Can Your Conversations Use Some ‘Design’ Work?

We’re living in a world where civil conversation seems to be a lost art. People are polarized on virtually every issue imaginable. And the talking heads on cable news seem determined to out shout and out insult each other. One-way social media rants merely add to the poison.

Fred Dust wants to change that trajectory. He’s author of Making Conversation: Seven Essential Elements of Meaningful Conversation.

Rather than approach his subject from an academic perspective, Fred uses a designer’s set of...