Transcripts
1. Introduction to Visual Diary: Hello everyone.
Welcome to the class. My name is Valen and I'm a digital content
creator and a YouTuber. I started following
some classes on digital journaling
some time last year. And I've since developed
a new love for a digital journaling.
Specifically, visual journal. I've always wanted to
keep a journal myself, but I just never seem to
have the time or energy to write consistently as they often come in a
page long version. So, I've resorted to keeping a simple monthly visual journal
where I compile only the, highlights of the day into
one single page The thing about having a
digital visual journal as compared to an actual
hard copy journal is that you have to luxury of simply adding all the
photos that you like and edit them without having
to worry about messing it up or spending money to just
get the photos printed. On top of that, you also need not worry about storage space as they can now be stored as a file on your hard drive, cloud, laptop, And you can access them
wherever, whenever! In this class, I'll be sharing
with you how I edit my visual journal using the exclusive monthly template that I've made for this class. You can find them under
the Project and Resources section and load them onto your Goodnotes on your
iPad and you're good to go! I can't wait to share
with you my process so let's get started!
2. Setting-Up (Apps, Visual Planner) : Hello there. Before we get started, let's get our iPad all
setup and make sure we've got everything we need before we dive into
our class today. Here are a few apps that
you'll have to download beforehand from the app store And the first app you'll
need is obviously the GoodNotes app that I use to edit all my monthly visual
diary in this class. And the next app is called
Objet, it's a paid app, but I promise you
you'll love it. Next, your Photos app, where we store our
daily visuals And lastly, this is
optional Pinterest. Pinterest is great for
random aesthetic photos, inspiration, colours, theme,
moodboard, and fonts even. It's just a great app
for creatives out there. Plus, it's free. And that now we're all set up. Let's get to importing
files to GoodNotes. Under the project
resources for this class, you should be able to see two different files,
two different planners! One starting from Monday
and another from Sunday. By clicking this button here, you can easily toggle between the editing mode and
the viewing mode. This is the viewing mode. And these are free
planners that I've personally designed
for this class, which also include
hyperlinks to each of them. like this. You can click on the number, March and it'll bring you
back to the overview. And the same goes for
the rest of the month. I personally like Sunday to
be the first day of the week, so I'll be using the Sunday template for
the rest of this class. But feel free to choose whichever you're more comfortable with. Also, do note that only the viewing mode
will allow you to click on this hyperlink months, which will then bring you
to the respective month. However, the editing mode
will not allow you to do so This is the editing mode. Also GoodNotes
allows you to set up to three different pens
sizes at any one time. So it comes in handy
for those of you who have a preferred pen
sizes to work with, as well as the color palette. So you see if you have a theme
color that you stick to or any personal choice
of colors, palettes. You can preset them here. As for the pens. There are three different types of pens on GoodNotes, but I'll be using only the
ball pen for this class. It'll be good if you have
three to five colors ready on your color palette
before we start the class. As it would help to
set the tone and the Theme or style that you're
going for your March. Now that we're all set, it's
time to get started.
3. Setting Monthly Goals : In this class, I'll be going through my March with you. If you have your
iPad with you, feel free to follow along! We'll start off with
goal-setting for the month. Now pull up the Objet
app to the side and start choosing any
photo that you like. Ideally something with
a larger solid color because we will
be writing on it. I'm choosing this coffee photo that I had the
other day at Ikea Yeah, just go ahead and choose
any shapes that you like. Objets allows you to adjust the photo and
zoom in and out Once you're done and ready, all you gotta do is just hold it and drag it out
- like this. You can go ahead and close
the objet app and resize your sticker or photo This looks fine to me. Here I'm using a ball pen, 1.6mm ball pen for the title. And just go ahead
and write on it. So don't fret too
much over the size of the width or the spacing between your words and writings
because you can always edit and readjust it again afterwards, and
resize it like this. I also like to stick to
a few very basic colors. for my words, like black, white, dark brown or blue
simply because of the contrast they
bring to this sheet Here, I'm using a 0.9mm ball pen to list down
my monthly goals For my monthly goals, I liked to list up to five goals. Usually about three to five. And they're often project-based. So really your can rename the goals of the month
to anything you like, such as projects or theme of the month or
highlights of the month. It's really up to you to
have fun with it Just personalise it according to your own preference and needs
to season of your life I keep my monthly goals to three because anything more than
that feels more like a to-do list than monthly goals? So yeah. You kinda mix it up. And I don't want that. So here we are. We're done with
goal-setting for the month! And I'll see you guys
in the next one. for to do list and stickers.
