sensibility. Rather than referring to my design as “Visual Graphical User Interface,” the new brand refers to design “Visual” that “Gets Users Involved.” Whether reading a blog, buying a product or using a service, users are involved in the process; therefore, I want my design to focus on the involvement of the users first and foremost. My goal is to provide an easy, pleasant experience for users to accomplish their tasks no matter which device they are using on their hands. User-centered design has played a major role of my work for many years; therefore, the change is a natural fit.

Last week, I refreshed this site making it a seamless experience across multiple devices. The redesign was also to quietly celebrate its 10th anniversary. I was not planning on making the announcement, but the rebrand needed the background history to see how the name has evolved.

Here’s the new Visualgui for 2013. The design is not a huge departure, but quite a bit of refinement. The layout, in particular, is much more simplified. My goal is to create a consistent experience across all devices rather than relying on media queries to shift elements around. One of the recent criticisms of responsive web design is that layout changes drastically when viewing on different devices, which caused not-so-savvy users confuse. My approach is letting the mobile experience drives the design and making as less changes as possible when browsing in larger screens.

For the first time, I am including GUI elements in my navigation. This has been one of my pain points. While the name suggests GUI, I have never included any GUI elements. I have been doing quite the opposite of visual and graphical. Simplicity has always been my thing.

One of the big changes in this version is the restructuring. The naming and labeling needed to be changed to reflect my current direction. The site section is now renamed to web. This is the most important section of the site because designing web site is my area of service. The motion section is now renamed to special. I gave this one quite a bit of thought. Since I am no longer doing Flash slideshow, this section gets quite stale, but I don’t want to get rid of it entirely. Most of the Flash pieces I had done are personal and they are very special to me. I want to be able to make this section active and as the same time keeping an archive. As a result, I named it special so that I can continue to add more special projects in the future, but they don’t have to be motion slideshow. For instance, I’ll add my Jazzapp, which is a school project, once it is ready. The info section is now renamed to about. I have debated about this for a while and came to conclusion that about is more personal than info.

I also made a handful of subtle changes. I am now using the Monotype’s Noto families, which support full Vietnamese characters, for the texts. The pairing of Noto’s sans and serif created a nice harmony. I am glad to see Google is adding Vietnamese typefaces to its collection. It’s still limited, but better than nothing.

I chucked out all the rounded corners as well as infinite scroll. Although I don’t have an issue with infinite scroll, it’s not one of the most loved features of usability. In addition, getting ride of infinite scroll takes off quite a bit of JavaScript codes. Even though JavaScript is getting quite popular, I still want my site to depend less on js as possible. That’s about it.

Jason Santa Maria is a graphic designer living in Brooklyn, New York. He recently co-founded Editorially, a collaborative writing application that “fully respects the actual writing process.” He is the co-founder of A Book Apart that “publishes highly detailed and meticulously edited examinations of single topics.” He’s also responsible for all of its beautiful book design. He’s the founder of Typedia, “a shared encyclopedia of typefaces online,” and a former creative director for Typekit, “the easiest way to use real fonts on the web.”

Jason is one of those few designers who could walk the line between print and web. Even though his design sensibilities are drawn from print design and a deep love for typography, he applies his vast knowledge of type equally well on both printed materials and web interfaces and his style strikes a balance between usability and readability.

In the previous version of his blog, he experimented with online art direction. He wrote:

Professionally, I’ve recently become a bit disillusioned with my design work because it feels static. I design a site, and regardless of the content, it’s usually dropped into a template, reducing the design to more a bit player rather than a worthy partner to that content. In other media, the design adapts to support different kinds of content and themes in order to play a supportive role. So when I decided I wanted a change, instead of designing one look for a site, I designed a system.

Jason proved that with CSS and HTML skills, web designers could break out of the static template and create a unique reading experience. In addition to his work, he also shares his knowledge on web typography. I can’t wait to cop a copy of his upcoming book for A Book Apart. In the meantime, his speaks at An Event Apart and Build Conference are must watch.

