23 February 2010
Every time I listen to Tuan Ngoc’s gorgeous rendition of Trinh Cong Son’s “Nho Mua Thu Ha Noi,” it urges me to do a slideshow. From Trinh’s picturesque visual lyricism to Duy Cuong’s intimate arrangement to Tuan Ngoc’s intricate yet effortless phrasing, this tune strikes a perfect balance between words, music and vocals. Imaginary and motion would add another dimension to the song and that is where I come in.
A while back, I wrote a post looking for photographers who had taken beauty shots of Ha Noi to collaborate on the piece. I contacted half a dozen of them. Since the project has no money involved, it’s understandable that none of them replied back to me even though their work will get exposure. It would also required more time from them to go out and shoot more photos to accompanied the song so it was impossible to collaborate. As a result, I abandoned the concept.
Thanks to my lovely lady who scoured the web to gather images that are suitable for the slideshow and encouraged me to pick up the project again. So this is for you, my love: “Nho Mua Thu Ha Noi.”
Disclaimer: This is a personal piece and I am not making any money off it. I really hope that the owner of the images don’t mind me using their photos.
13 February 2010
Just in time for Vietnamese New Year, I am proud to introduce the launch of a brand new web site for a grand-opening restaurant: Le Mekong Vietnamese Cuisine. Khanh Quynh, co-owner of the restaurant, is a young, creative lady who would like to get things right from the start. She knew what she wanted to do with the restaurant and she knew right from the beginning that marketing is essential.
At first, Ms. Quynh hired me to design the web site, but I also ended up creating print materials including logo, business cards, letterhead, flyers, gift certificate, envelope, handbook and server training cover. Her reason is that she would like a consistent look and feel across the board and she likes my simple style. I can’t argue with that.
I didn’t design the print version of the menus, even though Ms. Quynh would like me to, because it would be too much. I am not a graphic designer; therefore, I am not ready to take on the menus in the time frame that was set. The online menus, however, are the pages I am most proud of in this project. The items were presented using pure CSS instead of tables.
The logo is set in HL Thu Phap, an extremely popular Vietnamese typeface that is being used everywhere in Vietnamese publications. What makes this brand distinctive is the bright orange set against the brown background and complemented with the clarity of Univers. While the script suggests traditional Vietnamese, the san-serif gives a sense of modernness. I gave Ms. Quynh several designs, but this one seals the deal.
As you can see on the homepage’s slideshow, the interior colors of the restaurant match the colors of the web site. Like I said earlier, Ms. Quynh is very consistent. She sent me the palette right after she had a meeting with her interior designer and immediately I knew what the web site would look.
As for the code behind the scene, this straightforward web site is markup in HTML5 with a bit of CSS3 and a Flash slideshow. I also convinced Ms. Quynh to use Twitter as a marketing tool for her restaurant. She can tweet about new promotions or specials of the day on Twitter without having to hire me to update the web site for her. It’s a great, cost-saving way to get the words out. I also gave her Twitter page a similar look and feel.
Le Mekong has just opened for business in less than three weeks; therefore, some of the contents like press and events are still to come. I also whipped up the about page as well as the intro blurb on the homepage. If you live around Johns Creek, Georgia, come check it out and let me know what you think of the food. Just tell her you’re a friend of Visualgui.com and you’ll receive 20% off. So what are you waiting for? Head to Le Mekong and treat your family a New Year dinner.
4 February 2010
Attorney Julie Vien Tran just launched Julie Tran Law, a simple, professional and elegant web site with dual languages (English and Vietnamese) to promote her law offices.
What I have learned from our email conversations is that Ms. Tran is not only professional, but also very approachable, and I wanted to convey that on her web site. Right on the homepage, I have Ms. Tran standing in front of a faint (almost silhouette) but recognizable building of the Supreme Court. Her pinstripe suit suggests professionalism and her friendly smile gives visitors the personal connection.
