Organization Transformation

Preface

I love it when everything around me is organized, has a system and runs smoothly. There is something about the feeling that enters my life when everything is running just the way I want it to, its a similar feeling to the calm before the storm. However life isn't calm, and life never seems to run like the well oiled machine we want it to. Life is chaotic, and sometimes feels like storm after storm after storm. The feeling of being out of control and just along for the ride is a scary one. Unfortunately nothing in life is guaranteed, besides death and taxes of course, but we can do our part to try and organize and control life in small and simple ways.

Competence

I am a graphic designer. I LOVE art, I obsess over new fonts, common color trends, white space and compositions. I find peace when life not only runs smoothly but is athletically appealing as well. Creating print and digital art is a talent I have been blessed with. It is a way I am able to bring control and beauty into my life. However I know that to some people art is daunting, and anything but enjoyable. It might be pretty to look at, but apart from that art and design is the last thing a lot of people want to work with and I understand that. I have no desire to do accounting and taxes, way too much math and Excel spreadsheets.

Personal Experience

I hate organizing things If after they are done they are not attractive. Don't get me wrong, I love usability and functionality they are two of the most critical aspects of design and they are what make life run smoothly, but I few appearance as being just as important. While attending Southern Utah University and obtaining my bachelors degree, I had the opportunity to create a calendar in one of my graphic design classes. It was my favorite assignment we had all semester. I was creating a design that served a purpose, it made a difference. I was able to think about what I liked and didn't like about the average calendar and build a design am improved calendar. It was during the course of that calendar assignment that I realized how much I loved designing print documents for functional use. Designing my own calendar had me thinking of what other organization materials could I design to improve my life and the lives of those around me.

Calendar Assignment for Southern Utah University, graphic design 2 class

Creating a Calm within the Storm

One of the easiest ways I have found to establish a sense of control in this chaotic world and my busy life of being a full time student and employee is creating a system of effectively and efficiently managing my time. Starting with scheduling what I have going on during the day by time of day. Creating a list of what I need to get done, and the steps needed to complete each task of the day. There are essentially three things that are needed to do this effectively. A calendar to keep track of the day of which things are happening. I schedule of sorts, like a planner, and in my case a to do list. You can always add more of course, I find having available scratch paper is helpful in brainstorming what I have to do and then effectively ordering what I need to get done in order of priority.

Wrap it Up

The great think about this things listed above is that I can easily create custom designs for each of them. I can do it all with the talent and skills I have. I can bring design and beauty to the paper organization products I use to organize my life and I can do the same for others. Which is what I want to do through this blog. I am able to do it, and do it well because of the experiences and education I have had up to this point in my life and I only get better at it the more I research and observe the ways those around me organize their lives. Comment below some of the products you would like to see, the problems you have and would like to see solved with paper organization products and designs you like and would like to see more of.

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Organization, paper, design, home, scheduling, calendar, functionality, graphic design, and art.