Bullet Journal Glossary – Terminology to Know
People are using the internet to help them learn how to set up a bullet journal, but many people online are using shorthand when talking about bujos (bullet journals). That’s no reason to stop, though; all you need is a bullet journal glossary you can refer to in order to understand what people are hashtagging.
Starting a bullet journal is a wonderful way to organize many distinct life aspects. But a lot of people stop before they even start due to one thing: lingo. Use this handy bullet journal glossary to help you understand the terminology that is used in the bullet journal community.
The internet brings us closer together in so many ways. But we also get a little clicky once we’ve started an online community. Facebook, Instagram, and even blogging sites come with their own clicks sometimes.
But you can infiltrate just about any click if you want; you just have to try. Take bullet journals, for example. There are surely dozens of Facebook groups, Instagram chats, and even Discords dedicated to the hobby.
You will find that these groups of people have their own shorthand way of speaking. For example, bujos is shorthand for bullet journals, even though some in the community don’t like to use it.
That is why things get easier when you have a bullet journal glossary. You can discover the terminology that is often used right here.
Bullet Journal Glossary – Terminology to Know
Lettering
The lettering is the type of writing you use in the journal. Some people use block lettering, while others like calligraphy. It is an artistic way of writing that makes keeping a journal more interesting.
Bleeding
Bleeding is a simple and common writing term. This term refers to any time the ink from your pens flows through a page to where you can see it from the other side of the page. This is also referred to as ghosting.
Key
The key is an overview that you use to organize your bullet journal. Most people put the key on the first couple of pages of a bullet journal. It is essentially a glossary of symbols you use throughout the journal.
Index
The index is similar to the key, except the focus is much broader. This is like an index in a book that tells you which page number to find a specific thing.
Brain Dump
A brain dump is when you write down everything on your mind. An example of a brain dump would be like a “wedding brain dump,” meaning you wrote down everything that pertained to your wedding plan.
Bullet Journal Glossary Terms Cont.
Signifier
A signifier is a little doodle or symbol you use to organize things throughout your journal. For example, you use a little triangle as a signifier for tasks to do. You can fill in that triangle to signify that the task is finished. Signifiers are organized and defined in your key.
Collections
Collections are consecutive pages that are dedicated to notes or lists that focus on a single topic.
Spread
Each type of page is considered to be a spread or a layout. For example, you could have a calendar spread or a calendar layout. These are both the same thing, just a page with a calendar month on it.
Commonplace Book
A commonplace book is a notebook that you use to compile specific things like quotes, recipes, facts, proverbs, or just notes.
Monthly Spread
A monthly spread is typically the cover page of a new month starting within your bullet journal. An example would be if the month of June is starting, you would take a page to separate June from May.
This page could be a calendar, a cover page, a quote, a saying, or a drawing.
Bullet Journal Glossary Terms Cont.
Daily/ Dailies
A Daily is simply a page that focuses on a single day. Very simple and very straightforward.
Weekly Spread
A weekly spread is just like a monthly spread. However, these break down the month into weeks and give you a chance to add more detail to each and every day of the month.
Dashboard
The dashboard is often found on the inner cover of the bullet journal. A lot of people use this as a place to put inspiring words and a doodle or as a place to keep sticky notes with reminders for the month.
Daily Spread
You might be able to guess this from here. A daily spread is a page that is dedicated to a specific day. People don’t usually use a daily spread unless that day has a lot of tasks or things to remember.
Migrating/ Migration
Migrating refers to the process of moving important information from one journal to another.
Bullet Journal Glossary Terms Cont.
Future Log
Bullet journals don’t cover years; they typically cover months. A future log is where you write an overview of your entire bullet journal and maybe a bit further into the future.
Rapid Logging
Rapid logging is when you quickly list out tasks, events, or other things you need to remember. This method isn’t used often and kind of defeats the purpose of a bullet journal, but life happens.
Tracker
A tracker is also relatively straightforward. Trackers are pages where you track specific things like sleep, weather, medications, television shows, finances, passwords and so much more.
Dutch Door
A Dutch door is when you cut a page in half all the way to the seam. You can use these for calendars or other information. This method is a bit on the complicated side but very fun to use.
Themes
A theme is when you use similar drawings, doodles, or colors to signify similar topics across different pages. You could use weather doodles for all of your weather pages or money doodles and colors on finance spreads. The possibilities are endless.
Bullet Journal Glossary Terms Cont.
Level 10 Life
There is a book that is titled The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. Inside, Hal defines a method of measuring satisfaction in 10 different areas of life. This method is often used in bullet journals.
Threading
Threading is a very important tool for people who bullet journal. This is why it is so important to add to the bullet journal glossary. The best way to define it is to describe it.
You’ve filled in a collection of quotes you love, but on the next page, there are recipes. You have more quotes you want to add, so you put a semicolon at the bottom of the last quote page and write a number next to it.
That number is the page number where your quotes collection continues.
Bullet Journal Glossary | For the Journal
GSM
GSM is an acronym for grams per square meter. The grams per square meter refers to the weight of the paper. The higher the number, the heavier, and usually thicker each page will be.
Dot Grid
This is one of the bullet journal glossary terms that aren’t uncommon outside of the community. The dot grid is a type of paper that has a grid of dots all over it.
Disc-Bound
A disc-bound is a way of bounding pages using rigid discs. These discs are made to fit into paper grooves easily.
Leuchtturm1917
Community members often share tips and ideas for bullet journals. One of those ideas shared is the use of the Leuchtturm1917 dot-grid journal. This journal is a common type of journal to use, and even the inventor of the bullet journal uses this type.
STM
STM is another type of journal that is commonly used within the bullet journal community. The acronym STM stands for Scribbles That Matter, and it is a newer dot-grid notebook that comes in a few different colors.
Bullet Journal Glossary Terms Cont.
Tombow
Tombow is a brand of stationery supplies that are very popular in bullet journal circles. You can find Tombow brush pens, pencils, erasers, twin-tone pens, and so much more.
Ring Bound
Ring-bound basically refers to the use of a binder. Ring-bound is when pages are bound by spring-loaded rings, typically three, and in a binder or planner.
Washi Tape
Washi tape is simply colorful tape with designs or plain colors that are often used to add a bit of splash to pages.
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