Learn more about Jason and his work at Jasonsantamaria.com and a great interview at The Great Discontent.

This is a preparation for my graduate seminar presentation on a designer I admired.

Trong tôi Mỹ Tâm luôn là công chúa nhạc pop. Tuy nhiên đến nay tôi vẫn chưa rõ là công chúa này từ Việt, Tây, Tầu hay Hàn Quốc. Khởi đầu là một “Tóc Nâu Môi Trầm” với “Cây Đàn Sinh Viên” rất ấn tượng nhưng làm tôi say mê nhất là khi Tâm cất lên những lời ca lạnh lùng mà đầy quyến rũ: “Tình yêu đến em không mong đợi gì / Tình yêu đi em không hề hối tiếc.”

Đó chỉ là những cảm xúc cô tâm sự giùm tác giả. Sau này Tâm tự viết nhạc riêng cho mình. Một trong những bài của Tâm tôi không thể nào quên được là “Nụ Hôn Bất Ngờ” và nhất là những lời Anh Tâm chêm vào, “Oh first kiss! You make me happy! You make me crazy!.” Tuy happy và crazy vần với nhau, hai chữ hoàn toàn không ăn khớp với nhau. Phải chi lúc đó Tâm cho tôi xem trước khi cô phổ biến bài này thì tôi sẽ đề nghị Tâm sửa lại một chút như thế này: “Oh first kiss! You make me horny! You make me crazy!” Từ horny sẽ dẫn đến crazy. Sau này thì Tâm lấn sang Hàn Quốc luôn nên đến nay tôi không rõ Tâm là công chúa V-Pop, K-Pop hay tùm-lum pop.

Album mới nhất mang tựa đề ngắn gọn là Tâm, vừa là tên của Tâm cũng vừa là những tâm sự cô gửi gắm lại trong mười ca khúc do chính cô sáng tác. Nghe ba bài đầu tôi rất vui là vì thấy Tâm đang đổi hướng sang pop-jazz đúng với gu của mình. Bài đầu tiên, “Gởi Tình Yêu Của Em,” được hòa âm theo bossa-nova rất hấp dẩn. Tuy đề tài tình yêu đôi lứa cũ như trái đất, tôi chẳng e ngại miễn sao có trăng với jazz là ok rồi.

Bài thứ nhì, “Giữa Hai Chúng Ta,” cũng khá êm ái với đàn dương cầm và cây cọ quẹt phơn phớt. Bài thứ ba, “Còn Lại” là phê nhất với tiếng bass thùng cùng với những nốt cao và jazzy của dương cầm. Đến đây thì tôi đã hoàn toàn trên chín tần mây. Tiếc rằng đến bài thứ tư thì chỉ “Như Một Giấc Mơ.” Đang lân lân trên mây thì bị đánh thức bởi bài hát cho một phim bộ tình yêu ướt át của Hàn Quốc.

Đến đây thì Tâm quây về với sở trường pop đường mật của mình. Những bài này đều chú trọng đến cái melodic hooks. Giai điệu càng bùi thì người nghe càng dễ bị lôi cuốn nếu không bị nhàm chán. Vì âm điệu khiến tôi chán nên tôi để ý đến lời hát một tí và phát hiện là có những chỗ Tâm viết không ổn. Điển hình là bài “Lại Một Đêm Mưa.” Cô tâm sự, “Giọt mưa cứ rơi. Tiếng mưa rơi đều… Vì em nhớ anh nhớ anh rất nhiều.” Mưa rơi đều cũng nhớ anh nhiều? Sao nhạt nhẻo thế? Nếu mưa rơi không đều thì đâu cần nhớ anh.

Bài cuối của album “Sai” với điệp khúc như thế này: “Một lần hôn nhau rồi thôi / Một lần ôm nhau rồi thôi.” Có thế thôi? Không cần thêm gì nữa hả? Hôn nhau, ôm nhau mà không cháy lửa thì thật là lạ. (Đùa tí cho vui.)

