Everything Is a World

Song Exploder — The Disappearing Interviewer

In Song Exploder, Hrishikesh Hirway deconstructs one song per episode, told entirely by the artist who made it. The host says almost nothing — his voice is edited out of the final product. What remains is the musician walking you through every decision: why this key, why this lyric, why this sound at this moment. The technique is radical restraint: the interviewer’s job is to disappear so the subject’s creative process becomes visible. When you’re ready to do your interview, notice what happens when you stop steering and let the person take you into their world on their own terms.

Portigal — Interviewing Users

Steve Portigal’s core argument is that the best interview data comes from open-ended questions, deliberate silence, and follow-up rather than prepared lists. Most interviewers talk too much, ask leading questions, and fill silences that the subject was about to fill with something more honest. Silence is a tool — when you stop talking, people elaborate, correct themselves, or reveal what they actually think. The first three chapters lay out practical techniques: how to ask questions that open rather than close, how to listen for what is not being said, and how to follow the thread when the subject goes somewhere unexpected.

Reflection assignment: Find a podcast episode for each of the worlds you’re considering exploring and note whether/how it represents any of these concepts. Write about it in your WIP and we’ll discuss them in class.

One Song — One Song Is a World

Diallo Riddle and LUXXURY spend an entire episode inside Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy.” With guest Bashir Salahuddin, three different lenses — performer, producer, fan — each hear something the others miss. One track becomes a portal into Minneapolis, the Revolution, Purple Rain, funk-meets-rock. Takeaway: Going deep into one thing reveals an entire world. Your rabbit hole should have this kind of depth. Class guest Hasit Shah (NYT, Prince expert) joins us for this challenge.

The New York Times — Fixed Units, Flexible Platform

A newspaper is a system of fixed units — headlines, columns, sections, bylines. The NYT has successfully become a flexible digital platform without losing its original tone and identity. The grid adapts, the hierarchy shifts, multimedia enters, but the voice and authority remain. Takeaway: A world can evolve its form dramatically while preserving what makes it recognizable. Guest Hasit Shah (NYT) walks us through how.

Shah — Prince & the Internet: Small Stories, Big Worlds

Hasit Shah’s NPR piece on Prince’s relationship with the internet demonstrates how to write substantively about a subject who does not want to be interviewed. Small, interesting stories — fans in line not sure what to do with their phones, Prince’s contradictory moves online — unfold and reveal a much bigger world. Takeaway: Cultivate the habits of curiosity to notice and storytelling to reveal. You don’t always get the interview — but the world is still there if you know how to look.

Find a Rabbit Hole

Pick a specific, mundane world

Go Deep

Expert podcast(s), community forums, direct contact

Document Everything

Transcripts, threads, links — full rabbit hole archive

Design Brief

Standalone — clear enough for someone else to design from

Due Monday before class

What to Make

Pick a specific, mundane rabbit hole (the narrower the better). Your job this week is to learn to see a world as data — document it, analyze it, and find insights you would otherwise overlook. By Monday you’ll deliver a design brief: standalone, clear enough that someone else could pick it up and design from it.

In Week 7, you’ll design something for someone in this world. The brief you build now is the foundation.

How to Go Deep

Find an expert-level podcast episode (or multiple) with transcript available — Song Exploder, Design Matters, 99% Invisible, or anything where someone with real depth talks about this world. Find where the conversations happen — Reddit, Discord, niche forums, local communities. Lurk, read, save threads. Look for someone accessible — on campus, through family, through people you know. If you find someone, talk to them or send interview questions by email. You have until the start of Week 7 to complete a real conversation, but start reaching out now.

Deliverables

Full rabbit hole documentation: all links, podcast transcript(s), PDFs of forum threads, any interview notes or recordings. Design brief: what do people in this world love and why? What are their pain points? What would an outsider never guess? Who lives here, what do they care about, what does depth look like? Principle transfer statement. Portfolio entry PDF.

Show It In Your Design Self-Check

Did you find depth beyond the first page of Google? Can you explain what beginners get wrong, what intermediates miss, and what only deep practitioners know? Did you find insights that would surprise someone outside this world? Is your brief clear enough that a classmate could design from it without talking to you?

Before Wednesday

Choose potential rabbit holes to explore, find podcasts + communities, review theory and case slides for this week

Wednesday

Theory discussion (10 min) + teams/studio deep dive + any remaining presentations from Mon

Due Monday before class

WIP doc + Gallery Slides + Reflection

Complete an interview by Week 7

Keep reaching out — talk to a real person by then

Week 7

Design for someone in this world

Before Wednesday

Explore potential rabbit holes — start researching a few candidates (see challenge brief). Find podcasts and online communities related to the worlds you’re considering. Review this week’s theory and case slides — Song Exploder, This American Life, Portigal Ch. 1–3. Start reaching out to potential interviewees — campus, family network, people you find through your research.

Wednesday

Theory discussion (10 min): What interviewing techniques from Song Exploder, This American Life, or Portigal are you planning to use? Where in your rabbit hole research have you already heard real depth?

Any remaining Monday presentations first. Then: Teams + studio deep dive: Share your rabbit hole candidates with your team. Commit to one. Gather materials like podcast transcripts, make PDFs from forum threads, expand your data collection about it, making notes along the way.

Due Monday before class

Looking ahead to Week 4: next week you’ll call someone who has kept things for decades and ask them why. Then you’ll redesign something you love so it could last 30 years. Start thinking about objects in your life — what has lasted, what hasn’t, and why?