As our whole family headed to Whitetail, we ran into snow rain, which was fine until it turned into rain. Nevertheless, I had a group lesson with two ladies. They did OK despite the rain.

After the two-hour lesson, I was soaking wet. Fortunately, I had another jacket to replace my uniform jacket. There was no lesson in the evening; therefore, I was done at 3:00 pm.

I went riding with Xuân. We both snowboarded. Xuân wanted to carve. He was carving for a bit. I turned my body forward more into an open position. I also leaned forward with my body low to the ground. I could feel the board gripped into the snow.

I am finally carving. I would like to do some more carving tomorrow after teaching.

I skied at Liberty. The conditions were great. I skied down the double black and carved on the blues. I am starting to get a hang of carving and loving it. I can carve all day. I had to take advantage of the nice weather. Tomorrow and Sunday will be rained. Let’s hope Monday will be great. Happy Valentine’s Day.

Just happened to stumble upon the Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio. I loved the duo rendition of “Jealous Guy,” in which Mr. Yamamoto played the pop melody then he added some syncopations in the left hand. Isao Fukui joined in with his hypnotic double-bass. With “Girl Blues,” drummer Tetsujiro Obara and Mr. Fukui held down the rhythm section while Mr. Yamamoto played the blues and some classic poundings, which reminded me of Cecil Taylor’s style. I enjoyed their take on jazz standards on Speak Low.

After a day of snow, I thought it would be good to hit the mountains. Unfortunately, the rain and the warm temperature melted the snow. Nevertheless, the condition at Liberty was decent.

I took Đạo, Xuân, and Vương to Liberty for a few runs. Đán didn’t want to join. He’s a game addict. We arrived at Liberty at 4:00 pm. The rain picked up a bit and the fog made visibility poor.

We went to the back side and did a blue run to warm up. As we took the lift up, we saw a teenage boy skied down the double-black terrain fast and out of control. He crashed into two little kids about Vương’s age. It was a hard crash. Both of the kids were yanked out of their skis. The poor little girl broke her leg. My heart broke for her. I hoped his conscience ate at him. I was not on the mood to snowboard anymore.

Nevertheless, I followed Xuân and Vương. We stayed for 2 hours and headed back home. It was still a nice bonding time together.

Khôi Trần was wrapping up his final-year student of Bachelor of Design Studies at RMIT University Hanoi. He was working on his Capstone project, which included designing a zine about typography in Vietnam. For the content of the zine, he wished to interview a series of typographers and type designers in the Vietnamese design community. His first experience with typography in the Vietnamese setting was through my web book, which inspired his to do this project. He reached out to me for an interview.

Our Conversation

Why would foreign designers include Vietnamese in the first place if they do not have any association with the language?

To be honest, I did not think of type designers when I had the idea for Vietnamese Typography. The initial aim of the book was to highlight the problem of Vietnamese language support in typefaces. However, when the book was published, I learnt that many designers were interested in the Vietnamese diacritics to make their typefaces more accessible. In comparison to some other Asian languages, which use their own shapes to form their own writing, Vietnamese uses the Latin alphabet. This makes it so that designers wanting to design Vietnamese characters do not have to speak the language; they only have to know about the way the diacritics work. The book, thus, has given them the knowledge and confidence to take on the unique challenge of Vietnamese characters.

The thesis was originally published in 2015. Since then, the situation with Vietnamese typography has improved exponentially. Do you feel the book had a big role in this so-called ‘movement’?

It was very interesting as I was receiving enquiries about Vietnamese characters from experienced, foreign designers, I was also finding out about young Vietnamese designers looking at this as an opportunity to design their own typefaces. Since then, I have seen many Vietnamese-supported typefaces pop up, both in Vietnam and around the world, and I am very happy to play a small role in this change.

There seems to be a lack of Vietnamese design documentation. A big part of making this magazine bilingual was to make information more accessible to the Vietnamese designers. Considering your work is monumental is Vietnamese type design, have you ever thought of translating the book into Vietnamese?

