Bullet Journal
One ordinary day in 2017, a Buzzfeed video inspired me to start a new hobby - Ryder Carroll’s bullet journaling method. I picked up a Leuchtturm1917 dotted A5 notebook and never looked back.
I loved that bullet journaling allowed me to practical, creative, and spontaneous. Each year, I would start with a fresh notebook. I utilized this notebook for everything: planning my day, writing notes, setting goals, recording my life and feelings, creative expression, keeping track of time, and more. Sometimes my journal entries looked pretty, but more often it did not. These are some of the pretty entries.
The photographs on this page are from my personal journals through many years. These journal entries were not originally created for public viewing, but, well, here we are. I hope you enjoy them.
Highlights
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Design Tools
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Weekly Review
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Spontaneous Designs
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Planner & Notes
Layout & Design Guides
To reduce decision fatigue while designing, I made color swatches of my preferred tools and created grid guides of my weekly layouts. This is how I am able to keep my layouts neat, legible, and visually cohesive week after week, while still feeling creatively free.
Why I love the color swatches of my preferred markers and pens:
I can easily visualize how the colors will interact and know how each tool will look on the page. It makes it simple to choose the appropriate color or tool for a design.
Plus, looking at colors makes me very happy!
Grid Guide: Weekly Layout
After a period of creative exploration, I realized what layouts I preferred reusing most often for my weekly journal entries. So, I created simple, reusable grid guides for these weekly layouts. This granted me more time for content and creativity while still ensuring consistency.
Weekly Layouts
Pictured below are some of my weekly reviews from my journals. As part of my personal self-care routine, I write a little bit about my day in my journal.
Unique Spreads
The best part of my journaling method - room for unlimited creative freedom. Here are some of my more spontaneous designs and notes.
Habit Tracking
In addition to writing about my day, I like to record my habits. It is nice to have a record of my mood, physical activity, sleep habits, and entertainment consumption. This is my place to experiment with data visualization. I also keep a gratitude log.
Planner & Notes
Although my journals are really designed for “the present moment”, I do also use them to plan ahead. Sometimes my notes aren’t so pretty! I experiment with different layouts. Most consistently, I like to create monthly calendars because it helps me to pause and visualize the month ahead.
