How many times have you tried to maintain a planner? I have decorated my bullet journal pages with curly calligraphy and colorful flower doodles countless times, hoping to create beautiful spreads that would motivate me to organize my tasks and thoughts. But each time, keeping a good planner never lasted longer than a couple months. 

In daily life, we rely on a variety of resources—many of which are online. Keeping a physical journal limits you to the paper space when in the modern day, planning realistically requires access to digital communication, websites, and more. Then why do people still gravitate toward fancy notebooks, pastel highlighters, and washi tape? For the aesthetic element. It’s pleasing to the eye. But to keep up with the digital age, we now have an equivalent digital solution: Notion.

First launched to the public in 2015, Notion is an online space to do everything you can do on paper and more. From simple features such as a calendar or a daily to-do list to more impressive features such as website integration and database syncing. Even for a simple purpose, such as monthly planning, Notion offers a variety of organizational formats, including tables, board views, list views, gallery views, and timeline views. One important factor that elevates Notion from similar platforms is its ability to combine all the resources and websites the user requires into one space. Just from Notion, a user can access social media, databases, external documents, Google Drive, and even code. Additionally, it is free for individual users.

However, Notion places an emphasis on one key factor that undoubtedly contributed to its 30 million users today: the aesthetic. Beyond its practical organization functions, Notion enables its users to completely customize their pages with colors, fonts, gifs, emojis, images, and more. If you have seen the “My 2022 Bullet Journal Setup” and the “Make My Monthly Spread With Me” videos on YouTube, you know that the aesthetic of organization is one of the primary factors that encourage people to begin a planner. This allure was intentionally and effectively integrated into the design of Notion. Now, just like the bullet journal videos, you can find “Set Up My Notion With Me” videos. Notion and its users have created aesthetically pleasing templates with pre-made organization blocks for other users to build off of. 

In addition to these great features, TikTok and Instagram have greatly promoted the rise of Notion. As TikTok users share their beautifully-curated Notion pages with the world, they have inspired countless others to try out Notion’s features and create appealing pages of their own. Notion had a running start with its innovation and user-friendly qualities. As we continue to further integrate our daily lives into technology, Notion will continue to serve its users’ needs and become more prominent in workplaces. 

 

written by Neeha Mikkilineni

edited by Saanvi Gutta and Sarasi Rout

 

Image Source:

“Free Notion Templates: Hafsa’s Creative Corner: Notions, Bullet Journal Lettering Ideas, Funny Stick Figures.” Pinterest, 10 Dec. 2021, www.pinterest.com/pin/free-notion-templates–619456123757279760/.