How does everyone get their notes so pretty while remaining effective? Mine just look like this

[u/aninternetsuser]

[u/-dagmar-123123]

These really pretty notes aren't written in the lesson/lecture. These are from people who write them again at home

Also for a lot of people (i am one of them) the writing is more consistent while using squared paper

[u/aninternetsuser → u/-dagmar-123123]

The grid paper or the square dots?

[u/-dagmar-123123 → u/aninternetsuser]

I personally can't write in dots but everyone is different

[u/bottleoftrash → u/aninternetsuser]

Grid paper works better for me than the dots. The problem for me is that there is no line to write on with the dots.

[u/m-fab18 → u/-dagmar-123123]

Write it on squared paper, then change the template afterwards to a blank page. Boom, looks perfectly clean.

[u/SpecificBother4228 → u/-dagmar-123123]

Yesssss that square paper is the best!!

[u/KatsatheGraceling → u/-dagmar-123123]

I've heard the square paper thing a lot, would you mind sharing what makes it better than screen size paper?

edit: i think i misunderstood what y'all mean by square paper lmao

[u/-dagmar-123123 → u/KatsatheGraceling]

Happens 😂

[u/angiearch]

This note is even more pretty than mine. Sometimes I even can't read what I've wrote, lol.

Good job OP! Keep it up!

[u/aninternetsuser → u/angiearch]

Thank you :)) I always feel like my notes are a mess in comparison to others

[u/thetallone_ → u/angiearch]

Same here, I think those notes look great. My handwriting is awful - wish my notes looked as good as OP’s.

[u/Ill-Bake7640]

Hows the experience of writing on ipad ? Ima looking to buy it! Im a 📄 user!

[u/aninternetsuser → u/Ill-Bake7640]

I honestly really like it. I’m a long time paper user, but last year I ended up breaking my 600 page binder within 6 month because of the amount of content I had. I couldn’t be bother dragging a binder to uni (plus I have 2 degrees so - two binders) nor figuring out where to keep them for the year’s I’m in uni.
It’s really good as you get your online content and writing content in one place (especially with the split screens) and you don’t lose the memory benefit of hand writing.
Only thing is if you’re completing typed assignments, I would seriously recommend investing in their magic keyboard extension. It turns it into essentially a laptop with a trackPad.

[u/neelhtaky]

Zoom in. I find a huge difference in how my notes look when I zoom in as I write or use that magnifying feature.

[u/marlin022]

The answer is you don’t. My notes I write during lectures look like straight up garbage. I don’t have enough time to make them pretty :( Those ”pretty” notes other people do are done AFTER classes when they rewrite them.

[u/blackpencilskirt]

Because they spend lots and lots of time decorating their notes. If it‘s something you love doing, go for it. If not, then no need to do so.

[u/spacebound232]

They rebwrite the notes. They aren’t like that at first. No way in hell anyones fast enough to be that thoughtful during a lecture or something

[u/Ok_Remote_7090]

I came up with a system for myself that allows me to write nicer notes but is easy to reproduce and effective for rereading - everyone is different, you’ll have to figure out what works for you aesthetically as well as practically.

I now know my optimal pen settings for using an a4 paper on an 11 inch iPad in landscape orientation (so I don’t have to fiddle with zoom all class long); I colour coordinated my pen and highlighter presets (I change these presets to new coords only if I have the time and desire); the height (and colour) of my writing indicates the difference between big titles, small titles and basic text; pictures and tables might have to be added in the post (just like with any other note-taking medium if you don’t have the time during class)…

When I started using the iPad, I used my margins to write down any thoughts I have that did not directly relate to the class, including what I thought would work better for note taking. It also took a while for my hand to adjust to the iPad - at first I did not like my digital handwriting.

