Visualgui gets some small but necessary visual tweaks. The new brand is set in Krona One by Yvonne Schüttle. I like the clean sans serif style with a touch of personality. The colors in “GUI” make the brand pop a bit.

Speaking of my brand, I am my own worst critic. I keep changing it because I never completely satisfy of it. One of these days, I’ll gather all the designs I have done for my own brand and call it “Identity Crisis.” Truth be told, the name is a bit vague. It’s actually a play off of “Visual Guy.” I have thought of commissioning one of my fellow graphic designers to do it for me, but I want to get over my own challenge.

One of my constraints is that the brand has to be text and not image text for various reasons including accessibility, but web typeface just looks much crispier. Thanks to the new CSS3 @font-face, the challenge it not as crucial as before. I also love the ability to play with CSS on the brand.

As far as responsive design, it has become part of my workflow. It would feel weird if I don’t make the site responsive and I wouldn’t take on a job if my clients say they don’t need a responsive design. Sure, responsive design is not a bulletproof for every project, but I don’t see why it shouldn’t be. If the desktop site looks great, I don’t see why you can’t tailor it for small screen devices. With this realignment, I wanted to push for more flexibility. The menu strip, the homepage banner, the footer and the graphic section are all set in 100% width.

Major visual update has to be the colors for each section. For the site, motion and graphic sections, I wanted to use a dark color that would make the screenshots pop more. Trying out the colors had been quite time-consuming.

Look around and I hope you enjoy the updates. This is it for a while. I seriously need to stop tinkering around with this site. I spend way too much time sweating the little details.

I drive my wife and kids insane listening to web-related podcasts. By catching up on some shows while getting the kids to sleep I thought I could accomplish two tasks at once, but that isn’t the case. My wife said the talk gives her a headache. Dao asked me, “Why is that man keep on talking?” So now I just put on my headphone when I listen to podcasts. It helped me clean the house and fold the laundry.

If I remember correctly, the first tech podcast I listened to was Dan Benjamin’s “The Pipeline” with Jeffrey Zeldman. I loved to hear how these talented guys and gals became successful. Unfortunately “The Pipeline” has not been updated for a year.

The first episode of “The Big Web Show” I listened to was when Jeffrey and Dan interviewed the Drupal Girl aka Jen Simmons. She’s no longer the Drupal gal and this show is now quite sporadic. Then I got hooked on Jen’s “The Web Ahead.” I love focus of this show. Each episode delves into a very specific topic and Jen Simmons’ knowledge of the web is quite astonishing. She was on hiatus for a while, which gave me a chance to catch up on every show. One of my favorite episodes is on video with Michael Verdi. The topic on Flash brought back so much nostalgia. The show is now also sporadic.

I also tuned into Kristina Halvorson’s “Content Talks.” I listened to almost every episode. Love the content strategy talk as well as Kristina’s clear enunciation. Too bad this show is also not active.

Occasionally I listened to “The Talk Show” with John Gruber. The breakup caused quite a stir, which resulted in one-star review for John’s new show. I still follow John on his new show. Based on the lacking of updates of the shows I mentioned above in the 5by5 network, I could see why John did what he did.

One of the shows on 5by5 that is still on regular schedule is “Build and Analyze” with Marco Arment. This show is somewhat similar to “The Talk Show” in a way that they talk about Apple.

Although I am not too crazy about the Q&A format of “ShopTalk,” which hosted by Chris Coyier and Dave Rupert, I tuned in anyway. Chris and Dave could be quite hilarious at times.

Recently I caught up with both “The Non-Breaking Space Show,” which hosted by Christopher Schmitt and Dave McFarland, and “The East Wing” by Tim Smith and Galen Gidman. Both are pretty decent.

Damn, that’s a lot of podcasts.

After reading Luke Stevens’s The Truth About HTML5, I just want to get rid of all the new, shiny HTML5’s structural elements on this site. He made a convincing argument (backed up with thorough research) how these new elements aren’t accessible as they are intended. We’re better off using divs with AIRA attributes. I have read a handful of books on HTML5, but The True is by far the most engaging and provocative on the new markups. If you’re still confused between section and article, The True will definitely set the record straight. (Hint: It’s not you). Must-read for web practitioners.

