Bullet Journaling Club Turns Notebooks into Works of Art
Members practice calligraphy and make calendars in their bullet journals. Photo: Joan Huang
By CHARLOTTE LEE and JOAN HUANG
The eyes of Bullet Journaling Club members are staring intensely at the SMARTBoard. The club leaders are explaining the lesson of the day. They switch to the next slide, and all of a sudden, the members jump out of their seats with their hands raised. They have spotted the hidden googly eye in the slide, and the fastest one has won a free journal, gifted by the club leaders.
A bullet journal is a cross between a beautifully designed diary and a personal organization system for scheduling, brainstorming, and reminders. But it can be more than that. “There are so many things you can do with bullet journaling that we can’t name them all,” said Club President Joanne Zhu ‘24.
“Since bullet journaling is your own, it's your own style, specific to each person,” said Vice President Yanhe Rong ‘24. “People can do whatever they want, like write about their favorite artist or a day in their life. Basically anything they want, just to release some stress and take some time to reflect on life.”
The club offers “a very friendly and open environment,” said Daisy Deng ‘24, a member. “You can enjoy being creative and learn how to write a bullet journal.”
Every Wednesday, during 11th period, the club meets in Room 219 and practices different techniques. “We try to incorporate different aspects of bullet journaling for people to put into their journals like calendars,” said Secretary Jessica Hu ‘24. “Right now, members are learning faux calligraphy, which is basically doing calligraphy without knowing the actual techniques for it.”
Leadership was surprised by the initial interest in the club, which has had as many as 50 students show up. “That was during our second meeting,” said Zhu. “What's funny was that day was our first calligraphy lesson and we knew that a lot of people were interested in learning cursive. I’m sure a lot of people learned it during second grade and wanted to relearn it again since they probably enjoyed it.”
Right now, the club is doing workshops on topics suggested by their members. “There’s a lot of free will in this club,” said Zhu.
“The club is so chill, and you don’t even have to do the work,” said Crystal Huang ‘24. “You can just chill and do your homework here.”
The leaders have a lot in store for the future, such as making stickers and washi tape, said Rong. They also want to show how creating a bullet journal can be inexpensive. “Everyone thinks that if you want to write a bullet journal, you need expensive materials, but one of our main goals is to make them accessible for everyone,” said Rong.
“Most of the time, we just use regular colored pencils, pens, and markers,” said Zhu.
“You have a lot of freedom, and you can use a lot of materials like a candy wrapper, which I have done,” said Hu. “As I like to say, other people's trash is my treasure. Something that you consider garbage, you can put that into your bullet journal to turn it into art.”