How To Take Pretty Notes (The Easy Way)

To take pretty notes you need to firstly choose a consistent colour scheme. Next you should draw an eye catching title at the top of your page in either a brush calligraphy style or alternative creative way. Then you should start taking your notes using a simple body text style in a black gel pen. Other ways to make your notes pretty include using coloured gel pens for keywords, pastel highlights for underlining text and writing subheadings and decorating your page with washi tape!

1. Choose A Consistent Colour Scheme

The best way to take pretty notes is to have a consistent colour scheme as it will tie everything all together to form one image. The colour scheme that you end up choosing should be featured in your title, headers, sub-headers, highlighting, underlining, as keywords and maybe even in diagrams.

The easiest colour scheme to pull off in pretty notes is a monochromatic colour scheme. All you need to do is choose one colour and then use various shades/tones/tints of the colour throughout your notes. For example, you might choose purple and use a dark purple for your titles and headings and then a lighter purple for highlighting, underlining and keywords.

That being said there are many other colour schemes you could experiment with in your pretty notes such as the ones listed below:

Types Of Colour Schemes For Pretty Notes

• Monochromatic: a colour scheme where there are only variations of the same hue. These variations are made by adjusting shades, tones and tints.
• Analogous: a colour scheme made up of colours that are next to each other on the colour wheel.
• Complementary: a colour scheme made up of colours that are directly opposite each other on the colour wheel
• Triadic: a colour scheme made up of 3 colours that are evenly spaced apart on the colour wheel
• Split-Complementary: a colour scheme that uses 2 complementary colours schemes that are located next to each other on the colour wheel.

2. Make Your Titles Bold & Eye Catching

Once you have chosen your colour scheme you need to make your titles bold and really stand out. If you have every been on Pinterest, Instagram or Tumblr and have seen pretty notes you have probably realised that it is in the titles where people really get creative. A lot of people like to do brush calligraphy titles for their pretty notes however there are many different options.

Pro Tip: If you are planning on taking pretty notes I highly recommend that you do your titles before class. In this way you can spend plenty of time being creative and perfecting it. In class you can focus on learning and taking your notes.

Stationery Recommendations For The Titles/Headings Of Pretty Notes

• Tombow Dual Brush Pen Art Markers (Pastel, 10-Pack)
• Zebra Mildliners (15 Pack)
• Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pens (2-Pack)

3. Write In A Simple, Neat Font

The key to taking pretty notes is minimalism. The main titles and headings should be in a bold style such as brush calligraphy or another fancy font type however the body text should be simple. It would take to long to write every word of your notes in a fancy font which will lead to you not getting every idea down onto your paper and ultimately wasting your time.

I suggest that you write in a simple colour such as black with a good quality pen. You could also write in blue but I only suggest this for blue colour scheme notes i.e. notes with blue highlighter and blue headers as it will tie in nicely with the theme. This is just personal preference however I do believe that black writing contrasts the best with a very wide range of colour highlighters and pens.

Stationery Recommendations For The Body Text Of Pretty Notes

• Muji Gel Ink Ball Point Pen 0.38mm
• Pentel EnerGel RTX Retractable Liquid Gel Pen
• Sharpie S-Gel Pens 0.7mm

4. Use A LiveScribe Pen If You Are Worried About Missing Key Information During Class

If you have trouble keeping up with what the teacher is saying in your notes, you should consider using a LiveScribe Pen. Why? Because it records everything being said as you simultaneously write notes. This means you can listen back to the lecture/lesson after class and fill in any information that you missed out on!

You can even pair a LiveScribe pen with LiveScribe Paper which allows you to capture everything you hear, write or draw on the special paper which is subsequently saved directly to your mobile, tablet or computer. This means you have the ability to write on paper and have a digital copy at the same time. Anything that you write onto the paper can also be converted into text and be searched within the LiveScribe app. Even better you can write in a foreign language as the app currently recognises 28 languages!

What is coolest about the audio recording feature is that you can tap anywhere on your notes on the LiveScribe Paper and then the audio will be played back from that exact moment in time.

Check Out The Current Price Of The LiveScribe Pen On Amazon Here!

5. Use A Coloured Gel Pen For Keywords

To make keywords stand out in your pretty notes I suggest that you use a coloured gel pen that matches your chosen colour scheme. This will keep your notes consistent and also help you revise your notes at a later date, especially if you need to memorise definitions.

Coloured Gel Pen Recommendations

• Pilot Juice Gel Ink Ballpoint Pen, 0.5mm, Pastel Colors
• Zebra Sarasa Clip 0.5mm Ballpoint Pens
• Sakura Gelly Roll Souffle Pen Sets, 10 Assorted

6. Try Using A Note Taking Template

Using a printable note taking template is another way that you can make your notes nice and neat and ultimately pretty. When I note take, I really like to use the Cornell Note Taking Method as it sets up my notes in a way that makes them super effective for revision. Nevertheless, this method can take a long time to set up in a notebook as you have to draw a series of columns and rows. That is why I like to use a Cornell Note Taking Printable Template to save time in class!

You might not think that using a note taking template will result in pretty notes but if you put all the other dot point tips in this article into action such as drawing pretty titles/headers and using a consistent colour scheme, then your notes will turn out fantastic!

Also if you like to take notes on your iPad I would suggest that you try out a Digital Student Planner which has a digital Cornell note taking template in it!

Read Also: The Ultimate Guide To Taking & Studying Cornell Notes

7. Colour Code Your Notes

Colour coding is an easy way to make your pretty notes super organised and consistent over the pages. 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 = Important facts, concepts and key ideas
• Blue = Definitions
• Purple = Keywords
• Green = Quotes

You can use any colours in your own colour coding system. In fact I suggest that you make your own (instead of using the one above) so that you can easily remember it and also make it personalised!

8. Get Inspiration On Pinterest For Pretty Notes

If you are not feeling inspired to take pretty notes but you really want to, Pinterest is going to be your best source for inspiration and motivation! I love scrolling through Pinterest, looking at others people’s notes and gaining new ideas for how I can draw titles, diagrams and layout my next page of notes!

P.S. Follow @StudyStuff on Pinterest while you looking for inspo!

Before You Go!

Do you want to become a straight-A student?

Try out a digital student planner with hyperlinked tabs for iPad/tablet to help you stay on track to achieving your academic goals!

Further Reading

• The 5 Best Note Taking Strategies
• How To Take Aesthetic Notes On Your iPad
• 12 Cute School Supplies That You Need To Get This Year!
• How To Become Fluent In A Language By Watching Netflix!