Let’s face it. No one can replicate the one and only Ray Charles; therefore, it’s a no brainer that on her new album, The Blue Room, Madeleine Peyroux and her longtime producer Larry Klein take the opposite direction in reinterpreting Charles’ Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, a cultural landmark album.

The mega hit “I Can’t Stop Loving You” is a perfect example. Whereas Charles built up the tune with his soulful, poignant reading, Peyroux strips the emotion down to its core and gives the lyrics a new life. The vibe is still heart-breaking, but in a much subtler way.

With “Bye Bye Love,” she slows down the tempo to focus on the song’s narrative and gives the tune an elegant swing courtesy of the tasteful accompaniment from Larry Goldings, Dean Parks, David Piltch and Jay Bellerose. With “Take These Chains,” however, she covers the tune in a mid-tempo rather than slow allowing Vince Mendoza’s sensational string arrangement to flow hypnotically around her voice.

In addition to covering Charles’s, Peyroux wisely selected newer materials that carry similar feels into the album. In her reading of Randy Newman’s “Guilty,” one could imagine how Ray Charles would have taken this song, elevated it with his soul and made it his own. While Peyroux reminds me nothing of Charles, she makes me want to go back to Brother Ray’s Birth of the Soul.

Trọng Bắc’s debut, Dấu Mưa, opens with an elegant rendition of Từ Công Phụng’s “Như Chiếc Que Diêm.” Trọng Bắc has a gentle baritone that blends in nicely with lyrical ballads. Having Dũng Đà Lạt behind the board isn’t a bad choice, especially when arranging his own tune, “Trong Mắt Em,” in an intoxicating bossa nova flavor.

Upon listening Trọng Bắc’s take on Diệu Hương’s “Xin Đừng Quay Lại,” Quang Dũng comes to mind. Like Quang Dũng, Trọng Bắc’s voice is quite charming and he knows how to maneuver his away around Diệu Hương’s romantic lyricism. Unlike Quang Dũng, however, Trọng Bắc doesn’t have the enunciating issue. Furthermore, Quang Dũng’s devlivery nowadays is so mechanical.

The debut closes out with Quốc Bảo’s “Còn Ta Với Nồng Nàn” showing some potentials for a homage singer rather than an innovative one. No crime in that.

I have been fan of the Happy Monday podcast. Josh Long and Sarah Parmenter are doing a fantastic job of brightened my Monday commutes. The latest episode with Rachel Andrew is quite nice. I have listened to Rachel in other podcasts and I am a fan of her work, but I really love her voice. Something about her British accent and perfect enunciation sound very soothing. I actually caught up with all of the Happy Monday episode. Keep up the good work, Sazzy and Josh.

Seven years after winning “Sao Mai Điểm Hẹn 2006,” Phương Linh releases her sophomore album, Tiếng Hót Từ Bụi Mận Gai, with intricacy, maturity and confidence.

Her take on Ngô Thụy Miên’s “Từ Giọng Hát Em” is the proof. Phương Linh’s strong, soulful voice soars and descends with such effortlessness on each note. The accompanying piano arpeggios and soft drum brushes bring out an intimate atmosphere. While the piece is not groundbreaking, Phương Linh’s performance is outstanding.

With Dương Thụ’s “Họa Mi Hót Trong Mưa,” Phương Linh shows off her range from alto to soprano. Sounding like a nightingale singing the rain when she uses her high register to imitate the bird’s voice. The simple strumming acoustic guitar is the perfect complement to her voice.

The arrangements, which were recorded live with the band, are a huge asset for Phương Linh. From the funk-jazz vibe on “Cánh Hoa Hồng Bỗng Gọi Tên Anh” to the bluesy-folksy fusion on Thuận Yến’s “Trái Tim Lang Thang” to the intoxicating waltz on Quốc Bảo’s “Niềm Đau Chìm Xuống,” the musical accompaniments enhance the singer’s voice as well as the album’s listening experience.