If you are in your journal era and have ever thought about starting a bullet journal then look no further. The beauty of bullet journaling is that it’s customisable and versatile to you - but that also comes with endless options and what seems like a daunting task ahead. I’ll show you the key steps to creating a monthly theme in your bullet journal from a small concept to a completed and cohesive theme.
Be inspired by your surroundings
Inspiration comes in all forms and all it takes is a spark of an idea to get started - take a scenic walk to immerse yourself in natural forms or flick through a magazine to find an interesting pattern or visit your local bookshop to evoke a nostalgic feeling. You could even make a moodboard of colours and ideas to start things off and build from there.
For me, March has always been a pivotal month that signifies the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring so I’d like my theme to represent this seasonal change. On my daily walk, I’ve seen that the flowers are sprouting but the skies are still quite grey and moody so I’ll use this juxtaposition of natural forms to inspire my theme.
Choose a colour palette
When choosing colours for your bullet journal, a good rule of thumb is to select 2-3 colours. As my inspiration comes from the changing of seasons and natural forms, I’d like to centre my colour palette with a green (192 Asparagus). After swatching a few other colours that I think would pair well with different green tones, I’ve decided on a soft light pink (761 Carnation) to represent Spring and a deep moody blue (526 True Blue) to tie back into Winter. I particularly like how these three colours are sharp contrasts to each other that reinforce the theme concept showing the freshness of Spring and the coldness of Winter.
This is also a good time to gather other interesting materials that could suit the colours you’ve chosen. I’ve picked a pink checkboard washi tape that matches and a monochrome polka dot washi tape to add some visual interest.
Doodle, sketch, scribble, draw, make
Now using the colours and materials you’ve chosen, scribble away! Some keywords I’d associate with Spring forms are soft, bouncy, organic and floral so I’ll doodle some shapes with these in mind.
To bring the theme back to the contrast of Spring and Winter, I like the idea of combining these soft and natural shapes with rigid straight lines and pairing it with the contrasting colours I’ve chosen. After sketching some more in an attempt to fuse the ideas together and to create more visual tension, the soft concept we started with has evolved into the basis of a colourful and graphic theme.
Layout allows freedom
The key with bullet journaling is that with such freedom of choice, you need some structure. I have a few layout ideas ready to hand when making my weekly spreads so I’ll choose one of them to base my theme around. Once you’ve sketched your basic layout, visualise the empty spaces on your page and get creative on how you could fit your theme into the space in an engaging and seamless way. I start by drawing in elements in order of importance, for example, I always leave enough space for a header and a small calendar and then I keep drawing until I am happy with the result.