Dealing with awkward situations and insulting people. You can't control others, you can only control yourself. It's normal to be taken back by how rude some people are- this is how to solve it.

How to stay positive- Easy, switch your focus from trying to be positive to being focused on your goals.

Are your friends good enough to be your friends? I know it sounds a bit snobby... but it's not. You are who you surround yourself with. So choose wisely. Here are a few qualities a good friend has.?

Steven Heller is the co-chair (with Lita Talarico) of the School of Visual Arts MFA Design / Designer as Author + Entrepreneur program and the SVA Masters Workshop in Rome. He is a prolific writer.By Design Observer

Sandra Nuut is investigating spaces for contemporary fashion curation inside and beyond the museum, and is analyzing the collision between culture and commerce.By Design Observer

Hala A. Malak is a design critic, curator, branding consultant, and Middle East expert with her own particular view of the world.By Design Observer

Frederico Duarte graduated from D-Crit with his thesis on the influence of social changes on product and furniture design in Brazil.By Design Observer

Bryn Smith is a writer, graphic designer, and critic based in Brooklyn. She writes about design for Core77, Designers & Books and L’ArcoBaleno, among others, and teaches in the graduate graphic design program at the Rhode Island School of Design.By Design Observer

Angela Riechers is a Brooklyn-based art director and writer specializing in design, media, and visual culture.By Design Observer

Brigette Brown is a 2013 graduate of SVA MFA Design Criticism program who has worked for the Museum of Latin American Art, written for Disegno and Surface, researched for Metropolis, and edited a publication for Domus.By Design Observer

Anne Quito will graduate in May 2014 from SVA’s MFA Design Criticism program. In 2009, she earned a master’s degree in Visual Culture from Georgetown University.By Design Observer

Anna Marie Smith is currently working on her MFA in Design Criticism from the School of Visual Arts, with particular interest in social media, video game design, and branding within the Young Adult demographic.By Design Observer

John Thackara is a writer, speaker and design producer, and director of Doors of Perception. In addition to this blog, he is the author of twelve books including In The Bubble: Designing In A Complex World and Wouldn't It Be Great If….By Design Observer

Steven Heller is the co-chair (with Lita Talarico) of the School of Visual Arts MFA Design / Designer as Author + Entrepreneur program and the SVA Masters Workshop in Rome. He is a prolific writer.By Design Observer

Debbie Millman is a designer, author, educator, strategist and host of the podcast Design Matters.By Design Observer

John Bertram is a graduate of Yale School of Architecture and the principal of Bertram Architects in Los Angeles. He is co-editor (with Yuri Leving) of Lolita - The Story of a Cover Girl: Vladimir Nabokov's Novel in Art and Design, and the editor of Venus Febriculosa, a website devoted to contemporary literature and the art and design of books.…

Jeff Miller is a leading industrial designer and the Vice President of Design at Poppin. On this episode of Insights Per Minute, he speaks about timing.By Design Observer

Cheryl Heller is the Founding Chair of the first MFA program in Design for Social Innovation, at SVA. She has founded two companies and taught creativity to leaders and organizations around the world.By Design Observer

John Caserta is a Providence-based designer, artist and educator.By Design Observer

Megan Whitmarsh is a Los Angeles based artist who works predominantly in textiles. Although she also creates comic books, paintings, drawings, and stop-action animation, Whitmarsh is best known for her hand-embroidered canvases and soft sculptures.By Design Observer

Alexandra LangeAlexandra Lange is an architecture and design critic, and author of Writing About Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings and Cities.By Design Observer

Stanley Hainsworth is the founder and Chief Creative Officer of Tether, a creative agency based in Seattle, WA. Before starting Tether in 2008, he was the VP-global creative at Starbucks. Prior to joining Starbucks, Stanley was global creative director at Lego in Denmark from 2001 to 2004.By Design Observer

Krista Donaldson, PhD, is a mechanical and design engineer based in San Francisco who focuses on development in less industrialized economies as CEO of the nonprofit firm D-Rev (Design Revolution).By Design Observer