4. To Do List & Create Your Own Stickers: Welcome back. In this video, we'll be creating our own
to-do list over here. And I'll be showing you
the best way to add photos to your planner without
manually adding them in. Like this. This is a way as well, but I would recommend it
because it simply takes up too much space due to
its higher resolution. What I do is that I pull out my photo albums select
the photo that I want, and then take a screenshot then just crop it to the
shape that you want. Here. I'm cropping it to a rectangle
because of the space that we're filling in
and don't delete it, but copy it first. It looks like this. Then you can delete
it, the screenshot. Now I just have to paste it
onto your planner and ta-da! this is the lower resolution
of the same photo, but trust me, you won't be able to tell the difference at all Now, I'll pull up
my objet app again to create a sticker. Really just choose any
photo that you like. I like my sticker to
be in solid colors and I think this sky
looks really pretty. Just go ahead and zoom in
all the way to this shape. Once you're done,
you drag and drop. Do the same thing, resize to the shape and
size that you like? I personally like my stickers
to be of solid colors so really any photos with beautiful colors
would do the trick. Because you just have to zoom in all the way like this one. And there you have it. Your very own personalised
sticker - under five seconds. Now moving on to the
pen that I'm using, its a 0.45mm ball pen,
in white. The thing about writing
using iPad pencil, or just writing on iPad in general is that you almost never get it right the first time. I usually resize and
resize again and again until I am
satisfied with it. Then again, I find it
quite therapeutic myself, so it's not really a problem. Now, I'll be switching my
pen thickness to 0.65mm. Ball pen in white. Just go ahead and write
your to-do list here. The same concept applies here. So if you have a very dark
background like my photo here, Do try to pick a
contrasting color for your pen so that it'll stand
out when you write on it. Typically, the to-do list I have here are the top items
that I'll have to clear. I may or may not list
everything here, but usually the more
important ones that I know, I'll have to look into it or have to get it done
by a certain date. I'll usually listed
here and once I'm done, I'll either cross it
out or simply erase it altogether and update
it with a new list. So for now, I'm just listing four to five key
items on top of my head that I know I'll
have to get it done asap. Sometimes I draw a fun shapes around things that I wish
to highlight like this one, a research topic that I've been wanting to look into
for the longest time. Just go ahead and draw a random, cute, funny shapes
like this one. This is a great way to
meet certain words pop And if you wish to
highlight certain phrases. But it's really up to you creativity as to how
you wish to annotate it. Really, there's no right or wrong.
You can add any sun shape, moon-shape, like this one. Now that I'm done with it, think it looks a bit empty. At the bottom. I think I'll add a
couple of lines here, like the scribble kind of lines. The thing about drawing
these scribble lines is that they don't
have to be perfect. In fact, the more
irregular they are, the better they look. Just go ahead and draw
however you like it to be. We're done! Our to-do
list for March, and I'll see you in the
next part of the video.
