Above photo is a sample journal spread that I created for the first page of my personal devotion journal!

Hi fellow Filipinos! I am Jeseemei, back again in Steemit after long years -- and in this post, I'm going to teach you tips on how to create your aesthetic digital journal in simple ways from start to finish!

First..

What is and why create a journal?

In a straightforward explanation, a journal is simply a planner where you record any part of your day such as your thoughts, plans for the next days, tracking your mood; diet; workout; and other habits. Some people call it "BuJo" which I guess is short for "Bullet Journal"? A BuJo doesn't have to be complicated, after all, it is personal and how you design it reflects yourself and you should present in a way that you are comfortable.

Creating a journal is great so that you can stay on track with whatever plans you have and it would keep you motivated as you record your progress each day! You can spill basically anything on your BuJo, that way, it can also relieve your stress :))

Materials to create your BuJo

You can create your physical BuJo with available stationery items - colorful inks, pencils, markers, decorative tapes, stickers, and others that you can also use in scrapbooking. Since I would talk about a DIGITAL journal - you do not have to buy any of these - you can just access a site for layouts or have a software such as Adobe Photoshop.

If you do not have a software like Photoshop, I suggest you can use CANVA. https://www.canva.com/ You can access several stickers, stock photos, fonts, and others for free! This is not sponsored, LOL, but you can also avail the premium version for more pro element choices!

Process: How I do my Journal

You can follow my steps if you want, but you can also do it your way ^_^ My process is a bit messy but I hope you can find comfort in it hehe.

1) Plan the content and layout.

You can't layout without a content, unless your journal is all images and graphics :) - think of what you want to put in your journal and how you want to place them in the spread. You can search in Pinterest for "bullet journal inspirations", surely you'll find designs you like to adapt or you can just arrange them by your personal taste!

In this tutorial, I'll show you guys the steps in creating the spread I presented at the start ^_^

2) Let's access our available software. I use ADOBE PHOTOSHOP 2021 in any graphic works related to layouts.

First, we want to create our canvas. Personally, I use 8.5x11 (letter size) in landscape orientation and with a guideline dividing the width in half, so that I get the feel of having an actual notebook.

I searched the internet for the "dotted page" and placed them in both sides, imitating a dotted journal hehe. You can also search for other rules - lined, grid, or none if you like.

3) Place your texts first.

Place your texts in any way you like, you can download cursive and handwriting fonts, I download my fonts in this site https://www.1001fonts.com

Fonts I used:

• For the titles, "Michael Signature - personal use"
• For the content, "Alphabetized Cassette tapes"

If you have enumerated texts, you can put simply use bullet symbols for it or place it in boxes. In my case, I only have one item for the "Related verse", I put it in a piece of paper with decoration.

4) Find ELEMENTS (photos, stickers, etc.) that fit your theme! (Last but the longest step, probably)

You can create your own illustrations and take your own photos, if you can't, I suggest get from sites that are free of charge and of course, works that are free to use. (example: https://icons8.com/illustrations). If you're using CANVA, that would be better since there are already free stickers and photos that you can access.

Things to add on your journal: (make sure that they are not blurry and are of high quality!)

• Digital washi tapes
• Torn papers (designs: newspapers, old books, textured papers)
• Aesthetic photos perfect for your theme and content
• Stickers also related to your words
• Random doodles and scribbles
• Dividers
• Download brushes (marker brushes, watercolor brushes, highlighter brush for Photoshop)

a. Place the photos

I suggest to place some photos beside texts.

As you can see, I have added my content (text) and the photos I like (with washi tapes on them) - Fill your page as much as possible. Leaving gray (blank) spaces can uncomfortable and leaving your page looking incomplete.

b. Fill the spaces with torn pages

You can add the torn papers you have searched wherever you like it on your page. This will help you fill large spaces without it looking empty - make sure to use the right papers! I used this one which seemed like a page from an old dictionary (it also gave off a vintage vibe)

c. Put stickers

You can overlay stickers on top of the torn pages or slightly over the photographs. Put 3-5 stickers if you want.

d. Highlights & Doodles!!!!!!

In this part, you can use the brush markers that you downloaded to doodle: random lines, sparkles, write short phrases in cursive, draw a flower, and others. If you don't feel like doodling, you can search for free line arts. You can also highlight words or enclose a content in a box (like the prayer on the top-right of the page).

Taa-Daaa!!

...

I guess that's it! You can create your BuJo in styles you want, as I said, you can search for inspiration... Personally, I like the style with a lot of vintage-like graphics.

Act as if you're just creating your physical journal, you don't have to be stressed with the layout, just do YOU.

You can comment down your suggestions! Ano pong sunod na tutorial ang gusto ninyo related to arts? I'll do my best to post and share my knowledge!

I'll also post a self-introduction again soon :))