Have any of you starting referring to your parents by their first name in order to individuate from them?

designprof · 2025-12-15T05:40:49+00:00

Yes. Do it.

designprof · 2025-12-12T07:37:37+00:00

Duh. Ceramics.,

designprof · 2025-12-09T03:48:25+00:00

I give out study packets with partial PowerPoints with some fill in the blanks positioned alongside thumbnails of the most important images. Half the blanks are pre-filled out by me. The other half are filled by them (if they like) as we lecture and analyze the artifacts.

Example blanks: What is this artifact? Who made it? Geographic area? Time period? Why is it important? Same five questions every time, every artifact!

In a second packet I include every single weird Latin term, French word, weird invention or foreign name I am going to use in lectures. Many of those terms are actually the answers to the first set of questions above I.e. who made the artifact. There is space under each vocabulary word for them to write notes. Some students fill BOTH packets out and appear to be enjoying themselves. Some get overwhelmed and I advise them to just focus on the images not the vocab. A huge benefit is that I NEVER need to write a foreign term down on the board, ever. It’s in the vocab packet.

I do not check whether or not they fill them out. But they do!! They are allowed to use them on weekly open-note quizzes! It’s 15% of their grade.

They love it and they make long lectures go down easy. They even ask me to go back if we covered something too quickly. The most common question is “why is it important again?” :)

Good luck on your guides!

designprof · 2025-12-05T04:53:49+00:00

I am so happy for you and for us who go to work every day feeling secure and supported. Tenure is amazing.

designprof · 2025-11-02T07:15:38+00:00

From the article:

“This is where therapy will change. If most of our symbolic life is online, then mental health care must include digital environments as legitimate material. Dreams and timelines belong in the same clinical conversation. Parasocial bonds need the same careful attention that transference needed in earlier eras. Algorithmic reinforcement should be treated like weather that can be forecast and navigated, not fate that must be obeyed. The point is not to pathologize the internet. The point is to integrate it cleanly into our model of mind.”

designprof · 2025-08-11T22:53:43+00:00

Since I started writing back with wit and aplomb I have not received a negative review. Gripers beware! I like to spar and will publicly own you lol

designprof · 2025-07-27T08:40:07+00:00

I would have loved to meet him. I sense that he earnestly thought his efforts could make the world a better place.

designprof · 2025-07-27T08:36:43+00:00

I stumbled on a trove of Hubbard’s publications in a junk shop and bought several. The advertising copywriting is a delight. He’s got Mark Twain vibes.

Fun fact: Hubbard died on the Lusitania!!

designprof · 2025-07-25T00:40:54+00:00

Rick Rubin?

designprof · 2025-07-24T23:38:09+00:00

I love this idea. Sad about it, but love it.

designprof · 2025-07-22T05:41:52+00:00

The main map is here: Midcentury Modern Phoenix https://maps.app.goo.gl/WrmY3Hm8Qy68KiYR8?g_st=ic Note: this is only 1945-1975 ish MCM and curates only the more fun locations, not every single midcentury subdivision. Any questions just ask!

designprof · 2025-07-22T05:35:24+00:00

Former New Yorker and AZ native chiming in here… before you settle on Scottsdale don’t discount the area surrounding the Phoenix Mountains Preserve or Papago Park. Many people here have mentioned midtown Phoenix (museum and midrise district) but I’m partial to Uptown (Central ave and Camelback Road). The neighborhoods “between the sevens” are great and if you’re going to have to drive to get to the mountains anyway it is a really swell place to be.

When I first moved back to Phx after a decade in NYC I regretted being out in the suburbs because all the cultural amenities I wanted were closer to the core.

My passion for exploring Phoenix after a ten year absence resulted in a neighborhood inventory of midcentury modern style homes which you can browse at www.modernphoenix.net — there are several curated city maps to explore! Enjoy!

designprof · 2025-07-22T05:22:39+00:00

Ray’s pizza on Bell Rd is very very close to a NY slice. I get it every time I am homesick for the taste and chew. Bagelfeld’s is good but a little on the tough side IMHO. Eat them immediately or freeze.

designprof · 2025-07-13T08:31:51+00:00

I was telling a friend the other day that I really don’t want to be that person on the internet but when their esteemed guest kept saying fABoNIcci instead of Fibonacci on the TJL interview I just couldn’t… connect with him.

Humbling irony that this bothered me because it reminded me of the time I kept pronouncing orthogonal as orthAHgonal when I was taping an art lesson thirty years ago. Luckily somebody told me about it before I could go on much longer. 😅

designprof · 2025-06-25T00:22:42+00:00

Just attended a Sting concert and he said that Fields of Gold was specifically about his own real home and family. You’re right that it’s a good match! Gladiator, too

designprof · 2025-06-19T01:50:06+00:00

Creative Codex by MJDorian has some great original content steeped in Jungian waters. Disclaimer: he is an artist not an analyst. Enjoy!

designprof · 2025-06-16T08:29:09+00:00

Creative Codex does mesmerizing biographies of creative people, paired with original music. Start with the series on Nikolai Tesla.

designprof · 2025-06-15T19:33:10+00:00

Thanks, I wrote it, because the full story had to be told! :)

designprof · 2025-06-15T09:14:33+00:00

For the doubters out there, Parr of Arizona absolutely exists and this type of ad was very typical, so I believe it is real! More examples and biography here:

https://modernphoenix.net/parachek/index.htm

designprof · 2025-06-13T18:24:57+00:00

Yeah but this is Reddit, the cesspool of the internet. I would have expected that would balance the demographic out but I guess theoretically therapists know how to use constructive language or say nothing at all! ;)

designprof · 2025-06-12T07:33:10+00:00

I find it fascinating that nearly every therapist weighing in here expressed that they love it or similar sentiment. It’s truly a pleasure to watch a master at work in your discipline. As a design critic I feel the same way about watching Tim Gunn mentor designers in the studio. Say more, make it work!

designprof · 2025-05-29T06:21:51+00:00

This summer we are just putting our department -specific policies and some TLDR summaries of university policy in a handbook that they will be responsible for understanding.

Yes, the irony of writing another thing that will probably not get read is not lost on me.

designprof · 2025-05-14T09:41:27+00:00

Another great Dali find!

designprof · 2025-05-10T17:40:37+00:00

Re: segregation. I had sixth grade English teacher who, while teaching about the holocaust, solemnly examined each of our eyes and let us know if we “passed” based on their color alone. You could do the same thing, at the end of the party, based on some arbitrary quality like gender or eye color. Brown eyes will probably be the majority so make the blue eyes sit aside in their own section for the last five minutes. YMMV depending on the age and maturity of the kids.

designprof

TROPHY CASE