5. Create Your Visual Diary: Part I : So now we're getting
into the real thing, the grids of our
monthly planner. And I'll start with, yes, the 1st of March. So I'll pull out my objet app again
and just go ahead and choose the photo that
you've taken on 1st of March, Hmm what did I do? Oh, I ate chicken. Yes. I kind of want to fill
my first day entirely. I'm choosing this
square-shaped sticker. Then just drag it out. All the grids here,
are squares so as long as your photos are
in the shape of a square, they should fit just
nice like this one. Also you noticed that
date is now gone, so all we got to do
is to put it back. Just go ahead and draw
a circle, hold it. And GoodNotes will give
you a perfect circle. Just drag it over
to the same spot. Now, just fill it
in all the way This is actually very therapeutic. One of my favorite
things to do. Also be sure to fill it
all at one go without lifting your pen. And now we'll just
use the same color, darker shade of red.
Using the 0.9mm pen. And just go ahead and
right, there you go. Let's get to scribbling. I don't usually
have a standard way of scribbling my photos. I just go ahead
with whatever feels right and what I feel
like it for the day. But I usually do outline my photos because
I think it looks cute, like this There's just something about scribbling using a
white pen It doesn't have to
look perfect. But you got to make it
look effortlessly cute One of the easiest way
to start scribbling, is to simply state and write
whatever you see, like this. State the facts that you see. And it's as simple as that anyone can make and
draw and create aesthetic photos,
editing, like this one. And you're done. Now let's move on
to the next one. Now we do the same thing. Choose your photo. I don't think I did
anything on the second so I'm going ahead to pick
my photo for the third I had a cake, a
feast on the third. I kinda like this shape Drag it, resize, do the same thing, pull it to the side. I think I'll add
another photo. because one grid is not enough. This is what I do. I'll go ahead select another
photo of the same day This one, my lunch. Just going to pull it out. Overlay it like this. There you go. Two photos of
the same day. I'll label it. My lunch. Time to resize the words. I do this all the time. You can even resize the
individual letters like this. Now it looks.. okay, better. Move onto the other photo
where I'm going to annotate this iced coffee,
iced latte that I had. I usually zoom in to write Because the words and
the individual letters look clearest that way now I'm outlining this
cake using a 0.25mm pen It has to be thinner
because this cake is tiny A thicker pen to write. like this Just go ahead using the
same pen again to annotate the object. - Remember they don't have to be perfect. Just annotate and
scribble as you like. Let your creativity guide you. And once you're done, you can just zoom out
to have a better look of your work and
edit where necessary. Here I'm just writing a short
caption to sum up my day. Resize, drag it around
and see where it fits. You will do this a lot. Let's go on to
the next one. For the next day I'll
like to fill the grid with a
perfect square again. So here I am looking
for the square, here. Here is my photo
and drag it out. I ate dumplings. It was a healthy dinner
and I think some cabbage. Resize it. This may take awhile,
sometimes like this. Once you're done with this, we're gonna go ahead
and do the same thing. You've got to copy
the white circle on Monday and
paste it here Just hold and paste. The thing about
copy-pasting this circle is that
you got to make sure the first time
you filled in the circle, it was done all within one stroke or one go
without lifting your pen. So that when you select
and copy the circle, it comes as a filled
circle like this, because you are selecting
both the outline as well as the fill of the circle. Just go ahead and do
your usual annotation of your day. So for this
it was a quick dinner. And I'm just going
to label it and outline my
dumplings, perhaps. I'm writing dumplings in Korean
here. It's called mandu. Now I'll be using the
same pen size and 0.25, which is the pen
that I use for most of my outline work in
this visual diary, it doesn't have to
