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Getting Started with Graphic Design

I started getting into graphic design because I wanted to present my blog posts in a more visually appealing way and provide more content such as wallpapers and printables. Since then, I’ve been able to enhance my design skills by designing for different events as well as working as a designer for campus organizations.

So, I wanted to share a few tips on how you can get started designing things on your own. Here are some of the things I did when I was starting out. Hope they help!

Read on for text format + additional information.

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Developing Self Discipline

Requested by flowering-veins. Thank you!

Self-discipline can be considered a type of selective training, creating new habits of thought, action, and speech toward improving yourself and reaching goals. Self-discipline can also be task oriented and selective. View self-discipline as positive effort, rather than one of denial.

Schedule a small task for a given time of the day; Practice deliberate delaying.

Schedule a particular task in the morning and once in the evening.

The task should not take more than 15 minutes.

Wait for the exact scheduled time. When the schedule time is due, start the task.

Stick to the schedule for at least two months.

Advantage: Scheduling helps you focus on your priorities. By focusing on starting tasks rather than completing them, you can avoid procrastination.

Schedule a task and hold to its time; Avoid acting on impulse.

Track your progress; At the end of the allotted time, keep a record of accomplishment that builds over time.

If you begin to have surplus time, fill it with small tasks, make notes to yourself, plan other tasks, etc.

Advantage: Building a record will help you track how much time tasks take.

If you begin to have surplus time, fill it with small tasks, make notes to yourself, plan other tasks, etc.

Harness the power of routine.

Instead of devoting a lot of hours one day, and none the other and then a few on an another day and so on, allocate a specific time period each day of the week for that task.

Hold firm.

Don’t set a goal other than time allocation, simply set the habit of routine.

Apply this technique to your homework or your projects, you will be on your way to getting things done

Advantage: You are working on tasks in small increments, not all at once. You first develop a habit, then the habit does the job for you.

Use self discipline to explore time management

Time management can become an overwhelming task. When you do not have control over your own self, how can you control time? Begin with task-oriented self-discipline and build from there.

Advantage: As you control tasks, you build self-discipline. As you build self-discipline, you build time management. As you build time management, you build self-confidence.

Maintain a self-discipline log book.

Record the start and end times of the tasks.

Review for feedback on your progress

Advantage: This log book can be a valuable tool to get a better picture over your activities in order to prioritize activities, and realize what is important and not important on how you spend your time.

Schedule your work day and studies.

When you first begin your work day, or going to work take a few minutes and write down on a piece of paper the tasks that you want to accomplish for that day.

Prioritize the list.

Immediately start working on the most important one.

Try it for a few days to see if the habit works for you.

Habits form over time: how much time depends on you and the habit.

Advantage: When you have a clear idea as to what you want to achieve for the day at its start, the chances are very high that you will be able to proactively accomplish the tasks. Writing or sketching out the day helps.

Discouragement:

Do not be intimidated; do not be put off by the challenge

If you slip, remember this is natural

Take a break and then refresh the challenge

Tricks:

Associate a new habit with an old one: If you drink coffee, make that first cup the time to write out and prioritize your tasks.

Advantage: Association facilitates neural connections!

Mark your progress:

On a calendar in your bathroom, on a spreadsheet at your computer, on your breakfast table: Check off days you successfully follow up. If you break the routine, start over!

Advantage: Visualizing is a ready reinforcement of progress

Role models:

Observe the people in your life and see to what extent self discipline and habits help them accomplish goals. Ask them for advice on what works, what does not.

15 steps on making a sweet sweet powerpoint presentation*

*for class presentations and seminars, like at conferences or meetings. Lecture notes for teaching are different, though some of these may still apply:

Tell a story. A story always has 3 parts: a beginning, a middle, and an end. Create a compelling narrative so the audience feels invested in knowing what’s next. 

Know your audience, and adjust accordingly. Presenting to people with our same background (like students in our program) will differ from presenting to a broader audience like the general public, who may not care (or understand) nitty gritty detail. 

Use large readable font. Especially on graphs and figures, and..

Limit text. A busy intimidating slide = a distracted/zoned out audience

Refrain from using pastel colors with a white background, or dark colors with a dark background. Projectors =/= your computer screen, and these colors may not have the same contrast during a presentation. 

