All right, let's dive into something
that, let's be honest, can feel a little
intimidating for a lot of designers. The
whole technical setup for the Whiteboard
Design Studio course, we're going to go
on a little journey here and the goal is
to take that feeling of, uh, this is
complicated and turn it into, OK, I got
this. Does this sound at all familiar?I
bet it does. This is probably the number
one thing we hear from amazing designers
who are totally ready to grow, but they
feel like the tools are this giant wall
in front of them. If that's you, I just
want you to know you are so not alone. In
fact, this is the perfect place for us to
start. And here's the absolute truth. The
thing you have to keep in mind?Every
single expert you admire, every designer
who seems to have it all figured out.
They all started right here, uncertain,
maybe a little nervous, wondering if they
could really get the hang of it. Well,
they did, and you will too. So let's
just face that technical hurdle head on.
Our first mission is super simple. We're
going to demystify all these tools. We're
going to take that scary sounding jargon
and justice, turn it into ideas that
actually make sense. First U Git and
GitHub, people get these mixed U all the
time. Are they the same thing? Not
really. And the best way to get it is
with this analogy. Think of Git as the
engine. It's the powerful. Thing working
behind the scenes, keeping track of every
single change you make. And GitHub, well,
GitHub is the car. It's the sleek,
user-friendly website where you actually
store and share your project. O what is
GitHub really? Let's just forget the
whole intimidating tech reputation for a
second. At its heart, it's basically just
cloud. Storage, but with a superpower and
that superpower is a time machine Every
time you save your work, it doesn't just
back it U, it creates a specific version
you can go back to at anytime It's like
the ultimate safety net for your entire
design process. OK, so now we know what
it is let's take that first big step we
are going to create your professional.
Home on the Internet your very first
GitHub repository and you are going to be
amazed at how simple this is. Seriously,
you just go to github.com & up. You know,
just like you would for any other
website. A little pro tip, try to pick a
professional sounding username because
you might end up sharing this with
clients one day. You verify your e-mail.
And, well, that's literally it. And
justice like that, you've done it. No,
really, take a second and let that sink
in. That thing that might have seemed
kind of complicated a few minutes ago,
you just did it. That feeling of progress
right there. We're going to keep building
on that. Now, when you create your first
project folder, they call it a
repository. You have a little choice to
make. You can have a single repo where
all your design specs and maybe some
future code live together, which by the
way, is perfect for beginners. Or you
could have separate repos for everything,
which is more of a big corporate thing
for this course. Trust me, we're going
with the single repo. It keeps everything
simple and all in one place. So once
you've named your repository and you
click that. The right button boom, that's
it. You are now officially a GitHub user.
You have a professional space to house
your work. Feels pretty good, right? OK,
now let's build the workshop where you'll
actually do the designing All right, we
have our cloud storage all set U Now
it's time to build your local workshop
we're going to install. Something called
an IDE, and I promise you it is not
nearly as complicated as that acronym
sounds. O what on earth is an IDE? It's
just a fancy acronym for your digital
workspace. And here's the best way to
think about it. If Microsoft Word is
where you write documents and IDE is your
workspace for crafting design
specifications for WDS. We highly, highly
recommend an app called Cursor because
it's built for the kind of AI assisted
work we'll be doing, and installing it is
something you've done 1000 times before.
You just download it, click through the
installer like any other application,
pick a light or dark theme, the important
choice, and then you sign in with that
brand new GitHub account you just
created. And that seamlessly connects
your local computer to your cloud
storage. OK, so inside your new IDE,
you're going to find something called a
terminal. And yet, for a lot of
designers, that little black box with the
blinking cursor looks pretty scary. It
feels like you need to be some kind of
coding genius just to touch it. But
here's the secret you. Do not need to
learn some new complex language for this
entire course. You are almost always just
going to be copying commands that we give
you and pasting them into the terminal.
That's it. It's just another way to talk
to your computer typing instead of
clicking. And now for the magic trick.
We've got our home in the cloud on
GitHub, and we've got our workshop. On
our computer, the next step is to connect
them. We're going to bring a copy of your
roject home. We do this with a process
called cloning, and all that really means
is making a local copy of your project on
your computer that stays perfectly In
Sync with what's on GitHub. You can think
of it exactly like Dropbox sync, but with
that super powerful version history that
time. Machine built right in and the
process is just so simple. You copy the
URL from your GitHub page, you open U
that terminal in your IDE and you just
type git clone and then paste the link.
But now check out Step 4. This is the
really cool part. If you don't happen to
have git installed yet, your IDE is smart
enough to see that it'll. Pop up and ask
if you want to install it, you click 1
button and it does everything for you.
And just like that get us set U OK? With
all the tools locked and loaded, we've
made it to the final and honestly the
most exciting part of this whole setup.
It's time to bring in the White Port
Design Studio methodology and meet your
personal AI guide, Mimir. First, you'll
create a special folder called Docs, and
what's so cool about this is it lays out
the entire WDC process for you. These
eight folders aren't just random names,
they are the complete battle tested
design methodology that's going to guide
you all the way from the first idea to
the final delivery. This folder becomes
the single source of truth. For your
entire project and now you meet your
guide. Mimir is the AI orchestrator for
WDS. And what this means is that from
this moment forward, you are never alone.
Anytime you feel stuck, anytime you have
a question or you just need a little
direction, you just type at WD Schmear
right there in your IDE. And your guide
will be there to help you out. And with
that, you're done. The set is complete.
You are ready to go. But hey, before we
move on, let's just hit pause for a
second and look back at everything you
just did. No, seriously, take a moment. A
lot of designers get stuck at this stage
for a long time, but you just pushed
right through it. Do you realize what a
big deal that is?I mean, look
at this list. You created a GitHub
account and a professional repository,
you installed a professional grade IDE,
you actually used the command line to
clone your first project, you integrated
the entire WDS framework, and you
activated your personal AI guide. This
wasn't just about clicking a few buttons,
this was a transformation. You may have
started out feeling like a nervous
beginner, but right now you are a
designer who is equipped with a fully
professional industry standard set. O.
Let's end with this thought. After
everything you just accomplished, there
is no more. I might be able to
do this. You just proved to yourself that
you are able. The setup is done,
your environment is ready, and your guide
me mayor is waiting for you. Welcome to
WDS.