When I was little, I had a Barbie music box that played an instrumental version of a Simon & Garfunkel song, “The 59th Street Bridge Song” (also known as “Feelin’ Groovy”).

Of course, when I was 6 or 7 or however old I was when I fell asleep to the lazy tune and semi-creepy spinning Barbie figurine, I had no idea my lullaby was really a Simon & Garfunkel original. It wasn’t until a couple years ago that I heard this song on the radio and immediately recognized the tune (aka the déja vu moment of all déja vu moments).

Slow down, you move too fast
You got to make the morning last

Thanks to Spotify’s expertly curated playlists and some sort of algorithm that just knows what kind of music I listen to, “Feelin’ Groovy” recently came up on my queue. And in classic Darcy Diaries fashion, this way-too-familiar tune has inspired me to share a little bit about where I am and where I’m going.

Looking for fun / feelin’ groovy

Last semester, I was lucky enough to work on some large-scale projects and stories. One of the projects I enjoyed most was my final assignment for my Design class, where I created mockups for my own original publication. In my eyes, this was not an assignment or even “work” — it was just so much fun.

My magazine, The Fab, is geared toward young women ages 13 to 18 who are “FAB” — which stands for Fun, Ambitious and Bright. I essentially created my own brand and designed spreads for both print and web.

Here are the print mockups, which include a cover and a “doubletruck” (two pages facing each other). I hand-wrote many of the elements, like the illustrated laptop, arrows, stars, and (yes, this is a tiny detail) even the word “The.”

Print layout — cover mockup

Print layout — feature story doubletruck

I also made layouts for web — you can view the home page here and the feature story here. Zoom in to get the best look/experience — it’s supposed to be adaptable for different screen sizes, which I learned is an important part of multi-platform design.

Web feature story mockup

Web landing page mockup

This project reinforced my love for layout design, typography and the intersection of visual arts and journalism. I’ve realized the importance of making time to be creative — and whether that means taking notes in class with multicolored pens or carving out 15 minutes to doodle or learn a new Adobe program, I’m excited to keep growing as a designer in 2018 and beyond.

You’ve got to make the morning last

Now that I’m back into the swing of things, my days sometimes feel more full than a Tijuana Flats burrito bowl overflowing with guac, onions and black beans (hold the jalapeño), but I still find myself trying to appreciate the everyday moments, like walking to class (see: anytime there’s not a tsunami outside), catching up with friends and even having some sort of mini-debacle that turns out to be a hilarious story two hours later (i.e. tripping in public, power-walking away from one of the many Turlington Plaza characters… the list goes on).

Life, I love you / all is groovy

I appreciate Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel’s optimism, but the reality is that things aren’t always groovy — some days, the song could be rewritten to something more along the lines of “Life, I love you / all is stressful AF.” But in the grand scheme of things, I’m entering this year with so much to be happy about, and I couldn’t be more ready.

Here’s to music boxes, Simon & Garfunkel and year four (!!!) of my blog,

Darcy