Typography is both fun and challenging for designers. Selecting the appropriate typeface to communicate the message is not as easy as it seems. I see bad use of types everywhere from bathroom posters to Vietnamese album covers. Most often, designers just slap on new and fancy fonts just to make their works look cool. If you are one of those designers (you know who you are), Imin Pao and Joshua Berger’s 30 Essential Typefaces for a Lifetime is an invaluable investment. The book featured fifteen san serifs (including Avenir, Futura, and Myriad) and fifteen serifs (including Bembo, Minion, and Times New Roman) that you might want to use for your projects. With a brief history, purposes’ suggestion, and well-chosen, real-world examples of each typeface, the book should not leave the designers’ desk. I know it won’t leave mine. And just to show a quick inspiration from the book, I played around with my banner’s assignment for Vassar’s October Break. The experimentation is nothing fancy but gets me to think about communicating with types.

Nguyen Khang’s “Giong Hat Nam Xua” (poem by Hoang Anh Tuan, music by Nguyen Duc Nam)

Huong Giang’s “Mat Troi Da Goi” (poem by Quynh Huong, music by Nguyen Minh Chau)

Boom… Boom… Boom… Let’s go back to my room so we can jam to the nastiest song ever.

The Learning and Teaching Center gets a brand new makeover. They wanted a site that is clean, hip, and fresh with some of the elements from Dean of Freshmen (also designed by yours truly). See if you could spot the designer in the photo. Enjoy the beautiful weekend, folks!

After experiencing the Chanticleer live at Vassar College last night, I could see how it has deserved its title as “an orchestration of voices.” The a-cappella ensemble took us all the way back to 1901 classical music all the way up to contemporary jazz with twelve marvelous male vocalists ranging from soprano, alto, tenor to baritone and bass. The members were so in control of their voices that they blended together as a unit. The group performance of Korean’s folk tune, Jeeyoung Kim’s “Jindo Arirang,” was an exhilarated one. Eric Brenner‘s soprano voice sounded just like those Korean’s female opera singers when he shouted. Eric Alatorre, the man with the lovely mustache, has an intoxicating bass tone, particularly for the jazz cover. Of course, the group as a whole is spectacular. Check them out if you get a chance, especially those a-cappella freaks. (Yes, you Joseph!)

1) Em con nho hay em da quen
2) Em con quen hay em da nho

Both Pentagram and Firstborn take the same minimalist appoach. They have similar concept, but Firstborn is much slicker.

Art gallery: Cover Art: The Time Collection and Revolutionary Tides: The Art of the Political Poster (1914-1989)

Like the blend of colors at Chromazone as well as the design portfolio of Steve Leggat.

The Morning News redesigned. Still clean and organized!

What is happening to hip-hop? I haven’t heard a good joint lately, but I am glad Jay-Z is back and will drop his new album Kingdom Come. Now I am hoping both Nas, who will release Hip-Hop is Dead in November, and Hov will resuscitate rap music. It’s been way too damn long. But before these two enemy-turned-into-business hommies get their rhymes on, let’s take it back to the good old lyrical battles: Hov “Take Over; ” Nas “Ether;” Hov went “Super Ugly.”

I mean guys (except me not) love the pretty. If Ngo Thanh Van was ugly, there’s no way she could have sold her crappy debut, NTV Virus, for 600 bucks. Shit, even if Ha Tran auctioned her best album Nhat Thuc, the most she could get is 50 dollars. But I ain’t mad at NTV, she has to eat too. By the way, I still have an original copy of her album, and you can own it for 100 dollars. Anyone? Anh Binh, I know you want it.

My bad for keeps changing the colors on you. Visualgui.com is still my personal playground; therefore, I use her to experiment with colors and doing it live is kind of fun. It seems like you dig the dark background, and it sure fits well with my gloomy mind. Of course, I couldn’t put a nude picture right in front of your face, but it was an interesting experimentation. While I still am in this dark mood (thanks to some of you), I found the photo, which you are seeing right now, from Ao Trang’s collection that has the wicked quality I want to convey. So to the folks at Ao Trang: I owe you guys another beer.