Second only to the big client presentation or project launch, portfolio reviews are one of the most stressful experiences that designers open themselves up to. Regardless of whether it’s an informal review or as part of a job interview, having another designer review your work is a moment of vulnerability. …

Following up on last week's piece, the next logical step for young designers is to get started with networking. My first thought was to jump right to the interview, but there’s often a good amount of time and energy that has to be put in before the opportunity of an …

Getting feedback, whether solicited or not, isn’t always easy. It’s can be especially difficult when it is directed at the work that you’ve put so much time and care into creating. Given that external feedback is so central what it means to be a designer, it’s best to develop a …

I recently had a chance to watch the restored version of the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia, the epic film starring Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif that tells the story of the like of TE Lawrence. It’s a film with solid place in the canon of Western culture, but I’d …

This past fall I taught a half-semester at Lesley University College of Art and Design. The course was titled “Drawing for Design” and it was—without a doubt—one of the most challenging experiences of my life. It’s now been nearly a month since the final class, and to tell you the …

As we head into a new year, there are a few patterns that I’ve seen within the design world as a whole. In general, it’s a good time to be a designer. It’s a skillset that is highly in demand, and the level of design fluency among the general public …

2015 was a great year for music for me. In 2014, I was hard-pressed to put together a list of ten albums that I was excited about, but this year narrowing the field to just 10 was a bit of a challenge. TL;DR Here’s a playlist of my 10 favorite …

The idea of writing regularly is just one of those things. The kind of thingthat you know will make you a better person, but remains painful and difficult to start, so you put it off. As a visually focused person that occasionally (read: frequently) has difficulty communicating with words, I’ve …

It's always interesting to look back at the music that I listened to in the past twelve months what overlaps stand out. As you might imagine, my choices aren't premeditated, but often follow some similar patterns. Indeed some things never change: lots of pretty loud, pretty fast, and slightly experimental …

It was definitely an unusual year in music for me. For whatever reason, I bought about half of the music that I usually do. As a result, I scrambled to round-up a list of my favorites for this year, but before I get into it, a few thoughts. One of …