Heyyy!!!
It's nearly my birthday, 2 weeks from now. And I'm really excited to show you what my annual ritual for my birthday looks like: Journeybook!!!
What is Journeybook?
Journeybook is my annual activity to review what I have done throughout the year, well, since my last year's birthday. It's a way for me to sit down and see again those photos, those memories that I once had, to live again with them, and put them on paper, so as to make them alive forever.
It's also a gift for myself, for surviving till now, for being better day by day.
That's why, it's called Journeybook!
Honestly, I used to make it during December, but because I have been postponing this year too long that I now officialy announce that it will be published on my birthday :D.
And it's a longggg story:
Back then, when I was still in Vietnam, I used to make my Journeybook analogically, which means, I do everything on REAL paper: Cutting things, glueing photos onto the notebook... And the process is super fun.
Unfortunately, after a while, they begin to fall down.
This year, I decided to make it on the computer, because, first, I don't have enough materials to do and be creative on paper, and second, I want to try new things, which is to design them digitally.
And it's a pain in the ass,
as I chose InDesign (Both right and wrong choice of my life!!!).
I'm still a noob when it comes to Adobe softwares, but I didn't think so.
I was confident with my skill, especially with Photoshop, so I thought that InDesign would be easy (InDesign is a software to make magazine thanks to its power in creating layouts), so I hopped on YouTube and learned a short course on how to use InDesign.
And I jumped right in.
Adobe InDesign is a professional software. Hence, everything there is possible as far as your skill goes. You can do absolutely everything with InDesign.
And that's the problem.
I have never designed any magzines digitally, and the unlimited options InDesign provides me are just... overwhelmed (optional crisis).
Plus, InDesign is quite complicated to use, and in the process of figuring out how to place stuffs and where are the tools that I need and a hell lots of fascinating new tools...
It killed my creativity.
I sat dead-ass before my laptop, trying to build everything from scratch. After a while, I just threw all the images into the layer.
And I dropped it for almost 3 months.
Until just a week ago, when I decided to bring up the project once again, as I didn't want to miss this year. Once again, it was hell to deal with InDesign.
Until I found... Canva.
In fact, all my friends used to talk about when designing the presentations back when I was still in school was Canva and how great Canva is. But I didn't buy into it, because I thought that Canva is unprofessional and I want to be a professional designer so I use InDesign...
Until now, when I gave up on InDesign and tried Canva...
It is HEAVENNNNN!!!
Everything is at the click of your mouse (Or touchpad, whatever), all the decorations you need, be it aesthetic, bullet-journal kind of stuffs, graphics... They are all here. Even hundreds of templates to choose from to enrich your design.
Canva has absolutely everything.
From template...
To decorations!
The process is so easy, and I don't have to build everything from scratch, as there are premade templates that I can twist based on my taste, decorations to choose from... Everything, absolutely everything!
And with Canva, I was indulged in the process, and made the Journeybook in just a week!
Damn, a week!
I fell in love with Canva now, seriously.
Just to compare, this is what I did with InDesign... in weeks
Into this:
Those days of crying while designing has already gone!!!
Here's a sneak peek of my Journeybook!!!
That's to say, I encourage you to try creating your own Journeybook (Or whatever you want to call :D), as I believe it's the best way to hold dear to your memories, and be thankful with all that happen to you in the year.
And if you decide to do, congrats!!! The only tool that I wholeheartedly share with you is Canva. Trust me, once you get into it, it's sooooo hard to pull yourself out, as designing with Canva is sooo additive!!!
Bye for now!