Also related, be considerate of the color-blind/visually impaired. Make figures accessible to them by not just relying on color but also patterns, shading, symbols, etc.

Show only what’s necessary. Try not to overwhelm an audience who’s seeing all this for the first time. Always remember: presentations are not data dumps; they’re stories. Simplify figures by remaking them if possible, or block out unimportant areas. 

And walk the audience through complicated slides. We should never assume everyone in the audience knows exactly what we’re talking about. Use animations to show only one point or figure at a time if necessary.

Speaking of figures, use high-quality ones! None of the deep fried-jpegs please. 

Also refrain from putting things that have no meaning. Examples include gratuitous eye candy (which are only acceptable in title and closing slides) or points that won’t be talked about. They’re just distracting.

Show interest when speaking. If the speaker sounds bored talking about their work, then I assume it’s boring and not worth my attention.

Refrain from going wild with that laser pointer. It’s there to bring attention to certain key points, not to continuously circle around the entire slide like we’re playing with cats. (If your hand holding the pointer is shaking, it helps to grab your wrist with your other free hand, or rest that arm on something (like the podium) to “root” it.)

Refrain from going wild with the animations/transitions also. Super cool in 4th grade; slightly nauseating at a national meeting. A simple “appear” animation will do just fine. 

Rehearse rehearse rehearse. Being well-prepared can combat stage-fright, as it takes away the anxiety of “not knowing what to do next” or “mental freezes”. You may also find yourself editing a few things as you rehearse, because something that seemed ok while making the ppt may not flow so well when you actually get to talking about it. Also, pay attention to the usage of filler words (like “um”, “sorta”), and body language: are you leaning on the podium too much? pacing a lot? looking at the screen and not the audience? 

Adopt a “power pose” to instantly feel more confident and relaxed. Stand up straight, chest out, shoulders back, uncross those arms, and smile. Hold yourself up like royalty, baby! Here’s a TedTalk on power poses. 

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from pinterest

Afghanistan: 아프가니스탄

Algeria: 알제리

Argentina: 아르헨티나

Australia: 호주

Austria: 오스트리아

Bangladesh: 방글라데시

Belgium: 벨기에

Brazil: 브라질

Bulgaria: 불가리아

Canada: 캐나다

Central African Republic: 남아프리카 공화국

Chile: 칠레

China: 중국

Colombia: 콜롬비아

Costa Rica: 코스타리카

Croatia: 크로아티아

Cuba: 쿠바

Czech Republic: 체코

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Sometimes you need to get real with yourself. Don’t pretend those tabs of youtube videos and fanfiction take precedence over that maths homework you need to get done. Don’t tell yourself you’ll get up early and do it, because chances are, your alarms will go off and you’ll snooze it automatically. Then right before the dreaded fourth period you will be stressed to no end and you’ll feel the feeling. You know, the feeling. When you can genuinely feel the list of tasks and responsibilities build up on your shoulders. That stationery will do nothing to save your grades if you don’t actually use it to make your revision materials. Don’t click onto youtube as a study break and find that 3 hours and only 4 pages of reading later, the glare of the screen gets a little blurry when you look at the time and look at your to do list with your priorities highlighted. I don’t care how much self control you think you have, or how much discipline you think you’ve honed, because when you make the decision to put of work that needs to get done and you’re relying on this new found immense self discipline that future you will just suddenly obtain, you know you’ve already lost. And it’s a double loss because not only have you lost to laziness and short term ‘happiness’, future you has lost to stress and possibly even not getting the grades or the qualifications you could’ve gotten that would’ve led you to take the path you’ve wanted to take. So please, for the love of your future self, get it done now. 

Today is the day

#pascalcampion

Stop moping around. Put on a face mask, make yourself some tea and get the fuck to work.

“My heart’s not yours to hold. You hear me? Not. Yours.”

“I think you should consider it a miracle I’ve stuck around this long. It’s so creepy here.”

“Chasing the adventure is only half the fun. Look at all the friends we’ve made.”

“We might have to lower our expectations.”

“Fantastic, you’ve enchanted the bones to life. Dare I ask what’s next?”

“Dare I even try to ask for forgiveness? Do I deserve it?”