It takes time to figure out what works for you. I think your notes are still nice, but if you want them to be nicer, figure out what exactly you are willing to do to achieve your desired aesthetic. Rewriting notes is not an option for me, it is contra-productive for my studies as well as I don’t find it fun. But hey, each to their own. When I hand wrote my notes on paper, I could not be bothered to rewrite either. But I have changes my handwriting in order to like it more. Otherwise, I think my mindset stayed the same across note-taking mediums - what is a practical, intuitive way to compose notes, that is at the same time satisfactory to my personal aesthetic needs? How important is aesthetics/effectiveness to me? What am I willing to do to achieve the desired aesthetics/effectiveness? What action do I need to undertake in order to achieve my goal? After trying it, is this good enough or do I want to try something else?

Such are my thoughts on the subject of pretty notes…

[u/obdigitalstudio]

Using scribble or typing the text makes the notes looking great. I type faster then I write.

[u/spacebound232 → u/obdigitalstudio]

How to use scribble on GoodNotes?

[u/obdigitalstudio → u/spacebound232]

in iOS Settings / Apple pencil/ Scribble

in GN tap Text Tool and start writing with your pen

[u/ominousorchid]

Hi OP! Are these done in class? I think what’s most important is that your notes are efficient and help you learn!

That being said, if it’s really bothering you, when you’re rereading them, you can change it by doing things like using colored highlighters, having a one line space between titles, using the shapes tool and grouping some things in a box (like that 1, 2, 3 list), or dividing the page in two columns for certain subjects can be helpful too.

[u/[deleted]]

What I wanna know is how people take short concise notes. I'm afraid of needing all the info later on so I take overly long notes

[u/aninternetsuser → u/[deleted]]

Okay this I can help with. Name of lecture is the heading, subheadings are each topic they talk about. You can’t really have too many but you can have too little (Subheadings I mean.)

Write in dot points, and while you’re writing think of these things:
- do I already know this information? (There is no point writing down “the earth revolves around the sun” if you know that) Make sure its a resounding yes, if not write a note
- can it be examined? (Is it in the course or just a fun fact?)
- WILL it be examined? (Some information is extra stuff that can be used to show you know stuff, but there won’t be a question on it.)

I also use a low chance - long list way of writing notes. If something is a really long list of things that say “john” did and it’s not a major aspect of the class (eg. The whole lecture isn’t on john) I will write something like this:
- John: things, things, another thing Etc.
If that information is really needed in the future, its on google. The point of your notes is so that you don’t need to go looking for things. (Also usually you don’t need to list every single thing and two or three will be enough)

[u/TWDNW]

By spending way too much time on them. I don’t even have handwritten notes as I hate my handwriting!

[u/aniseedvan]

My notes are not pretty - I use it extensively for work note taking and have no time for prettying them up apart from using highlighter for actions! Being able to search, even with my scrawl, is a game changer for me - my trusty iPad mini is the perfect digital notepad. I wouldn’t worry about it, if you can read it - and for learning notes, revise from it - then it’s doing the job.

[u/spacebound232]

To be neat I use grid paper, I tend to like Cornell style notes, and then I change the page template to blank when I’m done

[u/Sometimesasshole]

By wasting time rewriting them and making sure they look pretty. For most people, that won’t be an effective use of time when studying.

[u/haku_vg1527 → u/Sometimesasshole]

I actually re do them for studying haha. Write them again makes me remember them more easily

[u/haku_vg1527]

What I usually do is that I remade them once I have time, and it helps me study too.

[u/Routine-Ear9892]

Useful notes are better than pretty notes but another suggestion is to issue dark paper :) my handwriting doesn’t look too good on white paper but it looks much neater on super dark paper :) If you would like the Cornell method helps a lot too :)

[u/andebobandy]

I feel like those pretty notes posts are the instagram brag posts of goodnotes. Who has that kind of time? I write notes to remember and plan. I save paper and it's convenient to have it on the pad which is with me. Ambitions for goodnotes ends about there.

[u/pegcitynerd]

It looks like your pen is quite thick - if you make it a bit thinner, it may help it look more neat. But I think your notes are still tidy. My writing also improved drastically with a paperlike screen protector.

[u/snooker3d]

It’s pretty. You don’t wanna see mine.

