I discovered this neat Detroit-based design firm, Civilla, that works with public institutions. Then I read this NY Times article, “How Tech Is Helping Poor People Get Government Aid.” Which is great that tech is finally diversifying their audience. BUT. It reminds me of when I worked in tech and we brought a team to a Women in Tech Hackathon and created a functional product that helps people on WIC to tell if a product is available for them through WIC and how we didn’t win becuase we didn’t have the flashiest presentation but the product that DID win was a rehash of Blue Apron, meal kits for poorer folks funded through donations. Poor folks are just like us y’all! And it was incredibly disappointing becuase we developed the product prior to these companies and it worked!

• MoMA PS1 Director Kate Fowle Resigns Unexpectedly, hyperallergic

• New MoMA PS1 Director Leans Into Social Justice and Reaches Out to Long Island City, NY Times

• New MoMA PS1 Director Resigns, NY Times

• Life Between Buildings, PS1 Exhibit through Jan 16

• From Kindergarten Through High School, This Family Has Been Making a Magazine Together for Ten Years, AIGA Eye on Design

• Inside the Beijing Silvermine: A unique archive of everyday China captured through discarded photography, It’s Nice That

• Letter of Recommendation: Do Away with Letters of Recommendations, Gawker
  Letters of recommendation were first introduced by universities in the 1920s to keep Jewish people out of Ivy League schools, and currently they perpetuate the exclusion of applicants with fewer connections, especially those from marginalized backgrounds. How does your organization square this history and these ongoing effects with your stated commitment to diversity initiatives as spelled out on your program’s website?

• Top Gun: Maverick Is Another Military Recruitment Video Disguised as a Movie, Jacobian

• The Daily Heller: Art Chantry Reconsidered in His Own Words, Print Mag

• The Daily Heller: Art Chantry Barks Back, Print Mag
  To understand what I’m doing with the imagery that I encounter in my world, you have to realize that I really consider graphic design as a language—and it’s almost a universal language (despite some cultural differences).

• This Critic and Anxiety-Sufferer Finds Peace, Relaxation at Used Book Stores, Columbus Monthly

• Hiring for 'Culture Add' Vs. 'Culture Fit', Architect Mag
  I’ve been working on SWOT analyses with the whole office and one thing that has come up repeatedly, but notably not with the firm’s owner, is diversity and wanting more of it. In one conversation we also discussed how as an office we haven’t even mentioned Black Lives Matter which has rocked the nation in the past few years. Yesterday, a bunch of school children were in a mass shooting and died. How do we incorporate the need/desire to discuss these issues as a company?

• Modern Period Brands Used to Blend In. Now, Like Everything Else, They’re All About Standing Out, AIGA Eye on Design

• A Broad View: Married, technically, but not for love, Print Magazine

• Elevated Downtown walkway to feature plants, benches, Columbus Dispatch
  Mixed feelings… What makes the Highline magical is the plantings. These renderings are rather ho hum, so hopefully Edwards puts some $$ into a good horticulturist. What is frusterating about the Highline is the rampant gentrification of the area and wildly expensive housing in the area. While this is good business for a developer, not great for a community.

• Rethinking Architectural History, Architect Magazine

• Labor Parti, Arch Paper
  Ohhhhh bad write up on Moody Nolan’s employee practices

• Architecture Firm Moody Nolan Celebrates 40 Years, Columbus Underground
  Oh hey, but heres MN doing super awesome Columbus stuff!

• The Daily Heller: Before Obama’s HOPE, There Was Shirley Chisholm, Pring Mag

• My Frenetic, Messy, Exhausting, Neurodivergent Mind: TikTok Told Me I Have ADHD, Columbus Monthly
  I GET THESE TIKTOKS IN MY FEED TOO. But it never occured to me that it could be correct, I mean, doesn’t everyone experience things and interact with the world differently? Do I want to me typical? tbd

• Visual arts: Neglected folk artist Nellie Mae Rowe displayed 'explosion of creativity', The Columbus Dispatch

• Columbus architecture firm Moody Nolan plots its future 40 years in, Columbus Business First
  (1) Damn, does MN get a lot of press (2) a good quote about pandemic-specific design needs: “the pandemic didn't change any specific design techniques because flexibility, safety, security and health were always considered. But it did inspire the firm to evolve broader conversations with clients and within about spacial needs, occupancy and brand culture to retain employees.”

• Franklin County land bank to restore historic Edna building in King-Lincoln-Bronzeville, Columbus Dispatch

• Hussein Alazaat on children’s books from the 60s-90s and why they demonstrate the “highest peak of Arabic book-making history”, It’s Nice That

• Public Address wants its seltzer identity to look anything but colourful and care-free, It’s Nice That

• The Daily Heller: Brooklyn is for Visionaries, Print

• Exploring the Politics of Masks Beyond COVID, Hyperallergic

• Noam Chomsky: “We’re approaching the most dangerous point in human history”, The New Statesman

• Margo’s Way: She’s one of the boldest cultural critics of the past 50 years. But writing memoir is Margo Jefferson’s true act of defiance., Vulture

• For a Black Man Hired to Undo a Confederate Legacy, It Has Not Been Easy, NYT

• Sweeping Basquiat Show Curated by His Sisters Offers Intimate Look at the Artist, NYT

• World's first multi-storey skatepark opens in Folkestone, Deezen

• The pagan roots of Easter, The Guardian

Regarding the Pain of Others, on Social Media, hyperallergic

• Why Have Female Animals Evolved Such Wild Genitals?, Smithsonian Magazine

• LISTEN: Design is Everywhere: Hospitality Design That Takes Care of People, Print Magazine

• All Advertising Looks the Same These Days. Blame the Moodboard, AIGA Eye on Design
  Reviewed an experienctial designer’s work recently and had similar feels. Particularly because they showed the client the moodboard. Who wants to know your branding is ripping off others?

• Early Web Design Helped a Generation Express Themselves Online. How Do We Capture That Feeling Again?, AIGA Eye on Design

Crawford Hoying buys historic downtown Atlas Building, Columbus Business First

• Inside the worker-led push to unionize the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus Alive

• The myth of ‘nobody wants to work’, Columbus Alive

• Obituary: Eric Ramaharonirina
  Lots of feels today

• How Can Designers Build Interfaces That Avoid the “White Default?”, AIGA Eye on Design

Employers ignore almost everything on your application–except this, Quartz