To take aesthetic notes one needs to choose a consistent colour scheme, use eye catching titles and headers, invest in some good quality pens and highlighters, perfect handwriting so it is super neat, experiment with different note taking methods, write in a simple body text, enrich notes with diagrams, tables and images and add decorations such as washi tape and stickers!
1. Choose A Consistent Colour Scheme
The first thing to do when taking aesthetic notes is to choose a colour scheme. For your notes to look aesthetic, the colour scheme needs to be consistent. This means that you don’t go overboard with the colours, stick to two or three colours per page of notes.
Within your notes consider using various shades of the same colour to add visual interest. For example, you could use a darker shade for titles and heading and a lighter shade of a colour for sub-headings and keywords.
Also Consider Colour Coding Your Notes
Colour coding is a great way to make your aesthetic notes super organised and consistent. It’s an especially good study tactic for visual learners. (You can find out more study tips for visual learners here!)
Here is an example of a colour coding system you could use for your notes:
- Pink = Quotes
- Blue = Important facts, concepts and key ideas
- Green = Key words and definitions
You can use any colours in your colour coding system. In fact I suggest that you make your own so that you can easily remember it and also make it personalised.
2. Use Eye Catching Titles & Headers
The simplest way to make your notes aesthetic is to use some fancy and eye catching titles and headers. If you take anything out of this article, this is probably the most important tip for taking aesthetic notes. You can simply put a nice title at the top of your page and then write in ordinary black pen for the rest of your notes. They will be instantly aesthetic!
If you are worried that you can’t do beautiful brush calligraphy with Tombow Brush Pens yet, don’t worry! There are heaps of other alternatives for eye catching headers, some as simple of block or capital lettering. Or you can learn how to do brush calligraphy with free printable lettering worksheets that you can find online. Nevertheless, check out some of the header and title ideas below.
Examples Of Titles & Headers You Could Use In Your Own Aesthetic Notes
Do You Also Like To Take Digital iPad Notes? Check Out My Digital Hyperlinked 6 Tabs Notebook Here!
3. Invest In Some Good Quality Pens
If you are serious about making your notes as pretty as they can be, you should invest in some good quality pens. Most people that take aesthetic notes like to use black gel pens for their basic body text and maybe use some additional coloured gel pens for keywords and sub-headings. Other people prefer to use fine tip felt tip pens however these are more likely to bled through the pages of your notes.
If you are looking for a good quality black gel pen, I would recommend this one here. Or if you are looking for some colourful pastel toned gel pens I would suggest these ones here!
4. And Some Highlighters Too
You can’t take aesthetic notes without using highlighters. Using highlighters are a super simple way that you can jazz up your notes by simply underlining key ideas or writing headers in them. My favourite highlighters are the Zebra Mildliners which are a great pastel range for note taking. As these highlighters are not very fluorescent, many people also use them to doodle and draw diagrams within their notes as well.
5. Perfect Your Handwriting
All of the flat lay images of aesthetic notes have super neat handwriting that is to die for. If you want to make your notes as aesthetic as possible you should practice your handwriting. To do this you can use printable handwriting sheets online.
This being said, you shouldn’t be wasting your time slowly writing your notes in class. You need to make sure you are getting all the important information down as well.
6. Experiment With Different Note Taking Formats
You might be wondering what the best way is to format your notes to make them look aesthetic. Unfortunately there is not one single answer. I suggest that you look at examples of other people’s aesthetic notes on Pinterest and experiment with some of their layouts. Alternatively, try out some of the note taking formats listed below:
These Are The Most Popular Note Taking Formats
- Cornell Notes (Check Out My Printable Cornell Note Taking Template Here)
- Outlining Notes
- Mind Mapping Notes
- Charting Notes
- Boxing Notes
If you are interested in learning more about any of these note taking styles I highly recommend you read my article The 5 Best Note Taking Strategies where I go into depth about each one.
7. Write Body Text In A Simple Style
Minimalistic looking notes are very aesthetic and it’s not that hard to achieve. All you need to do is write your notes in a simple style for the body text. Doing this will also make your note taking much more efficient!
8. Enrich Your Notes With Graphs, Tables & Drawings
Graphs, tables, diagrams, doodles and other drawings are a fantastic way to further enrich your notes and simultaneously make them aesthetic. It is especially suited to science based subjects such as biology where there are many different types of diagrams to draw. Check out the example aesthetic note diagram below:
9. Add Decorations
My final tip for making your notes aesthetic is to add heaps of decorations.
Here are some decoration ideas for your notes:
- Washi Tape
- Stickers
- Doodles
- Post It Notes
- Metallic pens
- Pastel pens
- Glitter pens
- Etc.
My Top Stationery Picks For Taking Aesthetic Notes
- Best Highlighters: Zebra Pen Mildliner 15 Pack
- Best Gel Pens: Sharpie S-Gel (0.7mm), Black Ink
- Best Washi Tape: MOOKER Washi Tape Set of 48 Rolls
- Hyperlinked Tabs Digital Notebooks Are Great For Taking Notes On An iPad:
Before You Go!
Do you want to become a straight-A student?
Try out adigital student planner with hyperlinked tabsfor iPad/tablet to help you stay on track to achieving your academic goals!
Further Reading
- How To Take Aesthetic Notes On Your iPad
- The 5 Best Note Taking Strategies
- 12 Cute School Supplies That You Need To Get This Year!