First, I would agree with the fact that there is a lack of content about Vietnamese design, in Vietnamese. In fact, when I did my research for Vietnamese Typography, I made a trip to Vietnam and searched for documents about design in Vietnamese bookstores, to no avail. In the end, I had to pretty much rely on my own knowledge of the Vietnamese language in order to be able to produce the book. Moreover, one of the weak points of the book is that I have included several Vietnamese-supported text typefaces as a starting point; however, none of them are made by a Vietnamese designer. The closest thing that I can find to a text typeface was Be Vietnam Pro by Lam Bao, which is open-source; I want to help these individuals by licensing their typefaces.

On translating the book, it definitely seems like a good idea, and I have actually had one person reach out to me about offering to help with the translation.

It seems pretty ironic that the Vietnamese text typefaces are being made by foreign designers…

But no! These type designers from all over the world have been doing it for years. I think that this industry is still very young and new in Vietnam, and requires time to grow. I don’t expect people to just come up with a typeface in a day or two; it takes years to make one. It takes a lot of patience. Then again, maybe I just don’t know the right people. I guess it’s on me as well to keep digging and finding these hidden gems within the community.

The typeface design process requires a lot of testing. For someone that does not know the Vietnamese language, this seems hard to be able to test for its legibility, as they do not have the natural inclination for the writing system. How do they overcome this challenge?

For this I can tell a little story. As the book slowly became sort of a guide to Vietnamese characters, I started receiving a lot of demo typefaces from designers all over the world to review. I would go through the diacritics, pointing out things that worked and things that didn’t, and how they could improve. For us Vietnamese, it’s very easy for us to spot irregularities in between the texts. An example I can give is the hook above; in serif typefaces, I really like for the hook above to have a tail, which designers often omit. I always ask them to include the tail and they are happy to make the change.

How are you doing now?

Well, I’m a web designer. After all these years, I’m still really excited about web design and typography. I’m still doing it now. And that’s pretty much it. Of course I do have hobbies and interests along the side, like skiing and snowboarding, but I’ll keep my daytime job (haha). I absolutely love the web and it makes it so easy to make my work be available to so many people. While the web itself has changed a lot over the years, the typography has been the thing that has kept my interest for all these years.

Any advice for new, young designers looking to get into typography?

Type is still very new in Vietnam, and I see young designers exploring more and more about this industry. It is definitely an exciting career. My advice is to follow your heart, be patient, and ask questions. The type community is very friendly; you could go up to any person and ask them about type, send them typefaces to review, and talk to them!

Khôi Trần translated our conversation into Vietnamese.

Kristin Bair’s fourth novel, Clementine Crane Prefers Not To, will be published on October 14, 2025. I gave her website a new coat of paints to reflect the new book. I have the pleasure of working with Kristin since 2009. I read all of her previous novels and couldn’t wait to read her latest. Congratulations, Kristin.

I arrived to work two hours early. No one was there. I relaxed a bit then put on my ski boots. I went out with the ski instructors for the clinic. It was very interesting even though I was not interested in the techniques. I just wanted to learn how to carve.

At the line up, my supervisor told me to keep my ski boots so I could shadow another ski instructor. Then I got reassigned to help out with a group of four kids. We tested their skills. Two of them skied well and two were first-time. She took the first-timer and assigned me with the intermediate skiers. I took them on the magic carpet, lift, and then we went on the long green. We had a lot of fun together.

At lunchtime, I ordered a veggie burger with bacon. The man behind the grill told me, “That’s an interesting request, but sure.” I really miss burgers. I just can’t risk getting a gout attack during the season. The impossible burger was actually pretty close to a real burger.

In the afternoon, I switched out to my snowboard boots. I planned on riding because I didn’t think I would have a class. I told my supervisor I already taught skiing this morning, someone else could take the lesson. For some reasons, other instructors turned down the lesson. They might want to dip out for the Super Bowl. She assigned me to the lesson. I taught two adults who were learning snowboarding for the first time. The lesson went well.