I was expecting some nasty-ass sex metaphors in R. Kelly’s newest release, but the closest thing I got is some oral sex in the end of the album. “One Step Closer” recounted blow-by-blow the minute he clocked out of work and headed straight home to his lover. Before he got to the door, I was predicting something dramatic would happen like he would find another guy or girl making out with his woman in his bed, but nothing happened. She was just waiting for him with nothing on. He went down and didn’t want to come back up.

Write Me Back is more of a sequel to his 2010’s retro Love Letter than his freakiness signatures. Kellz brings back the good old ’70s soul like the disco joint “Love Is” and Smokey Robinson’s smoothness “Fool for You.” He even makes an convincing impression of Michael Jackson on “You Are My World.” Yet Kellz does best when he does his own style. “Believe In Me” sounds like a message from a soldier to his lover:

I’ll be gone for a minute
I know you can’t take it
The Lord’s walking with me
So I am going to make it.

In her new release, Another Country, Cassandra Wilson once again demonstrates her artful skill of reinterpretation on “O Sole Mio,” an Italian rendition of “It’s Now Or Never” made famous by Elvis Presley. Unlike the king of rock and roll’s version, Ms. Wilson bends the notes to her liking and uses her killer contralto to breath new life into the tune. Another Country, however, is not an album of covers. Except for “O Sole Mio” and two instrumental tracks, she penned all the compositions. In collaborating with producer Fabrizio Sotti who backs up her vocal with his sensational acoustic picking guitar, Ms. Wilson shows off her lyricism, particularly on the illustrious “Red Guitar”:

Wash my face with blue water
Lay my head on white linens
Morning come, drink black coffee
Then play my song on red guitar

With Another Country, Ms. Wilson embarks on yet another direction in her expansive career as she parted her long relationship with Blue Note.

From his economical, lyrical approach to his lush, muted tone to his incorporation of classical, pop and Brazilian flavors, Chris Botti’s Impressions of Miles Davis is all over the record. While “En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor” gives an impression of Miles Davis and Gil Evans era, “You Are Not Alone” reflects Davis’s late career. No crime in that. The album featured standout collaborations including Caroline Campbell in “Oblivion,” Herbie Hancock in “Tango Suite” and David Foster in “Summertime.” In the Gershwin’s cover, Botti’s slow, clear phrasing on the trumpet is Miles-inspired. Very impressive nevertheless.

In two live sets recorded on October 23, 1968 at Art D’Lugoff’s Top of the Gate, Bill Evans Trio, which included bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell, laid down some outstanding jazz standards such as a swing version of “My Funny Valentines,” a melodious rendition of Duke Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood” and two brilliant takes on Thelonious Monk’s “Round Midnight.” Although Evans was the driving force behind the trio, both Gomez and Morell were also at the top of their game. In “Autumn Leaves,” Gomez played some of the finest basslines backing up by Morell’s crystal light brush strokes in addition to keeping up with Evans’s changing in tempos and shifting in moods. Great chemistry produced great feelings. Kudos to engineer George Klabin for the excellent sound setting of the sessions.

I was having lunch with a very sexy mama today. She was so damn hot that I was sweating like rain. Fortunately the hot weather and the hot soup were to blame for my fantasy. These days all that I could do is fantasizing about her.

I am saddened to hear the news about a Vietnamese man gunning down another Vietnamese fellow before taking his own life. What even more heartbreaking is that the incident took place in the vibrant Eden Center.

Living in Virginia for the past five years, Eden Center has become my community. I go there for lunch almost daily now and I take my family there on the weekend to eat and just to hang out. Whenever someone asks me where to find authentic Vietnamese food in the DC Metro area, I point them to Eden Center with pride.

It’s big shock to hear Viet killing Viet in Viet community. It’s time for us, as Vietnamese American, to rebuild our image and move forward. For me Eden Center is closet to Vietnam from where I live; therefore, I want this community to strive, not set back. As driving to work this morning, I thought of a graphic signage to promote unity in the Eden Community.

Written by someone who holds a PhD on typeface familiarity and its relation to legibility, Reading Letters is packed with research on reading process, history of typography and visual illustration. Sofie Beier has done an exceptional job of pulling together all three aspects to give readers the art and technicality of legibility. From text sizes to letter spacing to the capitals and italics to choosing between sans and serif, this book is a must-read and many rereads for both web and graphic designers as well as anyone who cares about legibility and readability.