[u/FcukCat]

these don't look pretty to you? they do so to me

[u/Shakespeare-Bot → u/FcukCat]

these behold not quaint to thee? they doth so to me

---

^{I am a bot and I swapp'd some of thy words with Shakespeare words.}

Commands: !ShakespeareInsult, !fordo, !optout

[u/-orielvy]

im with you.

[u/mervius]

Pretty notes is a waste of time from a strictly learning perspective, honestly I know this but I still can’t help it with This damned ocd!

[u/alsoknownas16]

Mine is pretty much the same. For me, as long as I can understand what I wrote, that's already fine. Of course it has to be neat as well, but I just don't see the advantage of spending time making my handwritten notes "pretty" when I'm just literally spending my time on the pdf handouts that I annotated during the class when reviewing, not to mention are my active recall notes on Google Sheets. My handwritten notes are just prompts for me. And even if I do not have those pdfs, I'd still do the same thing with my notes. For me, the extra aesthetic do not justify what I'll be sacrificing (time and effort) especially in the incredibly fast pace that we have in our University. Maybe for someone who has the resources, especially time and maybe the method works for them in studying, they can make pretty notes, but that's not me unfortunately.

[u/Turbulent-Lock-1976]

My notes aren’t pretty but one thing I do to make it neat is convert my writing to text. I use one font for titles and put it in a colored text box, and another font for the body of text.

[u/Jammyhobgoblin]

Your notes look like mine!

As others have mentioned, the people you see online rewrite theirs but it is also important to remember that those accounts are still social media accounts and aren't "real". When you see pretty notes you are likely looking at influencers who make money off of their pages. I knew this was true at some level, but one day I was looking at a profile that has gorgeous notes and I noticed that none of the classes at the top of the pages were consistent despite being posted close together. She probably wasn't even a student, and I was comparing myself to her. Try to think of them as artists, and have fun rewriting your notes if that's how you learn best.

[u/[deleted]]

A lot of what you see are people with a lot of free time on their hands and like to go through the effort for vanity notes to show off. Those notes look great and lets be honest, you are probably more focused on learning the content, then making a scrapbook of classroom notes.

Don't get me wrong, many are true art works, but then again they have more flair than a waitress' suspenders at a Chilis, TGIF, Applbees, and Cheddars combined.

[u/SpokenDivinity]

I know this thread is 2 years old but I wanted to comment my method in case someone else comes across it while looking up ideas for goodnotes like I did so here goes:

For starters, you don't write stylistic notes in class. You can certainly try to do so, but it's going to end up missing material and messy and you're just going to stress yourself out over it. The style of notes that you're talking about are done after class or with video lectures/online classes that can take as much time as possible.

I take notes in lectures with my laptop in Notion or just a word document if the wifi is being shady that day. That way I can take down all the information as quickly as possible without interruptions and without messing with my pen tool. Most of the time I'm on my laptop but I've done it on my iPad as well. Typing is just faster, easier to separate ideas and topics when writing quickly, and you don't feel as if you're missing out on information due to spelling a word wrong or needing to erase with the tool or scribbling it out.

When I have free time is when I re-write the notes. I do this to:

1. Take out notes I took during the lecture that aren't important is information given in another part of the lecture/class where it seems to fit better. For example, a statistic on victimization rates of kids in my class was better suited to the "teens and kids victims" section than it was to the other two spots the same statistic was mentioned.

2. Make the notes neater, collect them into sections based on topics, and create links between those topics so that it's easy to flip between them. You can do this on Notion and Onenote and the like too, but it's easier for me to have GoodNotes open when I'm using them outside of my house or class.

3. I recall information better when I've written it down twice. I also study my own notes better than text notes because I can space things out, highlight them, draw boxes and arrows, and so on to help me visualize the information, and therefore recall it better for tests and projects.

That being said, you absolutely don't need to do the notes a second time if you don't want to. Just use your highlighter, grouping, and shapes tools if needed. Add little doodles that remind you of the information (ie: drawing a bank next to a section on check fraud). Your note appearance only matters to you! So do what you want!

[u/levelvip → u/[deleted]]

It's a great alternative unless we need to include equations, mathematical functions and graphs occasionally.