How To Create A Journal Aesthetic
“Jake always liked his books and stories. And writing in his diaries. It was a comfort for him. He could work through things that way.”
“That’s nice. I’ve noticed he still likes to write. He spends a lot of time writing.”
“That’s how he makes sense of the world.”
― Iain Reid, I’m Thinking of Ending Things
I think that few people understand the importance of their own company, and how peaceful their lives would be if they minded their own business. As a child, I didn’t have many (or any) friends and much of my time would be spent cooking up stories, as I was introduced to Bollywood by then. I would use entire stacks of foolscap paper, and create movie reviews complete with the casting, director and producer’s name and a basic storyline. I like to believe that I was born to create stories, it’s only that I don’t always have the time and energy for it.
When I was in Pune for my university studies, I would often take myself out on solo dates. My roommates and a few acquaintances had their social lives, and they did not always match mine. So, I would enjoy cold coffee at Cafe Coffee Day, enjoy Badhaai Ho! at the nearby shopping mall and pen down story ideas during my night walks. I should have taken more photographs back then so that I could immortalise them. This is one of the reasons why I started my newsletter, to document my journey to self-love and self-care as much as I could.
“Whether we are writing fiction or nonfiction, journaling or writing for publication, writing itself is an inherently therapeutic activity. Simply to line up words one after another upon a page is to create some order where it did not exist, to give a recognizable shape to the chaos of our lives. Writing cannot bring our loved ones back, but it can sometimes fix them in our fleeting memories as they were in life, and it can always help us make it through the night.”
― Lee Smith
As you know, blogs always follow a particular aesthetic as per their theme, target audience and intention. However, if you’d like to keep your thoughts and ideas in a journal, that’s completely fine as well. Not everybody likes to air their philosophies in public, and journaling is a great way to express your emotions privately. You could have several kinds of journals, such as travel journals, art journals, photography journals, food and health journals, wellness journals and so much more — and all of them have a particular aesthetic.
Now, starting a journal might be the most beautiful thing ever but how do you choose the right aesthetic for it? This is the part where most of us mess up at. Though a journal might be only for your eyes, you want your mind and heart to know what the journal is about, what should you expect when you open up that journal and how it helps you achieve the targets that you want. After all, different journals have different objectives: to document your journal, to improve your physical and emotional health, and to express yourself creatively and for fun are only some of the reasons why.
Choose the right journal
Your choice of journal primarily depends on your preferences, such as something with ruled, dotted or even blank pages. Some people like journals with dates, especially if you plan to journal daily, or ones with no dates. If you’re going to be travelling around with your journal, such as with a travel journal or a braindump journal, you can choose a pocket-size or A5 journal. If your journal will be a work of art, then you can pick a slightly larger one for your creative experiments.
Other than that, you’re looking for a style that fits well with your journal. Some people like journals with dividers, to-do lists and life-planning exercises. So, if you’re one of them, you can buy something like that. Many people even choose to make their DIY journals using sheets of paper, thin cardboard or stiff paper, ribbons and general art supplies. You can apply the aesthetics and design elements that you like the most, and it could be a great DIY art project as well.
Choose the right aesthetic
Like most of us, you would be going online to find some references on how you’d like your journal to look. I have published posts on the different kinds of aesthetics on my blog, and you can take a look at them as well. Pick between academic, ethereal, vintage, minimalism, bohemian, kawaii, indie and maximalism. All of them have different characteristics, styles and importance, and you could experiment with them to create an aesthetic that’s perfect for you.
Whether you’re picking an aesthetic for your blog or your journal, you want something that resonates with your style. It’s never a good idea to start with an aesthetic that’s supposedly trending, but then find out that you can’t keep with it. Pick something that suits your personality and lifestyle, because you have to choose the complement font for it as well. If you like everything bold and vibrant, pick something that screams retro or maximalism. If you’re the minimalist kind, minimalism could be your best friend.
Choose the right colour palette
As someone might have said, colours make or break your design. Once again, you probably have a Pinterest mood board of all the colour schemes that you’d like to use. In most cases, you can only use one colour palette for one journal, website or blog. Though some schemes might catch your fancy at the moment, always choose colours that you naturally gravitate to. For me, it would be colourful minimalism. Anything too plain or too colourful tends to either make me feel cold and alone or give me a headache.
Colour psychology is something that you’d like to follow, especially if you’re designing your blog or website. For themed journals, experiment with different colour palettes every month. Don’t pick too many colours for one page, it’s best to stick to two or three. Also, consider using colour palette generators that create complementary, analogous and monochromatic schemes. For journals that focus on self-healing, meditation, wellness and self-love and self-care, you’d choose a neutral palette. For something more outgoing, you want brighter colours.
Choose the right visuals
Visuals are extremely important in journaling, especially if you have an art journal, doodle journal or a visual diary. Widely considered to be a form of therapy, you can draw, doodle and paint to your heart’s content. This could include people and animals you see, feelings you experience, colours that you’re fond of and whatever else is on your mind. Visual diaries were commonly used by Frida Kahlo, Leonardo da Vinci, Yoko Ono and Albert Einstein. The best part, anything can be part of a visual journal, you don’t necessarily have to be an artist, painter or sculptor.
Visual journals have several benefits: they are extremely cathartic to work on after your regular work week, and it allows for self-reflection and self-healing as you choose designs and fonts that suit your writing for the day and lets you be vulnerable. As human beings who live in the post-modern world where anxiety, loneliness, depression, competition and frustration exist, journaling lets us express our views the way we want to. It lets you be creative with what you want to talk about, which could be through doodling, poetry, prose or even art.
Choose the font and writing style
Experiment with different fonts and writing styles when you’re journaling. Though some people like to get their choice of font printed on paper, you can choose to draw them as well. Of course, you must preferably have an artistic bend of mind. Calligraphy adds a beautiful touch to the page when you’re doing headings and subheadings, while you can write the text in regular handwriting. Common examples include doodle lettering, hand lettering, printed lettering, stencil lettering and collage lettering.
Though one would generally recommend you to write in your natural voice when you’re journaling, you can experiment with your writing style as well. Always include a date, keep to the subject and have a schedule of when you’re about to write. The most important thing here is to express yourself freely, be honest with yourself and be as regular as you can with journaling. There are different types of writing styles: some are descriptive, some are formalised, some are casual and informal, some are narrative and so on.
