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How-Tos contributed by MA Design Research, Writing and Criticism faculty and alumni.
How to Do Something New
by Anne Elizabeth Moore
Give yourself five years to suck at it. Tell people you’re trying something out. Let yourself panic. Drink a lot of water. Ask yourself at every stage of the process what you can improve now, and what you can improve next time. Remember that most of the time, the feedback people give you is not about you or your efforts at all, but about how they want to be seen. Listen only to what is helpful.
How to Stay Sane When Everyone Around You is Insane
by Steven Heller
Redefine your definition of sanity to suit the occasion. Saying it is so, makes it so.
How to Copy Edit
by Jamie McGhee
Assemble a battalion of colored pens.
Tactically organize and reorganize your troops: by height, by weight, by sharpness of spearhead.
Command them across the unsuspecting paper; wage a just war against the tyranny of the comma splice.
Color the page scarlet with battle.
Call a truce to refuel on coffee.
How to Spark Joy
by Brooke Viegut
Light a match. Glitterbomb your bathroom. Feel the breeze dance in your arm hair. Compliment a stranger. Squeeze your friends. Spy something round. Spot something colorful. Inflate a balloon. Belt a song badly. Dance like nobody’s watching.* Dye your hair. Find sunlight winking in a puddle. Learn something new. Get dirt under your nails. Fake laugh until it’s real. Read “The End.” Relish in good food. Relish in dessert after bad food. Stretch. Fill your lungs. Forget your phone. Sunbathe. People-watch. Put on socks fresh from the dryer. Try eyeliner. Smile.
*Dance like everyone is watching. Don’t give a fuck.
How Not to Finish a Cathedral
by Nicolas Kemper
Just make sure your ambitions exceed your abilities.
How to Linger at a French Cafe, in Brooklyn
by Pierre Alexandre de Looz
O, she comes frequently, zipping a mental cage of loss and abuse in and around the furniture. Keep the baby away, the dog too. What does she want again? Lock the door. Wait artfully, impatiently for discomfort to dissipate, for pastries and a gurgling espresso machine instead. She’s rifling indictments which don’t all make sense and it’s depressing our foamed milk. She’s pungent. Look at her. She needs way more than she wants. Sit with me. Ask her about life. Now, she’s on ultra-spin cycle and blasting shards of a mirror I can barely hold. It feels like we’re running fingers along the rusty edge of a meat knife. What’s your favorite color of nail polish? We stop. We breathe. Two. She has two favorite colors and her name is Naomi.
How to Miss a Deadline
by Eric Schwartau
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Erat nam at lectus urna duis convallis convallis. Nunc sed velit dignissim sodales ut eu sem integer.
How to Harvest Honeysuckle
by Molly Heintz
Where I grew up in North Carolina, honeysuckle grew wild. In the summertime, we would spend at least half an hour every day sipping the nectar from the white and yellow flowers on flourishing vines. Here’s how: Find the most fragrant patches, which are the juiciest. Carefully pluck off one of the trumpet-shaped blossoms at its base. Pinch off the end to reveal the stamen. Slowly pull out the stamen, which will carry a drop of super sweet nectar with it. Sip and enjoy! (Class of 2023: Remember to stop and smell the flowers, and to sometimes eat them.)
How to Badly Experience a Building (A Non-Exhaustive List)
by Nicholas Raap
Only as form. Only as space. Only as a style.
As an isolated object. Without seeing the power relations. Without considering materials or labor. Only through a camera lens. Only through drawings. Only through words. Especially only through the architect’s words. Only on a guided tour. Only from the outside. Without going into the bathroom. From your client’s helicopter. Only on a cloudless, sunny day. Only through your eyes. Only briefly. Alone.
How to Be a Tourist in Your Own City
by Karrie Jacobs
- Always look up at tall buildings, and also short buildings
- Take photos of things you can’t explain, like ghost signs and eccentric businesses, and post them on social media
- Pick random destinations (a monument, a bridge, a bus depot) and walk to them, just for the thrill of the journey
How to Finish a First Draft
by Marianela D’Aprile
Stop thinking about it so much.
How to Ask an Authentic Interview Question
by Adam Harrison Levy
You’ve done your research — read the books, watched the videos, and prepared your questions. Even so, there inevitably comes a moment when your mind goes totally blank. You think: It’s curtains.
But life is a fine teacher. Fearing that you’ve lost everything is often the right place to be. You can’t hide behind your research. You have to be totally attuned to the present moment.
From this place of uncertainty you’re forced to be authentic. Since you’ve temporarily forgotten everything, all you have left are your spontaneous questions. As a teacher of mine once said, “Not knowing is deepest.”
How to Write for the Ear
by Leital Molad
Write like you talk!