Mariana co-founded Designmatters in 2001. As the head of the Department, she is responsible for the strategic leadership of a dynamic portfolio of global and national educational projects, research collaborations and publications at the intersection of art and design education and social innovation.By Design Observer

Wendy Ju is a PhD graduate of the Center for Design Research at Stanford University, and the founder of Ambidextrous magazine, Stanford University's Journal of Design.By Design Observer

Enrique Allen is currently the co-director of the Designer Fund where he provides angel funding, mentorship and connections to designers creating businesses with positive social impact.By Design Observer

Sean Adams is a partner at AdamsMorioka in Beverly Hills. Sean is President ex officio and past national board member of AIGA, and President ex officio of AIGA Los Angeles. He teaches at Art Center College of Design.By Design Observer

Gabriel Brodbar is the Executive Director of the NYU Reynolds Program in Social Entrepreneurship at New York University.By Design Observer

David Womack is the executive creative director of experience design in the mobile and social group at R/GA. He is also on the faculty of the MFA in interaction design program at School of Visual Arts in New York.By Design Observer

Steff Geissbühler is among America’s most celebrated designers of integrated brand and corporate identity programs.By Design Observer

Liz Gerber is the Junior Breed Chair of Design at Northwestern U. and Faculty Founder of Design For America.By Design Observer

Rob Forbes’ career includes work in both the Arts and Business fields. Forbes is best known as the Founder of Design Within Reach and for the vision of a business that has grown into the leading retail destination for modern design in the US.By Design Observer

Jake Nickell is the co-founder of skinnyCorp and Threadless.com, along with a “bunch of other little projects”.By Design Observer

Sara Ivry is the host of Vox Tablet, the weekly podcast of Tablet Magazine, and a writer who has contributed to the New York Times, Bookforum, the Boston Globe, and other publications.By Design Observer

J. D. McClatchy is the author of six books of poetry and many texts for musical settings, including eight opera libretti.By Design Observer

Steven Heller is the co-chair (with Lita Talarico) of the School of Visual Arts MFA Design / Designer as Author + Entrepreneur program and the SVA Masters Workshop in Rome. He is a prolific writer.By Design Observer

John Foster has been a longtime collector of self-taught art and vernacular photography, as well as an artist, designer, and art curator.By Design Observer

Chip Kidd is a Designer/Writer in New York City. His book cover designs for Alfred A. Knopf, where he has worked non-stop since 1986, have helped create a revolution in the art of American book packaging.By Design Observer

Natalie Foster is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Peers.By Design Observer

Adam Harrison Levy is a writer and film-maker. He teaches at the School of the Visual Arts. In 2012 he was a Poynter Fellow at Yale University.By Design Observer

Thomas Fisher is dean of the College of Design at the University of Minnesota.By Design Observer

Mark Lamster is the architecture critic of the Dallas Morning News and a professor at the University of Texas at Arlington School of Architecture.By Design Observer

Marvin Heiferman, a curator and writer, develops exhibitions, websites and publications that explore visual culture.By Design Observer

Joanna Radin is Assistant Professor in the Section for the History of Medicine at Yale University, where she also holds affiliations with the departments of History and of Anthropology.By Design Observer

We’re in the same loop. Culture lags. Art and design have to pick up the slack.By Design Observer

Wendy MacLeod ia an award-winning playwright.By Design Observer

Ricky Jay is considered one of the world's great sleight of hand artists.By Design Observer

Alice Twemlow is the co-founder and chair of a two-year graduate program in Design Criticism at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She is also a PhD candidate in the History of Design department at the Royal College of Art, London.By Design Observer

Nicholas A. Christakis, MD, PhD, MPH, is a social scientist and physician who conducts research on social factors that affect health, health care, and longevity.By Design Observer

Ralph Caplan is a writer and communications consultant and lectures on design. He is the former editor-in-chief of I.D. Magazine and the author of several books.By Design Observer