/latest
Here’s a list of some the latest things I’ve done and made since 2009.
Year of the Dragon: Lì Xì
The incoming Tết will be the year of the dragon—my dad’s year—so I wanted to make lì xì again. The first idea I had was to use type to make up the body of a dragon dance. The second was banking on the success of a Vietnamese pun from last year, I wanted to see if I could do another pun. And finally, during a visit to Ha Long Bay in 2019, I learned a little bit of the mythology about the formation of the limestone islands, where the Mother Dragon now resides.
Lắc Bầu Cua (2023 Year of the Cat)
I started this lắc bầu cua board last year in October 2021, with the intention of sending it home in 2022, with some sketches of the five different animals and the gourd. I don’t quite remember why I went with a basketball theme, maybe I was watching Kuroko’s Basketball, or I was playing a lot of basketball, but making the bầu a basketball seemed obvious.
Year of the Cat Lì Xì: The Life of Pinot
Finally, three years of travel restrictions later, in 2023, I’ll finally get to go back for the real, true, lunar new year. I’m really excited about it and I made some things to bring back with me.
This is about how I made lì xì for my family, but inspired by my cat, Pinot, told in four parts.
Quick Brown Foxes v3
I was dropping my friend Alida off at her house after school one day and the sign on the gated community read, “No trespassing,” but in Comic Sans. Can you imagine if you’re a burglar and you see that sign?
Bicycle Signals
When you’re bicycling in The Netherlands, it’s imperative that you signal. It doesn’t matter if you’re just with your pals or you’re holding something. Here’s a quick guide on how to point while bicycling…
Growing up Vietnamese and Going to Vietnam
It was finally time for us to go to Vietnam. The only thing that was going to stop us from going to Vietnam in March of 2020 was going to be ourselves.
Tết 2021: Year of the Ox
My dad at some point said Tết is more like Thanksgiving in that family would come home to be with each other, and that resonated with me a lot because I love the traditions of Lunar New Years over the tradition of colonizing and genocide.
Disasterpiece Theater
A lot to hate about this disasterpiece, looking back 13 years later.
“Next Episode” by Dr. Dre (featuring Nathan Hoang)
One day, walking home from eating pancakes, I made a throwaway joke to Mark about what if I made a music box that you had to crank for 10 minutes just to get to the final words in the 2000 hit song, “Next Episode” by Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg?
Learning Dutch
I learned a lot about myself in the culture shock. I mean, it’s not even much of a culture shock, everyone speaks English in Amsterdam, it’s just a matter of not having access to 24/7 bodegas anymore. But I’m still learning a lot about myself.
New NH Logo
A lot of things have happened in my life: moving to a new country, to work at a new job, in a new role, with new skills, in a new sector (kinda). Then I had to make a new website, in a new work setting, while working through two pandemics, all the while, not buying new shoes.
It was time, I think, to have a new logo.
nathanhoang.com 6.0
One day at work, my pal at work asked to see my site. I was fairly new to WeTransfer and he wanted to see some of my work. I told him nathanhoang.com. He looked at it and was like, “Oh, CSS broken?” And I was like, “No. Shouldn’t be.”
Intelligent Love Lockdown
Late night after finishing dishes, in an attempt to do something remotely creative, I put a bunch of different drinking glasses together and played this Kanye song.
Electric Blues
My company was hosting a hackathon and one of my ideas (of many) was to get a boat to go around the canals and have a robot pick up trash.
Oriental Tailor Shop 2019
I had been mentally preparing for this moment for a couple years now: my dad retiring, the store closing, all of it.
Oriental Tailor Shop for Texas Monthly
Because I failed to get the ads I made for my parents’ store into the Houstonia, I decided to reach out to an editor at Texas Monthly to see if I could write about them instead.
Autumn in Amsterdam 2019
Fast forward 10 years and I must’ve went to Amsterdam about three or four times (it was three) to visit Ego before considering leaving everything I ever knew in New York and start fresh in Amsterdam.
For Official Use Only
I think the box that’s for official use only is so funny. Like…what official information are you going to put in that box? A little smiley face?
Hail Queen Ego
My love for Ego has been well documented. I left America to hang out with Ego four times.
Camo Sweaters
I moved to Amsterdam for what I considered to be a three-month artist residence. I had a lot of time to do a lot of things from my to-do list.
If you only want to see the highlights, here are my favorites:
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