Are Aesthetic Notes Effective? 100 Yes!

The digital age might be in full swing, but note-taking will never cease to exist. Some would consider it old school, but it’s the best way to learn. According to a study published in Longman and Atkinson, researchers found that information contained in notes “had a 34% chance of being remembered” compared to those not in notes which only had 5% chance. (Howe, 1970, in Longman and Atkinson, 1999)

Given the above idea and the novel influence of aestheticism, we have undoubtedly a good combination. Now, if you’re still in doubt, here are some of the reasons why aesthetic notes are great for studying and/or learning.

• Writing information down helps your ability to retain information. This idea comes from the fact that most of us comprehend better when information is broken down to bite-sized pieces. Since notes are basically a summary of information, it’s the perfect representation of broken-down information.

• Taking notes improves your focus. We practice note-taking everyday and the most important part of it is to jot down important details - and not to miss any. This constant practice improves our attention to detail and in turn enhances our focus during classes.

• Aiming for aesthetic notes improves your organization skills tenfold. Writing down typical notes already requires the ability to organize since you’re dealing with so much information. All the more so if you need to think about aesthetic designs and color codes. It’s actually a challenge to make pretty notes, but also fun for many. You can easily get bullet journal supplies at a cute stationery shop too.

• In relation to the previous point, note-taking also improves creativity. Of course, making your notes beautiful requires some preparation and planning too. Over time, you develop a sense for it. Thoughts come up naturally. When you’ve done it for a while, you instinctively know what color pen to pick up, and which space to write as you hear the words from your professor.

• Aesthetic notes also promote active learning - the type of learning where the students are involved in the learning process through activities. When you aim for quality note-taking, you need to listen properly to your professor so that you don’t miss points. It’s a good way to boost productivity too.

• In relation to the above, you increase your attention span too. Adults have been claimed to have an average attention span of 8.25 seconds. That’s just one or two sentences, at most. When you continuously hone this skill through repeated note-taking, your span will have to increase to accommodate longer lectures.

• Lastly, but arguably the best of all is the ability to prioritize. As mentioned, the quality of your notes is paramount. If your notes are inaccurate or lacking, it will pose problems for exams. Note taking at its peak gives you the ability to determine which information is important, and which ones are not. Color coding the important information further classifies the text into different groups - another prioritizing activity. This is probably the best skill you will develop from aesthetic note-taking.