This blog post will take you step by step through how to create a journal aesthetic. Are you scrolling through Instagram or Pinterest wishing to be able to journal like your favorite influencers? Have you tried Journaling but found yourself getting so overwhelmed by trying to make it look good that you kind of just stop? Do you want your journal to truly reflect your persona? (who you are on the inside) Then please keep reading! In this blog post I will show you how to create a journal aesthetic you love!
Find Your Inspiration
First thing’s first, what do you want to journal for? The answer should be ‘YOU’! Of course you are journaling for yourself, so maybe a better question is: What kind of journaling do you want to do? Do you want to keep memories, make a gratitude journal, do a brain dump, have somewhere for personal reflection? How about a place to keep your favorite quotes, poems, or song lyrics? Or maybe you only want to journal when you travel? Maybe all of the above! All of these are great reasons to journal! There is so much inspiration you can find on Instagram, Pinterest, and other websites.
Before looking at anything though, get a scratch piece of paper and write out what you want your journal to be. For example, I like to memory keep. I want to remember the little things. I also like to just dump my thoughts and musings of the moment. Write it out! Write what inspires you. Is it nature, is it famous movie quotes or song lyrics? Write a few down. Something that stood out to me was on a sticker, “Caught in a daydream” I love that, it really spoke to me and that’s kind of what I want my journal to be.
Create a mood board
Okay! First step done. I have settled on a Memory keep for my goal, but I want it to be aesthetic. Go to Pinterest or your own photos and look at different layouts that inspire you. I scrolled through my pins and I just started copying them into one place. After a little while of doing this, I began to notice a pattern. I love the map look or drawing out my day having icons that represent things and then just a few words of text. You will notice a pattern for your inspiration too. You should group similar looking photos together. Start to see the pattern. Are most of the things you like a certain color? Do you like bold and bright or more subtle variations of hue? You can see my example above.
Now, gather all of the pictures together and see if you noticed a pattern. There was a definite pattern to the pictures I chose. I also realized there were certain colors that continued to stand out: red, blue, yellow and some pink. In order to make this a little more cohesive I searched for color pallets on Pinterest. And I found this Pinterest Here. I picked the one I felt was closest to the colors I was going for. A color pallet is very helpful because you know these set of colors will look good together no matter what and in any combination.
Another fun part to journaling is decorating the front cover. Unless of course you have a leather journal, in which case maybe just decorate the title page 😉 You can even print out your mini mood board and paste it on to the front of your journal. I have an example of what I did above. I kept to my aesthetic and added pictures and drawings of things that I already had. It’s cute and fun, which is exactly what I am going for. Maybe yours will be dreamy or bold, whatever takes hold of your interest!
Choose your materials
Steps 1 and 2 done. Now it is time to choose your materials! Now, the truth is you only need a pen and notebook to journal, and when I first started that’s all I had and it was plenty. So if that is all you’ve got right now that is all you need! There are so many supplies out there that it is easy to get overwhelmed or feel that you need to go out and buy every Zebra Midliner highlighter out there! The truth is you don’t, you only need a pen and notebook.
However, you might have some stationary supplies lying around already and if so, then go ahead and use them. For this journal I want to limit my materials. Why would you want to do that? Why would I not use everything I have? Because it can become overwhelming when you have so many options, and having your materials, colors, etc., already chosen will help negate decision fatigue. Your goal is to create a journal aesthetic that is beautiful, functional and as convenient as possible. Emphasis on convenient! The more convenient it is the more you will journal! I have chosen to use Sharpie paint pens, Poscas and a Sharpie gel pen. The notebook is a Midori a5 grid ruled notebook. (Amazon affiliate links).
Create Layouts
Most journaling aesthetic gurus you might follow on Instagram or Pinterest have beautifully laid out words. Take Sarica Studio for example; she has very pretty and delicate layouts and a nice aesthetic. They planned it this way. Maybe you don’t feel like you have time to think of a beautiful layout every single time you sit down to journal. Then a good idea would be to sketch out a few that you like beforehand. That way when inspiration is lacking you can check back on what you sketched out.
For example, I like big bold words in the middle, as well as charting out my days events. I also like just a simple border of stickers or doodles and all my musings in the middle. I have some examples below.
This is exactly why you are doing this grunt work now, when you get it done up front, it will make it easier for you to journal and to keep your aesthetic. Looking at my mood board I realized that I want to add more drawings to my journals and have them flow a little bit. I decided to have three different general page layouts that I will use throughout my journal. My goal is to just keep it fun and also simple. And maybe you don’t want to have a set layout, maybe you want to be spontaneous. If so then you should consider checking out Rainbowholic. She has a style that is not quite “junk journal” and a little bit more “sticker connoisseur”. Both of these creators have a journal aesthetic when you’re done reading you will know how to create a journal aesthetic of your own!
Start Journaling!
I hope that this post on how to create a journal aesthetic inspired you! You now have an aesthetic that you like, you have the tools you are going to use, and even how to layout your journal. It’s time to start journaling. All you need to add is your words! Just remember that no matter what you do in your journal, it is for you! Have fun! Do what you want in your journaling and if you made something you didn’t quite like, that’s okay because this journal is for you. If this post has inspired you, check out How to build the habit of drawing everyday!