The only problem is that Ms. Tran is a modest person and she doesn’t want the web site just to be about her since she will be planning on recruiting more attorneys. (Any lawyer needs a job?) So the homepage will be changed once she hired a photographer to take some shots to be rotate on the front page, but for now, I am glad we are launching with this direction.
As for the navigation, my initial approach was to have two separate sets: one for English and one for Vietnamese. When I combined the two together and set them apart using font size variations, the navbar looks much better. If users want to read Vietnamese, they can just click on the Vietnamese words.
Ms. Tran designed the logo herself and I made a suggestion to use a different typeface. I wanted the letter J and L to have a sense of balance with the middle T holding the two letters together to resemble the scales of justice. Bauhaus 93 has that perfect balance.
As for the coding, this site is structured in HTML5, the future of markup, with a dash of CSS3 for some visual effects and a bit of PHP to hold the pages together.
26 January 2010
Lisa Delpy Neirotti, GWSB associate professor of tourism and sport management, will be headed to Vancouver with 28 selected students from her “Behind the Scenes at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games” class.
I am responsible for setting up the Olympic web site as well as coordinating and posting her daily video blogs, photos and press coverages. I just filmed the first blog for her using the Flip as a demonstration to show how the camcorder works and how she could upload directly onto our YouTube account. It’s going to be a fun project and I am looking forward to it even though I don’t get to go to Vancouver.
24 January 2010
As you might have noticed, I added a very subtle background to this site to give it a bit of texture. The challenge is obviously not to let the background interfere with the texts. In this case, the content is much more than the background so let me know if you find the text hard to read.
In the section showcasing sites, I broke the projects into different categories. As much as I like to keep everything in a single page, the list is getting long and I am planning to add more as sites go live.
Update: I broke down the motion section as well.
5 January 2010
GWbusiness is a print magazine that published twice a year by The George Washington University School of Business. Up until now, the only alternative version available online is a PDF file.
With the recent issue, we decided to offer a web-standards version for readability and accessibility. Furthermore, the main push is the ability to sell ads online as well. To meet those goals, I designed a simple, clean, organized and easy-to-use layout with an ad space that would be visible, but not distracting.
The focus of site is obviously the contents. I am very pleased with this direction and excited to announce the launch of the online version of GWbusiness Magazine.
1 January 2010
What better way to start a New Year than with a new work? The good old folks at Triple Strength just launched Brand3, a blog that focuses on three components integral to creating brands: aesthetics, storytelling and functionality.
My role was lending a hand in turning their gorgeous design into a web blog. Powered by WordPress, I customized the layout according to the client’s mockup and functionalities to suit its needs. The site developed with HTML5 structure and CSS3 for some progressive enhancements. If you don’t see rounded corners, switch to the latest Firefox or Safari. The contents of the blog look promising so make sure to subscribe to its RSS feed.
Working on Brand3 gave me a chance to learn more about PHP and the flexibility of WordPress. Furthermore, it was a opportunity to rework with an agency that I had a great pleasure of working with briefly for before moving to Vassar. Though my time at Triple Strength was only three months, it was a very rewarding experience.
24 November 2009
I was up almost two in the morning cranking out a web page for Cu Dao while he was sleeping and rolling around our bed. I wanted to create a page for him when he was first born, but the slideshow took over the priority. Then it just got pushed back. Last night, I decided to just whip it up.
I got up half asleep this morning, changed him, put him in the play room for a bit. We even made coffee together. When it was time for us to leave, he crawled over to me and cried. I picked him up and he smiled. It was so hard to let him go. Anyway, this is for you, my little sunshine.
26 October 2009
I apologize for the messiness around here in the last couple of hours. Instead of tweaking the design on my laptop, I did it right on the server. I wouldn’t do this for client or GWSB sites, but Visualgui.com is my personal playground so I don’t mind letting people see what the heck I am doing with it. I made the header much bigger and took out the slideshow feature. It started to get stale after awhile with not much contents to cycle through. That’s pretty much it for now!
15 October 2009
The Center for Latin American Issues and The Institute of Brazilian Business and Management Issues have been redesigned.