Now that I am in college, I am under the journalism organization and this has been giving me quite challenges in my skills. I am solely a writer in the field but last week was another type of life for me as I was tasked to layout and design a bulletin board for October—quite a different one from writing.
Our editor gave me this responsibility and I almost developed some hostility towards her for making me do things that I am not skilled at. But of course, it is a joke. I always love to be put in another setting and do the unfamiliar. I am always promised discovery ever since that I don’t decline such offerings.
I only had one week to craft the bulletin board but I was not certain if I could do it in one week. Regardless, I did start from the very beginning to finish the task on time.
First is thinking well about the theme I want my bulletin to center on. Since next month is Suicide Prevention Month, I thought of having Mental Health Awareness as the theme of our bulletin board. I was not sure if students would engage with that kind of theme but since I was running out of time, I chose it. It felt right actually so I gave it a shot. I am a psychology student BY THE WAY. LOL.
Next is layouting and you can really see in the photo how bad I am in layouting. But before that, I had to think of inspiration for the elements and without further ado I thought of Inside Out because it aligns with the central theme. I could not even draw it correctly on paper so I had to use Canva to put my vision into illustration. I struggled illustrating it but finished it after many attempts at choosing the design.
I submitted my freaky layout to my editor without hope of being accepted but still, she gave me a go signal to start designing.
I am also really not good at crafting 3D designs like what girls can do as if they have these divine hands that could turn papers into cutesy little babies. To be honest, I had to watch arts and crafts on YouTube but some are not on the app so I had to use my common sense to just make the design I envisioned.
I really don’t have photos of me cutting the figures and making the elements because I was too busy working. But I have these little cutouts of the Inside Out characters I printed myself. I cannot draw them so Epson L100 helped me until I completed the need-to-be-printed elements.
As soon as I finished the designs, I changed my daily spot from the office to the lobby real quick. Keep in mind that I took these photos on different days for one week.
On the afternoon of the third day, I started to put designs little by little on the bulletin board. We have this big bulletin board and it is good in size as I can fit all of my wanted designs without putting too much pressure on it. I had to get rid of the former design which was from February's design for Valentine's Day. I was also the one who made that bulletin board. Soon after, I completely cleared the board and made an empty space.
It was towards dark when I finished putting the backdrop, which I used cartolina with different colors corresponding to the emotions’ color representation.
This is me fervently praying to finish half of the design before 8 P.M. in the evening with a candle lit beside me. I guess the light we lit was strong enough to summon strong divine intervention as a grant to my wish. And yes, ‘we’ because one of my friends who is a user here 
We finished half of it before we ran out of time and before the campus maintenance got mad at us for not being prepared to exit before 8.
We took photos of it as if it were an exhibition. The bulletin board has a good spot actually because it is right after the staircase where students could see it when passing by as they search for their classrooms on the 4th floor of the building. We left the campus with the design half complete and I was happy to know we were very productive that time.
The next day after that, I reported early to school to finish the design by the earliest morning before students flocked for their daily classes. I was a bit shy in making the design while some students watched me as it confused me if they liked it or judged me face-to-face.
This is the final look of the bulletin board and I successfully finished it in the morning. It took me four days to craft the bulletin and I realized a week is too long. I am proud of my design and the vibrance I have put on the board mirrors the overall design as you can see. It is very colorful, child-like, and vibrant that it could make someone’s dimmed day a lighter one.
The emotions I have put on the elements are complete but Ennui didn’t have a design, yet I still put him somewhere we restlessly belong.
For Disgust, I made a section for Spotify recommendations as music helps students calm their minds especially when reviewing. A simple song recommendation could possibly change another student’s day.
For Joy, I put our experience in Masbate in news form. It is not relevant to the theme but it is a milestone for us that deserves to be reiterated whenever possible.
For Fear, we shared quotes and Bible verses that discuss our ways of thinking and when understood, could save someone’s negative mind. I discussed ways to beat winter blues in Sadness’ section and I was enjoying researching winter blues as it gives a label to the sadness we have.
For Anxiety, I shared vital information about anxiety and the diagnostic criteria for such an emotional response. I made sure to be clear and concise in presenting the information so that the students would be informed well.
I talked about anger issues in Anger’s section as well as how to cope with them. The design for Anger was a bit tricky but I managed to craft it by watching YouTube tutorials. For Embarrassment, I shared pills of daily affirmations for the students to read. We never know when someone is having a hard time so giving kind words must be awesome to help them go through.
And lastly, for Nostalgia, my friend and I wrote our favorite lines from a poem or excerpt. We had to make a tree and leaves falling as if it were a Sakura tree in Spring to resemble nostalgia well. The poems we wrote are from great authors and I can memorize most of them in front of you. I am a fan of memorizing poems.
I also managed to put additional sections such as the Core Section where the students would write down core memories to each emotion and share the story behind them. Also, I could not just forget about Bing Bong, Riley’s imaginary friend, so I put a section about the childhood dreams of the students who would want to share and let them write it in a DIY balloon. I cut colored paper into circle ones and attached yarns to make it like a group of balloons Bing Bong is gripping.
I also put memes to cover awkward spaces and the rest is history. I would say students flocked to the bulletin board and now it is full of answers from the students.
Celebrating our little achievement in McDonald's!
That is all about this blog dearest readers and I hope you liked my narration about crafting and designing a bulletin board for our organization. Inside Out must be a good movie for you since it is an all-favorite. The movie significantly discusses emotions that happen in us and subtly explains how to handle them in the movie.