2020 Art Deco Bullet Journal

The year was just destined to be in the name of the rich 20s… of the last century. The inspiration was instantaneous, but the completion was a bit painful. The wonderful idea was an Art Deco Bullet Journal!

If you prefer watching to reading, you are welcome to visit my CraftyHanded YouTube channel and watch my Art Deco Bullet Joural setup there.

2020 was my 2nd year of bullet journaling, and after a simple and easy first year, I went a bit too complicated and overboard! I didn’t realize how much time the research of styles, typefaces, materials, and actual designing of each month would take. Well, don’t fret, I sorted it out for you 🙂

• Selecting the Supplies
• Design Research
• Bullet Journal Setup
  • Inspirational Quote
  • Year’s Calendar
  • Index Spread
  • Goals
  • Ideal Habits section
  • Virtual Bookshelf
  • Sentiments, New Words
  • 20 interesting things To do
  • Year in Pixels and Gas & Mileage
  • The GYST list page

Selecting the Supplies

It was obvious that I had to start with supplies. It is hard to write in gold if you don’t have one. And being OCD as I am, I couldn’t just buy a gold pen. I had to do extensive internet research, compare the options and reviews, and then buy at least three of the suggested best ones. Well, they were all good, each in its own way. But I ended up using only The ZIG Calligraphy metallic colour dual tip marker for all the main designs and then PILOT Super Color Gold for highlights. The Pilot super color is awesome shiny gold, not just metallic, but it will bleed through most of the average papers. What I learned was that if I use it over an area already covered with the ZIG metallic marker, it stops the bleeding!

The black pen selection wasn’t so crucial. You can basically use any black marker you like. I like my ZIG Mangaka Flexible and Art Graphic Twin marker (great for beginners), Tombow Fudenosuke brush pens soft and hard tip and Tombow dual tip marker (not the best for the beginners – it can fray), and some black liner.

Design Research

Since we are living in the internet age, it is not hard to find countless Art Deco and Art Nouveau pictures, graphics, and architecture. The inspiration was quite overwhelming. I’ve learned the main characteristics, the perfect static geometrical patterns in Art Deco bending to beautiful lively curves in Art Nouveau. And I decided to incorporate both in my journal.

I also did some research into the beautiful fonts of the time. I hand-drew them, so they are not as perfect as they should be, but it felt better than just printing the signs and sticking them down.

The Art Deco Bullet Journal Setup

I adjusted my general setup from the previous year when I learned what works for me and what doesn’t.

The first page belongs to an Inspirational quote for the year. This time by Audrey Hepburn.

“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says I’m possible”

Audrey Hepburn

Then I have a whole year’s calendar, to see all the dates and days they belong to.

Next, is my Index spread to take notes of what month and what important event is on which page.

Then I have my Year Assessment page…

…and next to it are all my Goals for the new year.

On the next page is my Ideal Habits section to remind me what not to forget every morning, evening, week, and month.

And my virtual Bookshelf with place for too many books to read.

On the opposite page is room for my collection of Sentiments, and smart and funny quotes. On the next page, I write all the New words I hear or read and also the list of 20 interesting things to do that year. In truth, I can never come up with so many. Any advice?

Then I like my Year in Pixels tracker to mark assorted things with symbols, letters, or colors and get surprised by their frequency. Next to it is my Gas and Mileage record, just out of interest, I guess.

And a whole page for the GYST list to help me overcome my procrastination.

The next spread is for my CraftyHanded ideas and plans… of course, I need room to write down what I would like, so I have some answers when someone asks me.

The last spread of my general setup is a Year overview. Here I can write down appointments and tasks far ahead in the year before I even get to set up that month’s page.

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