Two days ago, July 3, 2024, David Jonathan Ross sent to his Font of the Month Club members a wonderful surprise: Pennyroyal DJR. I am down with his display experimentations, but I always love a solid book face. As soon as I downloaded Pennyroyal DJR to my machine, I had to use it for something and Visualgui is the place to play with.

The previous redesign of this blog was December 19, 2024, which was eight months ago. That was a long time for this blog redesign. I usually redesign or reset the types every three to four months. The previous design was set in Lang Gothic, a sans-serif typeface. I am now moving back to a serif book face. Initially, I set everything in Pennyroyal DJR, but then I wanted to add a sans-serif typeface for smaller texts and UI elements. I ended up setting body text and large headers in Pennyroyal DJR and complementary texts (smaller headers, time, and date) in Gimlet Sans. I also set code samples in Input Mono. All three typefaces designed by David Jonathan Ross.

For the look and feel, I wanted to resemble a book. For the light mode, I chose a light-cream-paper background. For the dark mode, I chose a dark-brown-paper background. I do not have a theme switcher. The theme follows your device setting. If you set your device to light, you’ll get the light-paper theme. If you set your device to dark, you’ll get the dark-brown theme. My focus is always on readability.

I hope you will enjoy reading the second iteration of Visualgui 2025 as much as I enjoyed typesetting it.

I am paying DigitalOcean almost $40 a month for my two Droplets. This blog (visualgui.com) is hosted by one Droplet. The other Droplet hosts the following sites: donnytruong.com, hiepkieuky.com, prowebtype.com, simplexpression.com, and vietnamesetypography.com.

In my initial setup, I wanted my blog to have its own Droplet because it is powered by WordPress. All sites on the other Droplet are static, except for with a bit of PHP includes and a few minor PHP functions. Both Droplets are performing well. They have enough resources to power all sites. The only downside is that I have to update and upgrade both Droplets. I have been thinking of putting all sites into one Droplet.

If I could put all of my sites in one Droplet, I could potentially cut the month fee in half. I am not sure if the server has enough resources to power all these site as one. As a result, I have been thinking about it, but I have not consolidate all sites into one Droplet.

Anyone has experience with DigitalOcean, please let me know if I can drop all my sites into one Droplet.

I sent this letter to Toyota:

I had a service appointment at Priority Toyota Springfield on Friday, June 27, 2025 at 11 am. I didn’t leave the dealership until 4 pm. An oil change and state inspection took 5 hours. I had to wait at the dealership because Mr. MB refused to shuttle me home. I understood that the distance from Priority Toyota Springfield to my house was 9.5 miles; therefore, he couldn’t take me. He grumpily informed me that he had been working since 8:00 am. I felt his pain, but I didn’t appreciate his rudeness.

From the long-wait service to the disgruntled employee, I was extremely disappointed with the entire Toyota experience. As an owner of two current Toyota Siennas and various Toyota cars in the past, I have been a loyal Toyota customer. I am looking to purchase a new Sienna, but I am not sure about the bad experience I had at Priority Toyota Springfield.

Please do better,

Sincerely,
Donny Trương

The third and final season of Squid Game released on Friday and I binged it. Season 3 continues to be bleak, but has lost its novelty. It should ends here. I enjoyed it. It’s time for me to cancel Netflix. I don’t have time to watch much.

Đán and Xuân are crushing it with their daily blogging. While Xuân writes about his daily routines, which involve swimming and playing video games, Đán writes what’s on his mind. I help Xuân editing his posts a bit, but I can see the improvements. I asked him to write 150 words, but he has been exceeding my expectations.

Đán’s posts are hilarious. I enjoy reading his thoughts. He just needs to slow down and edit his pieces. Even though he doesn’t see how daily blogging helps with his writing, I can see that his thoughts are clearer. He has a natural talent for anything he does. From rollerblading to snowboarding to writing, he can do anything well. The only issue is that he doesn’t have enough patience to delve deeper. Perhaps ADHD has something to do with it?

Đạo hasn’t posted anything since Monday because I confiscated his laptop and smartphones for disrespectful attitude. I am not going to tolerate that kind of behavior. He is not my peer. He is not my sibling. I am his father and he needs to get that straight. It has nothing to do with favoritism. It has nothing to do with egotism. Until he learns his lesson, I will not cave in.

In this 33 ⅓ series, Shawn Taylor drops his personal perspective on A Tribe Called Quest’s People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. Taylor’s reflection starts off strong. His mother always invited a new man to their home to abuse them. He recounts the moment he had the album on his hands. Unfortunately, his writing lacks the analysis of the album from a music critic or journalist. He shares more of his personal journal. I didn’t enjoy it as much as other series.

In this 33 ⅓ series, John Perry dissect Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland. Perry has some informative details about the album and Hendrix. He went through the album track by track. It’s a decent read.

On the I Quit album opener, “Gone” kicks off with a strumming guitar then an angelic voice begins, “Can I have your attention, please?” Four bars in, she sings, “I’ll do whatever I want / I’ll see who I wanna see / I’ll fuck off whenever I want.” She definitely got my attention there. The track progresses from soft rock into an electric, propulsive production with soaring guitar solo. Haim is a trio rock band with the Haim’s sisters Danielle, Alana, and Este and they a thing or two about “Relationships.” Don’t let their sweet voices and the the bouncy beat fool you, “I think I’m in love, but I can’t stand fuckin’ relationships.” The album closes out with “Now It’s Time.” Over the hip-hop back beat, Danielle sings softly, “You never said the things that I wanna hear / You don’t even understand why I’m still here.” By the end, the hiphop-rock beat takes over and she leaves listeners with, “Am I reaching out to say / I never gave two fucks anyway?” I enjoyed the f-bombs they dropped on this album.

NaN Jaune, designed by Jérémy Landes, flips the script with its closed apertures, short extenders, text for display, and display for text. NaN Jaune comes in three flavors: Maxi (swells at display sizes), Midi (sings at text sizes), and Mini (maintains legibility at small sizes). NaN Jaune is packed with diacritical swags. For Vietnamese, its acute, grave, and hook above stack to the right of its circumflex. NaN Jaune is also used for my Björk project.

This book has two parts. The first part consist of 50 Notes on Book Design by Formal Settings. The second part showcases the books. The typeset of the first part is large; therefore; the text is easy to read. Unfortunately the big space and long indent are a bit disrupting. It would have been better if the noted book were accompanied by the illustrations so readers can refer to the design. It’s a missed opportunity.