Journals are very popular, and printing a journal is an enjoyable activity that engages your creative and practical sides. Journals are versatile booklets that can be used for writing, scheduling, sketching, drawing, painting, or taking notes. If you want to create a journal to share, follow our guide to printing a journal.
Reasons for Printing a Journal
Accompany a self-help or how-to book: Many how-to books have companion journals. In a fitness self-help, for instance, the journal allows the reader to record their exercises, meals, and weight loss progress as they follow the plan outlined in the book. These journals allow the reader to chart their path to success as they follow the tips in the book. A journal gives them space to track their progress and record their thoughts. Journaling can make any self-help book work better.
Encourage creativity: Journals are often blank. They invite the reader in with a beautiful cover and interior artwork. These open-format journals allow readers to express themselves freely without feeling bound to any schedule or format. This type of journal helps the reader slow down, look inside, and nurture their creative side.
Record a special event: Journals can record significant events in the history of a person, family, or organization. These journals are more structured and may include calendar pages, photos, and room for all the participants’ notes. These journals tell the story of a wedding, construction project, or personal makeover—anything that deserves its own record.
Show your appreciation: Your personalized journal makes a wonderful gift for family members, friends, clients, potential customers, colleagues, suppliers, and other important people you want to recognize. Create a journal that shows your professionalism with your company logo and a clean, elegant design. If you prefer, opt for a more personal touch with your favorite images, colors, and inspirational quotes. Everyone appreciates receiving a well-designed, attractive journal.
Know Your Audience
The first step in printing a journal is knowing who it’s for. This will guide everything from the cover art to the interior page selection.
If you’re designing a journal for a professional audience, use a clean, elegant design. Choose cover artwork that’s related to your industry, or select colors based on your company logo.
Journals related to other books should incorporate the same typefaces and graphics as the original books. Keep the same tone and colors, but make it clear that this is a separate book by including a guide on the best way to use it. Add lined pages, trackers, goal-setting pages, and other helpful items.
If you’re printing a journal that records a special event, use images from the event itself, including invitations, flyers, ticket stubs, photographs, and other memorable pictures.
For a more personal journal aimed at artists, writers, or anyone who wants to feel more creative, choose artwork that shows off your style. Include quotations or images that have stirred your imagination. This is a journal aimed at inspiring others, so share something of yourself to get them thinking, dreaming, and meditating.
Know Your Options when Printing a Journal
When you printing a journal, there are a few print considerations you must keep in mind.
- Paper: Will you want lined or blank paper? This is where knowing your audience is helpful. If you want to make it easy to write in the journal, choose lined or grid dot paper. If your journal is aimed at artists or people who want to doodle, unlined paper would be a better choice. You could also do a combination of both types. The choice is yours.
- Cover: Do you want a hard or soft cover? Most journals have soft covers because they’re designed to be easy to carry around. You will have to create a front and back cover.
- Binding: What type of binding do you want? Perfect binding and spiral binding are both commonly used in journal printing. Spiral binding makes it easy for the user to lay the book flat on a table while writing or sketching. It’s a good choice for practical journals that include scheduling. Perfect binding makes the journal look more like an actual book and is considered more esthetically pleasing than spiral binding. Again, the choice depends on who is most likely to use your journal.
- Finally, consider artwork when printing a journal. Aside from the cover, will your journal have graphics or pictures? Some journal designers like to include interior graphics, quotations, snippets of poetry, or other inspirational material inside the journal pages. These can be placed throughout the pages to help guide and inspire the user. If you want to add these elements, start thinking about what to include and where you want each to appear.
Elements of a Journal
Like any self-published book, your journal must contain the basic elements that any printed book has. Including them will elevate your booklet and give it a polished, professional look. They include:
- Front cover
- Title page
- Copyright page
- Publication information
- Journaling pages
- About the author page
- Back cover
Alternative elements of a journal include:
- Introduction to the journal written by you
- Brief (one or two pages) guide on the best way to use the journal
- Goal-setting sections
Design the Covers when Printing a Journal
The power of a book’s cover cannot be underestimated. It’s one of the chief selling and marketing points of any book, and that’s even more true of a journal. With no real contents, a journal’s appeal is in the cover and the interior pages. The cover should be beautiful enough to draw anyone’s attention. Once the reader opens the journal, the inside pages must be useful and attractive.
The front cover is crucial in printing a journal. Spend time designing a beautiful cover, or hire a professional graphic artist to create one for you. Make sure the back cover is equally attractive.
Select the Paper when Printing a Journal
Since people use journals to write in, uncoated stock is the best choice for journal printing. Coated stock has a glossy finish that is difficult to write on. A medium or heavy stock is a good choice because it won’t make your journal too heavy to carry around. Remember, a journal is designed to go with the user and be accessible in a briefcase, purse, backpack, or back pocket.
Use a Design Template
Make it easy on yourself by using a pre-designed journal template. You can customize these templates with your own ideas and artwork, but most of the hard work of designing and layout is already done for you. Here are some software designers that will cut your time and effort when you’re printing a journal:
Journal Printing Ideas
Journals are versatile booklets that lend themselves to many situations. When printing a journal, see if you’re inspired by any of these journal ideas.
- Travel Journal: A travel journal helps the user record and remember important trips. Use prompts to get the reader to note the day’s events, weather, people met along the way, and notes about what was the most fun.
- Recipe Journal: People who enjoy cooking will also enjoy sharing their recipe journals. These books detail how certain recipes came out, what the cook learned, tips on techniques, and notes about which recipes are always successful.
- Wedding Journal: Everyone has a love story, and a wedding journal is a wonderful way to tell one. The person getting married can use it to record memories, sketch ideas, jot notes under photos, and create a wonderful keepsake.
- Family Journal: Use a family journal to share scheduling reminders, plan specific events, address an important issue, or just leave loving notes for each other. A family journal lets everyone express themselves freely.
- Project Journal: Are you building a home, starting a business, or sewing a complicated dress pattern? Track your successes and your setbacks in a journal that records every moment from start to finish.
Printing a Journal Made Easy at Dazzle Printing
We hope you’ve enjoyed our guide to printing a journal. When you work with Dazzle Printing, you can be sure that your journal project receives the personalized attention it deserves. We can help with paper selection and the right binding style for your next journal. Contact us today to get a no-obligation estimate.
