I am a young designer, I need tips and help!

I would say create your drawing in indesign. Sometimes in photoshop. Then pop them to indesign. This way if you have to tweak anything, you can go back to the program it was created in fix what you want and it will update into indesign. whatch lots of youtube. One I really like is Phlearn for photoshop. Illustrator & InDesign explain how these very well, my favorites are Terri White, or Dan Scott. 

Good Luck, you got this....

Lots of good advice on this post. 

My 2 cents...

In real life, sometimes "good enough" is all you can achieve. It's what the client/boss thinks about the job is what is important. 

Three things come into play on any job (for me):

• deadline (how much time I have--a job due in a week is going to look a lot better than a job due in two hours)
• money (how much I'm making--I like to focus on better paying clients)
• budget (do I have funds to hire a photographer or purchase stock art) 

There's also the "frustration factor"--is the client easy to work with.

I used to be art director on a monthly publication(s) and the team would spend a lot of time on the critical feature layouts. A few minor layouts just had to be "cranked out" to meet the deadline. I would never show them to anyone after publication, but I always met the print deadline. (Print deadlines are critical--being a day late to the printer could be being a week late in final delivery. That would be a killer for getting to trade shows on time.)

In art school, I learned there is no such thing as perfection. The moment you look as something you did and think it's perfect is the moment you have stopped learning. Rather than "noodling" a job to death, take that learning an move on to the next job. 

None of this means you don't TRY to do the best but that you are realistic under the circumstances. Design is like exercise--the more you do, the better and easier it gets on a tight deadline. 

BTW, even thought I went to art school, I rarely using my drawing in my graphic design career. Composition is more important. 

Don't feel that YOU need to be able to do everything, or everything perfectly. For example in professional projects if you can't draw, hire an illustrator. If you can't take photos, hire a photographer. Many projects require the expertise of multiple people.

I used to be a perfectionist, but I realized I was wasting a lot of energy that could be used more productively on other things. Do your best to make something good, but if the last little tweaks (which often don't make that much of a difference) are taking up too much time, think about all the other things you are not doing (because you're spending your valuable time on those lesser impact things). Weigh your choices. Everyone is differnet, so I'm not sure if that will help you, but every choice affects other things. Life is all about balance. I hope that helps you.

Also, watch this video "The Gap by Ira Glass" https://vimeo.com/85040589 You may be at the point designers get to, where your taste is better than your current ability. DO NOT GIVE UP! Keep working, believe in yourself, and you'll continue to improve.

Best wishes.

You sound a lot like I was when I started out. Perfectionism is fine, but you can only do the best that you can do in the moment. Look at what you've done and ask yourself is it your best work.

Over the holiday I dug out some of my old classwork projects from when I was taking graphic design classes about twenty years ago. InDesign didn't even exist at that point, and many of the layouts I managed to do in Word with a bit of added color by hand and some cut and paste or judicious use of a copier. Most of those layouts I would still be proud to present to a client today.

I also came across a note from my professor about one of the layouts I thought was weak. Apparently I appologized for it before presenting. She chastized me for that. Don't apologize, she said, just make it better next time.

Unlike Jonathan, I never use grids, at least ones laid out before hand, beyond column guides for multi-column work. I find them too confining. This isn't to say necessarily that there isn't "order" in my layouts, just that I don't want to be unnessarily restricted by artificial boundaries. Nobody has ever said my work looked unprofessional. Don't feel you have to use them, but feel free if they help you.

Good luck to you.

Good luck to you.

I can relate but I keep reminding myself:

1. What looks basic to you can look amazing to another
2. When you work against a deadline, you can only do your best and 'abandon' your refining at some point

I learned a lot from :

• friends that don't hold back
• https://www.interaction-design.org/
• Any tutorials
• breaking down and reproducing designs I liked
• Adobe Education Exchange | Free Courses & Education Resources for Educators and teaching others

Remember it is a process that never ends, like any creators/artists

1.  I did not know how to draw till i started art school. This takes time and investment. how many drawing classes have you taken so far?
2. Your layouts will look way more professional if you work with Grids (working with grids cuts down time since you have a column system to follow and its more about "tetris" style layout. As in you fit text and images to the page per the grid....... makes life easier): https://www.linkedin.com/learning/layout-and-composition-grids/welcome?autoAdvance=true&autoSkip=false&autoplay=true&resume=true&u=76821178
3.  I dont' like what i made/make after i make it. never have, and the reason is that I learn more and recognize things I did that showed my experience/skilled... at that time.  Right now you are doing work for yourself so you have a lot of ownership and say on the design. Soon, when you start working, you have to accept you don't own the art or the design. You are been hired to make somethign for somebody else and they own it. Letting go here is hard. and it takes time.

I can't draw a matchstick man... there's no shame in that.

Perfectionism is a good thing. Try work on speeding up how you perfect things. 

Set goals, timescales, and other ventures of self-control.