The power of Now
Project category​
Date
Roll
Project type
Grade
Tools used
Workshop
January 16th 2025
Headdesigner
College project
8
Adobe Illustrator, Figma
I attended another minor titled Behavior Design. Here, we were taught how to design in a way that promotes and encourages positive behavior while ensuring the user’s autonomy. I chose this minor because we, as designers of the internet, have a significant influence on user behavior, both positive and negative. I wanted to learn how to do this ethically but effectively.
At the end of the minor, we were asked to create a workshop based on a psychological book and course of our choosing. The book I chose was The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. Tolle writes about the importance of the present moment and teaches how to let go of pain from the past and worries about the future. He is a brilliant and obviously content man, so why not listen to what he has to say?​​
Everyone has an ego that develops while growing up, and it is a part of your mind. It is your mental self-image, or as Tolle calls it: the false self.
Creating a workshop about the book was a demanding task. The book is both abstract and very clear at the same time. Turning Tolle’s carefully chosen words into a coherent, logical, and chronological story proved to be more difficult than I expected. I should mention that the workshop was designed for twenty-something-year-old students, who are usually not very fond of meditation-like subjects. And that’s exactly what The Power of Now is about: mindfulness and controlling your thoughts.
At some point, I realized I needed to make it less vague and more aligned with my target audience’s interests by making my story visual. I created a slightly animated slideshow in Figma to provide a visual representation of my words.
Fortunately, my approach worked, and I was able to hold my fellow students' attention for the entire workshop. I received plenty of positive feedback and heard more than once that my story, or rather, Tolle’s story, made them reflect on their own thinking.
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I learned a lot from the book, and I’ve been applying its lessons ever since in both my personal and professional life. I strongly encourage you to read it as well and see for yourself how it can positively impact your way of life.