look perfect, so just go ahead
and outline it. - . I mean, my mandu, dumplings. There we go. Maybe I should add a
little dumpling here too. I shall attempt to draw A dumpling. I guess. Right? We're done. Let's move on to
the next one. Then you do the same thing
again, now choose photos. Let's see. This one was a buffet that
I went to on a Saturday. It was a Saturday date. Their truffle angel
hair was really good. I'm just going to
drag it out again. Resize this. Now this photo is a bit
too large and GoodNotes does not allow me to resize because I can't see
the button over there. So what I'm gonna
do is just use any of the empty grids as
a scale estimator, just like this one,
so that it fits grid. I'm just going to resize
it to a square before I drag it back to Saturday Just fix it, resize it. It's bit tricky sometimes. But yeah. Okay. This would do and
copy and paste like this one. Because
I've copied it earlier. Need to drag it back to
using the same pen, 0.9mmm. Yes, there you go. - Let's see what else
I can add. I guess that's a
photo of myself. I'm just going to add
a snippet of myself. Yeah, this is photo taken
by my boyfriend. I kinda like how it
turned out, so I'm just going to add
this shape - looks cute. I also love the fact that
it allows me to overlap the photos and the grids
because like this one, at least it fills up the gaps so it doesn't
look too empty. See Friday, I don't
have anything on so at least this one overlaps
into the Friday grid. I'm just using the
same pen, in yellow. Just play around with
that resize shift it. Like this one. The colors since to
overlap a little, like the mac and cheese
and the color yellow. So I'm just going to
play around and try a few variation
in the words, like copy-pasting, changing
the color, resizing them Let's see how it looks. Okay, not too bad,
but maybe let's try to switch up
the color a little. Let's see,
what are these? White? Right Now, this looks good. Better, better. I like this one. Alright, I'll see
you in the next one.
6. Create Your Visual Diary: Part II: Welcome back to the class. Now we'll proceed to the
second week of my March. This week we will explore a bit more on the different
shapes and how I annotate them according
to their shapes. I'm choosing this round
circle for the first day of the second week. I personally prefer the basic
shapes more than the irregular sticker
or shapes simply because of how timeless they are and how timeless they look. Like, the squares, the
circles, rectangles. These are perfect shapes
for myself personally, for my monthly journal. And I think the key is to, write at the centre
of these shapes, like what I'm doing here. I just love how effortlessly
put together the way it looks
and feel free to resize it. Shifted around and zoom in
and out, look at it. And also the lines, the gaps between the lines
between the letters. Let's move on
to the next day. This was a lunch attempt a healthy lunch
attempt that I've put together the other day
was a wrap and some salad. Was in the mood for
some healthy lunch. Oops. And drag. Yes. Okay. I simply love the round
corners of this frame. It gives this really
vintage look. Can be a bit tricky
as to how and where to position your photo in the grid sometimes, but there's
really no fuss with it. Just, just play with it
and have fun with it. Move around until you
find that sweet spot. Writing in a consistent
manner, consistent size and font can
be quite a challenge sometimes too but you
just got to keep at it, keep practicing. And I kinda like
this size this pen soze zero-point four mm Outline. That's right on 0.25. Doesn't have to be perfect. Follow the edges
of the object And there you go. When you don't know what to
annotate or write about. The best way out is really
just to write what it is. Just state. The matter of fact. In this case, salad. Play with different
types of lines and shapes. Dotted lines. Lets move onto
the next one. Time to choose a photo. And it was my
brother's birthday. I think it's time to
fill the grid again. I'm going with a square. Yes. Zoom in resize and drag. There you go. Copy and paste. Get it in place. Red color 0.9. There you go. State the matter of fact, again, I'm using white. I'm definitely shifting this. I'm a big strawberry fan myself. I love strawberry cakes, not so much a strawberry tarts. But this place was really famous
