Discoveries #22 | Why the Classroom Is My Secret Weapon
Welcome to Edition 22 of Discoveries where I share inspiration on design, product building, and what's next.
Why the Classroom Is My Secret Weapon
I’ve been teaching in some capacity since I was 19.
It started in undergrad, teaching SAT prep to deeply skeptical high schoolers. Then came grad school, where I TA’d equally anxious (but more caffeinated) architecture students. After a short break post graduation, I somehow found my way back to the classroom, this time teaching in the graduate design program at CCA.
I feel super fortunate to have worked with so many sharp young minds. I also think being relatively close in age helped. I remembered exactly what it felt like to be overwhelmed, ambitious, and Googling “what is imposter syndrome and do I have it?”
Learning to learn
What I love most about teaching is that it forces me to stay sharp. You can't coast when a room full of talented students expects you to have something useful to say. It pushes me to keep learning, evolving, and questioning my own assumptions.
Training to become a Product Designer is especially unforgiving in the best way. Success requires constant recalibration. New knowledge of user behaviors, hardware constraints, operating systems, and design trends. And now a never ending parade of AI tools that make you feel both inspired and always slightly behind.
Students force me to stay current not just on tools, but on mindset. They challenge how I think about taste, intuition, ethics, and what good design actually means in a world moving at unhinged speed. I walk into every semester thinking I am the teacher and walk out realizing I absorbed just as much as I gave.
My unsolicited advice: if you ever get the opportunity to teach, even as a volunteer, take it.
Teaching makes you a better listener, a clearer communicator, and a more intentional thinker. It improves your time management, expands your orbit, and builds a kind of creative empathy that is very hard to learn any other way.
The intersection of design, business, and strategy
For the better part of the past decade, I’ve taught a course in CCA’s Master of Interaction Design program called Form.
The class sits at an intersection I care deeply about: design, business, and strategy. Students are not just asked to make pretty things. They are asked to think like founders, operators, and systems thinkers. They build their own concept company, define its purpose, design a full brand identity, and create a series of product demos that bring the idea to life.
We talk about craft. We talk about positioning. We talk about how a good product is rarely just about pixels. It is about decisions, tradeoffs, values, and the courage to choose a direction and commit to it.
The semester ends with a Designer Shark Tank style event where students present their work to a panel of guest judges from the design and startup world. It has become a genuinely special night, complete with alumni traveling back to cheer, clap, and occasionally heckle with love.
Here's a teaser from last year's class. (I'll share this year's preview in the coming weeks)
This year’s presentations happen on December 8 at CCA. It is open to the public, so if you want to attend, just reply to this email and I’ll send you an invite.
Product Inspiration
It feels like AR glasses have been stuck in the “next big thing” phase for the last decade. Every major tech company has taken a swing at them, but nothing has actually broken through.
Lately I keep hearing about Even Realities, and what’s interesting is that it’s not coming from any of the Magnificent 7.
It’s a startup doing something refreshingly different. No camera. A super simple interface. And most importantly, they actually look like normal glasses, not a sci-fi cosplay accessory.
What I'm Reading
🔗 The Skinny Font Taking Over Tech Companies and the White House
As the design pendulum swings from minimalism toward maximalism, serif fonts are having a moment again.
From AI startups to major consumer brands and even the White House, everyone seems to be trading ultra-clean sans serifs for type that feels a little more thoughtful and a little more timeless.
__
🔗 From foundation to formation: Architecture alums challenge traditional paths
My alma mater, CCA, recently featured a handful of Architecture alums who took their careers in unexpected directions beyond the traditional architecture route. See if you can spot me ;)
Other Finds
POV: You are designing the Denver International Airport
If you've ever been to the Denver airport, this one hits 😂
Have a great week,
Blake
P.S. How was this week's edition? Reply and let me know what you think! (I reply to every email)
Forwarded this email? Sign up here
Let's connect on LinkedIn