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Throughout my college years, I’ve been playing intramural volleyball. I also did trap shooting throughout my years being here. I’ve learned quality life skills from simple, fun sports. In trap shooting, I learned that it’s important to not get in your head. If you get in your head about not hitting one clay, the rest of the clay’s will probably be missed too. Keep your head up and your confidence high. In volleyball, I had to learn that not every game is going to be a win. It’s important to not be too competitive, otherwise it’ll take the fun out of an innocent game.

Walking through Costco the other day, a certain package design caught my eye. This design isn’t necessarily fully “complete” to the eye. However, your brain completes it for you. There is no outer edge or line that completes the shape of this animal, but it doesn’t even need it. I actually find it more interesting and pleasing to the eye to look at without the outer line holding the shape in. This is a coffee brand. We ended up buying a coffee bean bag from their brand solely off of the cool design, and the yummy smell of course. The bright blue eyes of the animal give the illusion and feeling that you’d be wide awake if you drink their coffee.

When designing, try to think outside of the box to what would grab a viewer’s eye walking by hundreds of packages in a store.

My fiancé and I are in the thick of wedding planning. Lately we’ve been creating an invite list, looking through decorations, booking vendors, wedding dress shopping, picking a theme and colors, and contacting decorators. Doing all of these things plus trying to balance school work has been a challenge. The thing that’s helped me most is having a planner! Writing out exactly the things I need to do and when they need to be done by has been a life saver. Don’t try to remember everything in your brain, it’ll overload! Writing things down helps me to not feel overwhelmed by all the things I need to do, but instead helps me to focus on one thing on my list at a time! My advice to you in 2nd year is to keep a planner and plan ahead! 

In one of my media design classes, we’re learning how to use adobe XD. Leaning a new software and all the little things about it can be hard and often wear a person down. I’ve had to take many breaks and come back to adobe XD if I get overwhelmed. A new software takes time to learn how to use. 

A little tip when trying to add transitions that are timed within Adobe XD. You have to Click on the actual art board instead of an element while in the prototype section. 

Researching is one of the main keys to learning a new software. However, don’t rely solely on someone else’s ways to do things. Often with Adobe XD there are easier ways to do things while using less art boards. If you’re using Adobe XD and getting overwhelmed, take a step back and come back to it later. 

Every person goes through the stage of life where you’re sort of adulting but not all the way. College students have to manage school and a social life at the same time! You’re never alone in whatever stage of life you’re in. Somewhere out there, a person is feeling similar to you. Change is difficult but not impossible to get used to. Balancing school, life, and work can be quite challenging. Don’t expect to be a professional at balancing everything right away. Give yourself grace. Not every day is going to go as planned. Lean on your faith and the people around you that love you for guidance and support.

When a design pops into my head, it’s difficult for me to even draw to the complexity that my brain imagines a design. Starting in the software can sometimes be intimidating or scary because it always starts as a blank screen.

Beginning to design an ad or anything in software can almost discourage you in a way. I have some progress pictures of some ads that I’m creating. I want to encourage you to not give up on a design just because it doesn’t start the way you want it to finish.

This is the progress of an ad I’m creating in a design class. At the start, you can see what I’m trying to portray and go for, but not the end vision. As I kept changing elements and taking time away from the design. A fire to design it arose in me. Ideas began to flow again when I took a step back for awhile and came back to it. Nothing in the design world is easy. In fact, if it is easy, it’s probably not even worth it. Challenges bring growth and progress. If nothing in life was challenging, we would all be so bored! 

My advice to you is to keep on designing. However, if you reach a point where your mind becomes overwhelmed, find a unique method to distract yourself from it. Then, come back to it with a clean, ready-to-work mind. Some of the things I often do are: go on a walk, read a good book, or spend some time with friends or family. 

A normal Tuesday turned into a realm of learning and a brand new experience. I had the honor and ability to attend the AAF student day. Throughout the day we got to hear different panel discussions, take headshots, and even have a portfolio review. Talking to industry leaders was nerve-racking at the start of the day. However, as the day went on I realized they were taking time out of their daily work lives to come spend time getting to know us and teaching about their jobs. It was simply amazing to hear so many different stories of how these professionals ended up where they are. Most of them started working in jobs that aren’t anywhere close to where they are now. Life has ups and downs. Even if the job you get right away isn’t where you ultimately want to be, embrace where you currently are. Don’t be afraid to ask to do more. Offer your design skills at a current position and maybe something great will come from it. Trust the process of change. Throughout the design world, there are so many different job fields. The list is endless and includes marketing, analytics, ad design, social media and promotional efforts. I’m currently taking in all I can and learning about each of these areas. There are a few that I gravitate towards and some that I’m not sure would be up my ally. I can’t wait to see where life takes me and where I end up in the industry.

Sometimes, as a designer, slumps come up. There might be times where you feel like your creativity just simply isn’t flowing. There are more than one way to reimburse that creativity into your mind and life. Taking a walk outside, refreshing your mind and breathing in the outside air is a great way to take a break from designing. Looking at nature throughout a walk can also help. Doing things you love can help your mind reset. Reading a good book and entering a world that’s different than this one is another way. Your mental health and physical health are so important. Know how you function best and go with it. Noticing other designs throughout daily life can help your mind feel creative again. Doing crafts or sketching could possibly help too. It’s important to have hobbies outside of the design world!

Keep being you, and never stop having hope for the future.

Trap shooting is one of my favorite personal Southeast Tech experiences. I now genuinely adore it. In my first year as a dual-credit student, I joined the intramural/league trap shooting team. It’s been a blast breaking through orange clay in the sky. This past weekend, I also got engaged! This year, my fiancé joined the club, and we’ve had a great time exploring it together. It’s one of the weekly activities that helps us divert our attention from everything and concentrate on something else. The very first club meeting of the school year is often a little nerve-racking. It takes time to get back into the groove of shooting trap and the experience! We are already in our third week of shooting, and I’m finally starting to feel comfortable with everything again! Trap shooting has been a joy to be involved in and something I’ll miss next year! It’s a great way to bond with my fiancé and make memories together. I’m grateful for the opportunity to participate in such a unique and exciting activity.

When designing, it’s important to choose wisely with fonts. If your design is going to be out and about in the world and you’re using a font that’s not 100% free, you get into trouble!

For instance, if you’re creating an ad for someone else, you shouldn’t use fonts that are only “Free for personal use”.

Dafont.com is a great resource to use to find 100% free fonts. All you have to do is download them and add them to your fonts in order to use! Make sure you save the font in a place that you can go back to it just in case! However, just because a font is 100% free doesn’t mean that it’s able to be used for commercial. Be sure to read the details of if you need a certain license to use a font or not.

If you have questions about how you can use a font, you should talk to the actual developer!