I love an aesthetic journal just as much as the next person. I often come across beautiful, intricate bullet journal layouts which I personally find great for the occasional treat.
But spending a lot of time making my pages look good takes away from the time I spend actually writing content. Spending hours planning the layout and drafting everything has often kept me from enjoying the process. It also draws out too many of my perfectionist tendencies because the thought of ruining a page terrifies me.
That being said, pages that are pleasing to the eye enhance the journaling process and are undoubtedly satisfying to look back at. So I spent some time looking back at my old journals, looking for quick fixes that could instantly elevate my pages. There were, indeed, a few tricks that I discovered to make my pages more aesthetic without much effort.
So here are the six simple techniques I follow:
1. Keep adjacent pages similar
Whatever you choose to do to the page on the left—be it colors, font or style—follow it on the page on the right.
I have often made layouts considering pages individually. But since we generally look at pages side by side, having consistency across pages becomes very important. The pages could be about different things, even though following a loosely related theme can often also be helpful.
2. Use 3-4 colors (and use them meaningfully)
I loved incorporating a rainbow of colors into my work but soon realized that it didn’t look like the creative mélange I wanted it to be. Colors that are out of harmony quickly start to make pages look less thoughtful and more like a mess.
Remember that creativity doesn’t thrive on having every single option available. It works better when there are constraints. So by posing limitations on your scheme of colors, you’re forcing yourself to be creative and mindfully choose colors that will look good together.
And how do you know the colors will look good together? This part is a lot more intuitive—you’ll generally understand whether they look better when you keep the markers side by side or swatch them. This is something you can easily improve with practice (and is frankly quite fun, too).
Of course, you can refer to formal color palette rules or get inspiration from other sources if you would like. But in the spirit of offering quick and easy fixes, we’ll leave it up to good judgement.
3. …or write in all black.
While incorporating colors can evoke emotions and give your text a more personal feel, writing in all black can help you focus on the actual content. Even though it gives you a break from the aesthetics, your journal will still look as good with this effortless classic, especially if you’re using an ink or gel pen.
It may seem like all black is plain and monotonous, when in reality, it has a rich, artistic feel to it if used correctly. Besides, there is plenty of variation you can bring through font, style and other graphic variations (more on that below!) In my opinion, writing in black ink is simple but always looks put together (much like wearing black, if that’s your thing).
4. Use fonts meaningfully
I didn’t understand how heavily typography can influence the look and feel of the text until recently. A shift in font as simple as changing the slant or curve of the letters can convey a completely different emotion.
The best part is that you don’t need to learn anything beforehand—you can experiment with your own fonts as you go along. Just try out a style that you think will suit what you’re trying to say and keep the pattern consistent with all the letters that follow. It may not be professional typography but I was surprised at the amount of variation I could produce with a little creativity and practice.
It may be difficult to write at length in a font different from your natural one so I like bringing some variation in through my headings and subheadings. Speaking of which…
5. Heading
Ah, the heading, the title of the page. It’s the first thing you see and the easiest way to instantly make the page look exquisite. In fact, it’s often the only thing I put some extra effort into, while the rest of my page remains simple.
Try a different font or color. Make it dramatic. Use it to fully express the feel of the content that follows. You can keep the rest of the page clean and simple. The heading serves as the focal point, instantly elevating the page.
6. Use a couple of stickers (or other memorabilia)
If you have ever been fascinated and/or highly intimidated by intricate junk journal layouts, you’re not alone.
While I think junk journal pages with tens of memorabilia look beautiful, it is something that requires a lot of time and effort. It also requires a decent amount of supplies, even if those are just things that you find around the house.
I observed quickly that my everyday journaling needs to be simple and intuitive enough for me to approach it with enthusiasm. While I mostly kept it to basic writing, I got a fairy/cottagecore sticker book one day and started putting a couple of stickers here and there. I noticed that this exercise had a much bigger effect than I had anticipated.
So try finding a sticker book you like (I’d recommend this because it requires no additional supplies). Or maybe incorporate a piece of construction paper or a post-it note. Pressed flowers, a photo printed on regular paper with the ink half cut off, a thread. It doesn’t have to be a million different things for it to be special. The power of a single sticker or other memorabilia should not be underestimated.
In conclusion…
Simplicity helps you approach things intuitively, while aesthetics add pleasure and make it something you enjoy revisiting. But they don’t always need to be at odds. I believe that it is very much possible to make your journal aesthetic while keeping the process simple by using the tips above.
In their own ways, both of these elements will turn journaling into something you look forward to.