A very inspiring list of font systems made of of various methods.

Back in design school, I didn’t enjoy making these font systems, but that only heighten my appreciation for what these designers have done.

Hopefully this would inspire you to create your own creative font or at least to see letters in a different way. Far too often we abstract type into the meaning that it carries and lose sight of its form. This kind of exercise is perfect for that.

http://www.lettercount.com/

The page doesn’t look very good, but it does a good job. It’s a simple task, but sometimes can be annoyingly time consuming if you have to do it manually.

Smashing Magazine came up with a nice short list of tips to improve typography for your site: 8 Simple Ways to Improve Typography In Your Designs.

This could improve the user experience for your site dramatically, particularly if your site is text heavy.

Today I spent the whole day preparing sample works to apply for a UX position at a well-known financial company.

It was a very agonizing process.

They want to see some formal documents that show my process and how I solve UX problems, mainly from the interaction design perspective.

I know how to do wireframes, site architecture, user flow, etc., and have been doing that but I don’t have anything in the form of a formal documentation. I did most of these on paper because it’s the fastest way for me. We had a very small team, so we had to move from one project to another quickly. In other words: just get stuff done. In many cases, I collaborate with front end developers in real time as they implement the design.

This sounds like an excuse, though.

Note to self: going forward, I need to make sure I keep the artifacts used in the design process and make time to create proper formal documentation.

Embracing the new reality

This was the second full week of me being out of work.

Last week, I realized that I worry too much about the future. It’s counter-productive. I was also reminded that I had been in worse situation financially,which was the center of my worry, in the past. My God has proven his faithfulness in this area times and times again, so this time, I have no reason to doubt that He will do the same.

My brother got a new job this week. I’m ecstatic for him. It’s an opportunity that didn’t look very appealing at first, but the more he explored it, the more promising it became. He gets to work with the best of the best, stable company, and predictable work schedule that allows him to experience life more.

This also alleviates the financial worry that I had. My main concern was the well-being of our parents. Now that one of us is back at work provides assurance that our parents’ needs will be met.

Preparing the opening for the next chapter

My life feels like a new game of chess. Right now, I’m placing my pieces in strategic places to create a strong formation and momentum for my future.

My resume has been updated. I’m fortunate to receive valuable feedback both from my brother and good friend.

On Wednesday, I spent 11 hours straight working on updating my portfolio. I’m glad to report that I still have the flash skill to do what I wanted. This experience made me think of how I paint. Every time I thought I was done, I’d see something that could use a little improvement, so I’d say to myself “I’m just going to do that one little thing , then I’m done.” Of course, while doing that, I notice another little thing to address, then another. The next thing I know, I have been spending hours working on that project. Getting lost in a project like this is a great feeling.

My next step is to start leaving recommendation on linkedIn and asking for one from people in my contact list. I also need to network more. If you would like to add me as one of your linkedIn connections, here’s my profile.

Life possibilities

My ideal next job would be doing user experience for a financial media company. Few names come to mind: Bloomberg, CNBC or the Wall Street Journal. I figured since I was involved in pushing Yahoo! Finance to be the no. 1 financial web site on the web, I could certainly help these other companies to improve web presence.

Most of those companies are located in New York, so moving back to the Big Apple is certainly a possibility.

Another idea is explore what Nothern California has to offer since there are a lot of technology companies up there.

Of course, I’m open to local (Los Angeles) opportunities as well. It’d be nice to stay in LA since I just started building my life here.

Although finding a new full-time employment seems to be the most promising path financially, I’m also keeping myself open to opportunities in doing contract work in design, art/body art and teaching opportunities.

This week, I’ve managed to embrace this new reality and started enjoying life. Every morning, I’m forced to think what I want and need to do for that day. Scary, but exciting. I feel alive.

Noupe.com compiled this list of 30 cool illustrator tutorials: 30+ Fresh & Useful Adobe Illustrator Tutorials & Neat Tips

A lot of these are things that seem really complex and would take hours if not days to achieve in Photoshop, which is what I’d naturally go to to create these.

A nice collection of FREE - yes FREE!!!- photoshop and illustrator brushes from a very resourceful site Colorburned.

These brushes are very valuable when we do digital manipulation/painting. I mainly use them to add texture to my piece.

I’ll be downloading these cool stuff this afternoon.

Logoinstant.com is a site where you can download stylish web 2.0 looking logos for free.

Not only they give you the image, they also provide the source files in both ai and psd. These people are very generous.