JOYFUL JOURNAL FOR DESIGNERS
2021 - 2022
The Designer’s Journal was created in response to an assignment with no other purpose than to spark joy. As a designer myself, I found that it was often hard to recognize the joy within design. It can be hard to step back to appreciate the little parts that make it so special, and to deconstruct the things that truly can make one happy.
This journal was designed to have pops of color in order to spark creativity and passion, but to have enough neutral space to encourage free thinking and pondering of possibilities. This allowed me to explore print design in a very free-form way that I have not been able to explore as much in the past.
first draft
This was created when I was asked as an open ended prompt to come up with a design where the only end goal was to spark joy. I often find that as a designer, it’s hard to step back and create without pressure. I wanted to create a space where we could do just that, and deconstruct what truly makes us happy. The original version of this was completed by hand; printed on regular laser printer paper, and bound with light blue embroidery thread.
Yet, I found some issues with presentation and craft that hindered me from seeing this vision come together naturally. Like many of my other handmade projects, I evolved this project into a digital version in order to better share it with others online.
second draft
The revised version of this journal has a selection of different activities one can lose track of time having fun with. Each type of project has a color assigned to it. For example, the branding projects have purple accents on them. The customization activities have a blue tint, while the self help ones are yellow.
These are a variety of things to do, not always directly related to design. The self help selection sports a letter in an envelope one can write to their future or past selves. It also has a selection of stretches you can do when feeling creaky. Since typography is such a big part of design, there are a few pink spreads with activities surrounding type. Hidden on a few spreads are some tips that can point designers in helpful directions, if they so choose.
This journal overall is whatever one wants to make of it. It offers a large variety of things to do, and promotes an effortless sense of creativity that can be endlessly customized to bring the creator joy.
