Bold Angles: Bullet Journal Setup

The beginning of a new month means a new bullet journal theme! Going into the month, I didn’t know exactly what design I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted it to be BOLD. And when I have trouble coming up with a theme, I try to think back to some basics:

What can I do with simple typography, positioning on the page, and size?

Cover Page

My initial thought for the cover page was to try to get “June” as big as possible. To help visualize the design, I ended up printing some giant letters, cutting them out, and experimenting with the placement by hand.

Kind of by chance, the letters that I had printed were so large that the only way they could fit on the page was at an angle. After deciding on the final placement, I traced the cut-outs and filled in the letters with a Faber-Castell “Soft Chisel” Pitt Artist Pen.

Another fun side-effect of using the letter cut-outs was discovering the letter shadows. I loved how the paper letters cast these interesting curved shadows on the page. In the end, I added this effect to the final cover design using colored pencils.

Monthly Calendar

The next page that I usually include in my monthly setups is a calendar or overview page. On this page, I record important dates, deadlines, and events coming up during the month.

To spice up the design (and fit the newly minted “diagonal” theme) I decided to put the calendar at an angle. Using black masking tape from my shop, I added a bold header and wrote the days with a white Gelly Roll gel pen.

Goals & Master Task List

As I start the month, I like to look back at the goals I set at the beginning of the year and pick a few to focus on. For me, this means looking at the goal and coming up with a couple of smaller checkpoints that support it.

I group the goals into categories so I can make sure that all areas are getting adequate attention. Each category receives a colored “dot” that I use throughout the month to mark tasks related to that area.

The task list column is a brain dump of todos that I aim to finish during the month. These tasks usually don’t have a specific due date. As the month progresses, I flip back to this list and copy tasks into my weekly spreads as needed.

Wellness Trackers

This month, I am tracking two main things: meditation and exercise. In the past I have had a hard time sticking to these habits, so I am hoping tracking them in my journal will keep me accountable. I decided to place both of the trackers on the same spread to make it easy to flip back to and not forget about either one.

The meditation tracker is a series of white “bars” representing how long I meditate each day. My goal is to extend the amount of time I can meditate, so it will be interesting to see how the bars vary at the end of the month.

For the exercise tracker, I am using a similar method to one I have used before (and described here). This tracker style has helped me stay consistent with working out since it is all planned in advance.

Weekly Spread Setup

Last, but not least, are the weekly spreads. Recently, I have been using a single page “week overview” that I fill in with important events and tasks at the beginning of the week. Check out this video of the setup on Instagram.

On the following pages, I keep daily logs with more detailed tasks lists, notes, and a daily reflection. I find that this format works especially well when I don’t know in advance how much space I will need for each day. It is also more flexible for including journaling alongside my every day tasks.

And with that, the monthly bullet journal setup is complete!