for tarts. It was not bad But I prefer cakes. Resize, shift the
words in-between. This can take a while. But imagine just doing
this once every day. Or if you're like me, I like to do it at
the end of the month. I usually just
block out two hours to catch up with
this visual diary. Just so that I remember to
note it down to fill it in. Life can get so
busy sometimes. And here's a watch so
a little back story about this Daniel Wellington watch
that I bought for myself. I think about seven
or eight years back. I bought it with my
first ever paycheck. It's still working because
I fixed it the other day. Because I actually
tried to change the battery myself, and
it worked! I thought its a day
to commemorate and it's worth a spot
in my visual day. Well, I actually stopped
wearing the watch for a couple years, like
two to three years because it ran out
of battery and COVID hit and I just thought I needed a professional
to fix it for me. But yeah, I found it the
other day in my bag, lying in a small pocket. I was like, ooh, I
had this watch. I started Googling on
How to change a battery. How to change your watch battery and started watching
YouTube tutorials. And I did it. I guess this is a pretty
sentimental item to me, myself, since it's the
first expensive watch I've ever gotten myself. This could be the only
watch I ever bought myself. Actually. I just stop wearing watch. I don't know hmm. But I have a real
question though. Do you guys still use
your watch to tell time? Because I just use my phone. So yeah. That's why I
forgot about the existence of my watch even. I still love it as much as when I first got
it eight years ago. And it's beautiful, I think
I changed the strap once. The watch itself is
still as good as new There's barely any scratches. Because I'm
barely used it but no, I did use it. I used it for a couple of years. Whatever it was, got it. These days. Do people even use analog watches
anymore? I don't know. Everyone's using apple watches. Or they just don't use
a watch at all. Like me. But I'm trying to get
back to the habit of having a watch on my wrist. So we will see, but yes, this is a classic and
I'll always love it. Okay. Add that bling because
it deserves some bling. What's next? Let's see. Yogurt. I love this
Greek yogurt, strawberry. My boyfriend got me some
of these the other day And I absolutely love it. I know it's not the most
natural Greek yogurt or whatever they call it. I just loved strawberry yogurt. Even with the additional, I don't know,
sugar flavorings? It is what it is. It is a strawberry
tasting yogurt. I was also reading
this book, called the Four-Hour Work
Week by Tim Ferriss. I bet some of you may
have heard of it. I think I've read this
book a couple years back, but I thought I'd
give it another go. Yeah, it was one of the
rare mornings I get to myself to do some
light readings. Have breakfast.
And just slow down. I like how this one looks maybe I should add a little sun emoji. I mean, drawing. There you go. Yeah, this is it. I'll see you in the next
part of the class. Bye.
7. Create Your Visual Diary: Part III: Hello there. Welcome back to the last big chunk of the class. I'm moving into the
third week very soon. I kinda wanted a square
to fill up this grid. I'm just doing the
same thing that I've been doing for the
past couple days for the squares. Choose any
one of the white circles And copy and paste it. Just repeat. With the
0.94 red pen. As for annotations and
drawings. Keep it to 0.25 for the outlines. Just scribble like
this, random lines. Just messy lines. Even. I had local traditional
breakfast here the other day. I was having breakfast
alone at the shop. But I like it. I like having meals
alone actually. Am I weird?
I don't know. I just like the fact
that I don't have to constantly engage
in a conversation, or talking to someone
as I have my meals y'know I like having meals hot. Let's move on. Another Saturday I believe. I finally got my Chloe rollerball from
Sephora because I ran out of my own perfume after using it
for about 3-4 years now? I've been thinking
of getting this for the longest time.
