Viết...Bằng Tiếng Việt: A Vietnamese-American Perspective on Type and Lettering

Book - 97 pages, 5 x 8 in (Perfect Binding) 

Spring 2025

"Viết...Bằng Tiếng Việt," which translates to "Typing...in Vietnamese," explores typography through the lens of my Vietnamese-American identity, bridging cultures, languages, and the past and present by interpreting Vietnamese proverbs through traditional handwritten script and modern digital type. The manual "typing" was done through a process of learning the Mau Chu Thao Tieng Viet, or official cursive script, and tracing the letters in Illustrator, manually clicking and dragging the letters together, to replicate the strict writing system in Vietnam. The size and other visual design elements reflect the Paris by Night DVD covers for the show that started in the 1980s as a popular hallmark of the arts for the Vietnamese diaspora. The project preseves cultural heritage, fostering intergenerational connections by reflecting on philosophy and passing on wisdom and experience.