Creative Notebook

It is not easy being a creative who loves what you do, but doesn’t have an organizational system. Anyone who is a creative should have a notebook, binder, or journal from which they keep all the things they need for their creative endeavors.

Why You Need A Creative Notebook

Creatives all over form lists, keep notes, and ideas on anything they can get their hands on; whether that’s scrap pieces of paper, napkins from a restaurant, or jotted on their hand for later.

Creating a notebook, binder or journal for all your creative items, will help you in more ways than just keeping your things in one place.

They will help:

• Keep track of different areas of your creative process
• Organize new ideas as they come rolling in
• Track your personal progress, resources, and tools
• Create your own space for your creative endeavors
• Outlet for thoughts, lessons learned, and achievements
• Inspiration, Encouragement, Quotes
• and much more.

Physical vs. Online

Depending on how you like to keep your things together and how portable you want those items, going physical or online is a choice you need to make for yourself.

Physical

Most creatives love having something physical to hold, flip through, smell, add too, decorate, and more. Organizing your notebook/journal/binder with a key and numbered pages will help you keep track and find things when needed. This gives you the most creative opportunity. Designing your notebook/journal/binder is half the fun!

Make your divider, key/index, cover any way you wish. You could even create interchangeable ones so you can switch them out with your moods or seasons. What you do and how you create them is completely up to you and your imagination. It’s one of the greatest things about being a creative and forming your own system; you can do it any way you please to suit you and your interests.

Online

You can also crate your notebooks online with the help of apps or if you just want something to jot things down, the notes app or any document app (pages, word, google docs) would would just fine. It’s up to you what you want to use and how creative online you would like to get.

Search out apps you can use to add some of your own personal touches. Below are a few you can check out for inspiration:

• Upad – Apple
• Evernote – Any Device
• One Note – Any Device
• Zinnia Journal – Apple
• And many more.

Start Your Notebook

Research

The first thing to do when starting your creative notebook, whether online, off or both; is to do some research. Search for a good notebook, binder, journal or app that will serve you and your creativity best. If you’re unsure, you will need to try a few out and then use the one that you like the best.

Look up what others are doing for their creative notebooks and find things you like. Make a note, capture an image and use those for inspiration for your own. Find things you love and add them to your notebook. Make it your own, uniquely you!

Gather Your Materials

If you are creating a physical (or even online) notebook, you’ll want to find images, stickers, lettering, and more to create a notebook that is all you.

Other materials you can use for your notebook are:

Decorate Your Notebook

Use the materials you’ve gathered to decorate your notebook inside and out. You can create pockets, add post-its, calendars, and more to make the journal what you wish. Use your creative talents to make something fantastic you will not want to leave the house without.

I know I’ve said this already, but this really is your notebook. The design, layout, and items you keep here are all your own. Designing the cover and inner pages may take some time, so don’t feel you have to get it all complete in one day. You want this creative notebook to inspire you, keep you organized, and encourage you to keep going with your creative goals.

Organize Your Creative Notebook

Here you can create an index or key for your notebook/binder, making it easier to navigate your pages and find things faster. Number your pages if you wish or create a unique page finding system that suits your creative outlet. Perhaps its symbols, characters, movie titles or whatever. Create something you will know how to use and keep the fun involved.

Create a list of pages and items you would like to keep within the covers of your notebook and organize them in a way that will give your space to expand, keep things organized, and flow well throughout the pages. Lists will be provided below for page inspiration!

Create Your Pages

Now is the time to create those pages, decorate them how you wish and use them in the way they were intended. It may note be easy to use a notebook or binder at first. It’s a habit you must accomplish, but keep at it and you’ll succeed!

Sample Pages (Listed for Inspiration):

Final Thoughts

No matter what type of creative outlet you have, there are things you may want to keep track of and keep it organized for easy location when you need it. Even if we didn’t mention your creative outlet, you can create a notebook/journal/binder for it. It will take time and planning, but it’s completely worth the time and effort.

Create your own and tell us what you did, what you added, and send us pics. We love to see the creative imagination of others come to life in such projects as this! Find your inner creativity and make your creative notebook today!!