We all love an aesthetic Notion space
Colours, pictures, the way things are laid out. Just MM-MM chef’s kiss.
But doing it yourself as a beginner? Pain in the rectum. Like how tf are people doing that?
Here’s the thing though: aesthetic is just something that’s visually appealing, which is super subjective. What looks nice is totally up to you!
And something aesthetic may not even be functional enough to use
Like when you buy a $25 template that looked sooooo pretty in the preview. And then you opened it, feared you’d break it changing anything, and then banished it to your template graveyard (or hobbled around using it as is)
So when people come to me asking me how to make their Notion spaces aesthetic because they suck at design, I remind them that they don’t. Cos they’ve already identified that their space isn’t pretty enough for them.
Your aesthetic doesn’t have to be overwhelming with a lot of widgets and gadgets in your space. It’s all about focusing on creating a space that feels good for you.
This could mean changing up colours, using headers and images, whatever sparks joy for you!
Notion can do a lot, but I’m gonna show you some basics on how to get your aesthetics poppin ✨
Notion has a bunch of basic blocks that make it easy to give your space a lift without getting crazy. Use these to spruce up your pages if the black and white are a bit much (or not enough)
text formatting
Start small with adding bold, italicized or underlined words. I personally love combining that with colours and backgrounds. Notion’s colours are subtle, but they add a lot of visual interest when you use them.
The text on the left has zero formatting, while the text on the right has formatting.
Notion has 10 colours you can choose from, so take advantage of them to express yourself 💅🏾
Coloured text that has a similarly coloured background in 10 colours: default, grey, brown, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink and red.
headings
Break up your Wall of Text™️ and add emphasis with headings. Notion has 3 sizes of headings:
You’ll notice that each heading has a bit of padding at the top. This extra space does a great job of breaking up your text and adding some space to rest your eyeballs.
#shortcutsFTW
Type #, ##, and ### in a new line to create h1, h2, and h3 headings respectively. You can also turn any text into a heading by typing </turn into> after the text!
lists - bulleted, numbered, to do
Yes, there are 3 kinds of lists you can use in Notion!
You can turn any group of text blocks into a list by highlighting, then clicking the handle and <turn into> in the menu. Easy list making! Just make sure that each item is its own block.
The fun thing about lists is that you can keep going after your first line — you don’t need to manually add the bullet for the next line. Just hit enter and keep typing.
Once you’re done with your list, hit enter then backspace to go back to regular typing.
shortcuts for ya
- then space for a bullet
1. then space for a numbered list (you can also start from 2, 3, etc which is helpful if you have stuff breaking your list)
[] then space for a checkbox list
divider block
I mean, what can I say. It’s a divider! All purpose, doesn’t take up a lot of space, super subtle and effective for adding visual interest to your Notion pages.
I mean look at how chill that looks there! You can use this with headings to create more division in text, or add it within text to break it up. Dividers can’t be coloured like other blocks, but I think that would be really cool.
shortcut is life
--- will give you a divider anywhere you need it. I think this is one of my fave shortcuts cos it’s so darn simple!
those are the basics!
I know you must be itching to get more inspo on how to level up your Notion aesthetics after seeing the basics. Honestly, same 🤭
These tips and more are available in my free Notion glow up guide
The best place to learn about Notion is within Notion itself imo, and this guide is the perfect place for you to see how things work IN NOTION!
It even includes a list of Notion faux pas (and how to fix them), and other resources for you to play and experiment with without losing your mind 🤯
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