After the lesson, I went for a few runs, but I was exhausted so I left. I was having a hard time staying awake driving home. I pulled into a McDonald’s to take a nap. That helped a lot. For my own safety and others, I rather stopped and took a nap then kept driving.

I went home, took a quick shower, and arrived late at my friend’s house for the Super Bowl. He opened a bottle of the twelve-year-old Hakushu. It was so damn smooth. We killed between the three of us. We didn’t really pay much attention to the Super Bowl, but I was glad the Eagles won. Philadelphia was my college town.

I took the Lyft home afterward because I didn’t want to risk getting caught for DUI. Cops were probably out waiting for the post Super Bowl.

The whole fam headed to Whitetail today. It was Xuân last meeting for the Whitetrailers snowboarding camp. He enjoyed snowboarding. He wanted to do it again next year, which should be fine if I would continue to teach next season.

I taught one class in the afternoon and didn’t have to teach in the evening. I skied with Vương and my wife for a bit. Since it was Xuân’s birthday and he wanted sushi for dinner, we headed to a sushi buffet afterward.

As we were driving home, my wife and I had a bit of discussion about the teaching gig I am doing. We also shared the numbers with the kids to help them understand how making a living isn’t easy.

I taught 2 hours and made $40. The gas price for commuting back and forth cost $32. I used to take the express lanes, which cost up to $35. My wife banned me from taking the express lanes. The sushi buffet dinner cost $220. We tried not to eat out, except for special occasions.

I am taking on this job for the perks and my passion, not the pays. My wife questioned whether it was worth it to save $3,000 season passes for the entire family. My answer was, “Hell yeah.” Besides the perks, I enjoyed teaching. Teaching required technical, communication, and leadership skills. Whether I taught 1 person or a group of 18 people, I applied all of those skills plus patience.

In addition, being an instructor gave me and my family access to lessons and camps. So far, only Xuân took advantage of the snowboarding camp. I joined the ski clinic every Sunday morning. I had been loving the lessons.

The only downside was that I didn’t have too much of my own development time. After I was done with teaching, I was so exhausted that I wanted to just go home to my family.

Giving how short the winter season had been and where I am at with my skiing and snowboarding skills, I am fine with making the compromise. If everything goes well, I will return teaching next season.

My Dear Xuânshine,

You turn nine today. I am glad you are picking up snowboarding this season. After two years of trying and not making any progress, I thought you were giving up. Then you pulled through. You had proven that you could do anything when you put your mind to it. With your natural ability and your willingness to learn, you will surpass me soon. I don’t expect you to be a pro. I just want you to enjoy the winter sports.

Keep skiing. Keep scooting. Keep swimming. You have the talent, but you need the passion, discipline, and hard work to get to the higher level. Playing piano requires practice, practice, and practice. You can do it. You just need to put in the time. Learn to be patient.

Thank you for being such a wonderful big brother to Vương. You take good care of him and, in return, he loves spending time with you. I wish your older brothers could treat you like you treat Vương, but that’s on them. Keep being a good role model to your younger brother.

School wise, I know you are struggling, but your reading has improved tremendously. Please continue to read. Your math skills are also improving. I am so happy that you are willing to learn the times table. Once you memorized multiplications, math would be much easier.

I hope you will pick up blogging again. It’s a great way to learn to write. I enjoyed reading your posts when you were still blogging. At first you struggled to come up with words. Then you could easily put in 100 to 200 words. The more you write the better you will get.

Whether going to the skateparks or going to terrains, thank you for accompanying me. I enjoyed spending time with you. Today is also your last day at snowboard camp. I am glad to hear that you enjoyed it and would like to do it again next season. I am sure the instructors will appreciate hearing that. I will work again next season to get you the perks. Hopefully Vương will join the camp too.

Today is your day. Have a wonderful birthday.

I love you my Xuânshine
Dad

I went to Liberty for a few runs. I snowboarded on the back side. I hit the double black and blue trails. The conditions were great. I only stayed for about an hour. It was fun. I enjoyed it.