Sam Anvari (Associate Professor of Graphic Design at California State University Long Beach) sits down with Sean to talk about his design mistakes… as well as loose (but heavily redacted) Juice, ice cream socials, and BlackBerry measuring.

In two weeks time on November 26, listen in for the second part of our conversation, covering Sam’s time in grad school and beyond working with Erik Spiekermann, learning linguistics, and finding his footing in teaching… while also covering a lot of other silly things in the process.

ABOUT THE GUEST: Sam Anvari is an interdisciplinary graphic and interaction designer with 20+ years of experience in interaction and mobile/web design. Sam holds an MFA in Graphic Design from Otis College of Art and Design, having studied under Kali Nikitas, Stuart Bailey, and Dr. Erik Spiekermann, and a BS in Biomedical Engineering. At CSULB, Sam teaches UX/UI, interaction design, mobile application design, typography/design systems, and human-centered methods—treating design as a bridge between art, systems, and language to make interfaces clear and universally understandable. In addition to teaching, Sam works as an independent graphic designer and UX/UI design consultant. Sam's projects include collaborations with agencies such as Edenspiekermann and Alice.Inc., as well as direct consulting on UX/UI for data-record systems, automotive car UI, and usability enhancements for medical devices. This mix of academic and professional practice keeps Sam's teaching connected to industry realities while delivering design solutions that are practical, accessible, and effective. You can find more about Sam on his CSULB profile page, or on LinkedIn.

This episode was recorded Friday, October 30, 2026. Apologies again for the background noise present in this episode, which I tried my best to remove as many of as I possibly could.