I finally got it. I was so happy. I know I've said this
many, many times, but I just love the
fact that you can easily resize the words
and how you choose it, how you circle it. It makes the entire journaling
experience so much better and just so easy! And that
it's enjoyable, it's pleasurable. Using 0.3 mm for the outline. I just want to experiment
it with something slightly thicker to for this one Write over it. Using repetition,
copy and paste. Also make sure that you
stick to a certain theme or tone or color consistency. Just so they look neater. Not a mess of colors Stick to a few colors. Such as the white or the
black or if you like, green, then stick to green for highlighting or annotation But of course, if you
personally like it to be of very different colors
and shapes, then go ahead. But these are just my
personal recommendations. It's up to you to explore and have fun with
your own visual diary. Yes. Onto the next week! This week is starting
to come together. You can also edit your
photos beforehand before adding them to your
journal to this template. Some people like keeping things consistent so much so that they stick to only
filling the grids. Some people like circles, rectangles, and they feel all
the grids was only circles. But I personally
like a mix of both. And that's what I
would recommend too Like how I'm doing it here. This was a Japanese barbecue. I had on Sunday. This was one of the cleanest
barbecue I've ever had. Maybe it's the sauce Because even the rice
was really good, It was Japanese rice Kinda plump and sticky
but it tasted really good. I should probably add a
photo of the meat as well. Look at the grilled meat. So clean. Drag it out. I'm going with 0.35. Kinda want it thicker. Feel free to explore
with jiggle lines. Let's move on to the next day. I'm gonna go with the round
one again. So clean. I went on a grocery shopping. I packed a welfare surprise
pack for my boyfriend. There was a bunch of stuff in it. Biscuits, oats, yogurt bars, coffees, some instant food. Also bought this Muji bag. I think it was
on sale for $2, $3. I thought it looks
cute with the grocery. I went for a quick shopping
and got all the items. And I delivered the
items to his office. It was fun. Surprised pack, that's right Onto the next day I kinda want
to square again. I was editing my Korea Winter
School vlog on Wednesday I found this photo. I think I edited this
photo on my phone before I exported. The film vibe,
film edit. Copy and paste Red pen. 0.9mm. What should I write? I reviewed my old vlogs and
I was attempting to redo all my thumbnails as well. Yes, quite a bit of work. But I guess it's necessary because thumbnail is
everything right? You got to get people
to click on your video. The key to that is to
have a good thumbnail. That's good. I didn't have to resize that. Also, I just wanted to highlight
this section over here, a small calendar overview
for the next one. And so you can just highlight and circle
some of the big dates, important dates that you
may want to note here. Yeah, just to highlight it so that you get a glimpse
of what's coming up. And also switch back to the
viewing mode here. Up here. And tap, just click on April. It'll bring you right
to the next page. Let's continue
with the next day. I was outside, getting some work done with
my iPad and my pink keyboard, as you can see here. I had this presentation deck due I think by Sunday
night that very week So I didn't want to
work over the weekend. So I decided to finish
it all up that night. Even though it was a Friday
night. Yeah. I know. I just don't really like
putting things off and I want to get it done
as soon as possible. I spent my Friday night working
on slides and my pitch. But I also had this very nice
cake, Strawberry Shortcake. This one's cute. Just going to readjust the position
and the size again. Just outline it here,
back to my favourite, 0.25mm. Switching to 0.55 pen. to write I'm using the color yellow. Switch it up a little. Yeah. I think I'll stop here. Okay. There you go. You get the gist of it. Just continue
filling out the rest of the days and show me your work and show me your march or just any of the month
using this template. I can't wait to see your version of your personal visual journal. And thank you for following me
through this class so far. I hope you had fun and see ya!
8. Final Thoughts & More!: And that's it! Congratulations on
finishing this class. I hope you've had fun and
learn something new. Together, we've created a visual journal using the template and the apps. You can get more fun and
creative in your future months. On top of using
your personal photos, feel free to also
add screenshots or random Pinterest
photos, quotes Anything that you like Have fun with the scribbling, doodling, and just go crazy! Remember, it's your
own visual journal. So there's really no limit
to the items or images. That you'd like
to add or layer Most of all, just
remember to have fun as you create
your visual journal. It's the process of putting
it together that brings so much fun and joy and
even just therapeutic. I hope you've enjoyed the class
and I'm really excited to see your visual journals and your project
from this lesson. Feel free to share anything
you're comfortable with under the
student's project. I really can't wait to see them. If you'd like to connect with me or like to see more
of my content. Feel free to check out my
personal YouTube channel where I share more
about my daily life, travel vlogs, song
covers and more! Till I see you in my next class. Take care and goodbye.
Valen L., Digital content creator, Youtuber.
