The Six-Month Audit: How to Reset Your Goals, Protect Your Mental Health and Own the Rest of the Year
There is a distinct difference between the version of the year we map out in our heads and the version we actually live through. If the last six months have taught us anything, it’s that life doesn’t care about our carefully structured timelines. We’ve reached the halfway mark of the…
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Life on Low Battery
My phone spends the night charging and wakes up at 100%. At 6:00 a.m. my Alexa alarm blares. “Alexa, stop. Turn on bedroom lights.” As my eyes adjust, I check my Garmin watch to see a sleep score of 82. It is a decent night of rest on screen, yet…
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The Creative’s Compass: Project Management as an Individual Contributor
As creatives, we often view the design process as a space for exploration, experimentation and discovery; however, reality checks in quick when deadlines loom and the monster of “scope creep” shows its teeth. To survive the trenches, we have to look at project management from a new perspective. How do…
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Unplugging the Scroll: My 5-Day Instagram Detox
We’ve all been there. We sit down to check one notification. Then we look up an hour later and wonder where the time went. I recently looked at my iPhone’s Screen Time app. I faced a harsh reality, Instagram was consuming my days. With an incredibly busy week ahead, I…
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Beyond the Spotlight: The Value of Mind-Wandering
Taking a deep breath, I looked out from the Point Street Bridge in Providence and tried to clear my head. I let my mind wander to everything that crossed it: the good, the bad and the mundane. As I walked, I found myself questioning if I was even doing it…
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Be Water: Finding “Flow State” in a Digital World
Creative work depends on attention. In Stolen Focus, Johann Hari explores how distractions affect our ability to think deeply and stay engaged. For marketers and designers, that loss of focus can impact the quality of our work. “Flow State” is the point where focus becomes effortless. Time moves differently, ideas…
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The Emotional Labor of Design
Ask a stranger what a graphic designer does, and they’ll mention logos, colors or “making things look pretty.” Ask a designer, and they’ll tell you about the physical knot in their stomach right before they hit ‘Share Screen.’ We’re taught to master the grid, the Bézier curve and the Adobe…
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When AI Makes Everything, What Makes You Valuable?
The panic is loud. Every new AI feature triggers the same headline: Design is dead. Execution is becoming instant. You can generate logos, layouts, campaigns and illustrations in minutes. Creating options is cheap… but judgment still belongs to designers. Did I grab your attention? If so, keep reading because this…
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Your Brand Has a Voice. The Problem Is… It Might Be Boring
Most brands don’t have a design problem. They have a voice problem. They look polished; a balanced logo, tight color palette and clean layout. But when they speak? It sounds like a terms-and-conditions page… boring. Reading On Writing Well, the idea of writing with your voice made me rethink how…
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Writing Without A Scorecard
Somewhere along the way, writing picked up a scorecard. Word counts became flexes. Posting schedules sprints. Engagement metrics act like referees… you keep up or fall behind. Writing starts to feel less like thinking out loud and more like a competition. This week’s readings circle the same idea from different…
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Writing for Yourself, Editing for Everyone Else
Writing is a quiet tug-of-war. One impulse wants to get ideas out honestly. The other questions if it makes sense to someone else. William Zinsser puts this struggle into words through On Writing Well. He gives two pieces of advice that seemingly contradict each other. Don’t lose the reader to…
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Less Decoration, More Intention
Josh Grab is a visual designer and photographer that believes design should function, not just look pretty. He currently works at Brown University, maintaining brand integrity, creating engaging visual identities and communication solutions for university partners. Developing accessible designs with a digital-first approach, he focuses on strategy and execution. One…
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