In this blog, we will describe a few of the best practices for using Notion for design and your Notion profile itself, as well. If you are interested in upgrading your work and using Notion, then this recommendation is definitely for you. If you are a Notion user and are looking for some inspiration on how you can organize your work, then this article is going to help you a ton. And if you are someone new to Notion, you will realize how great this tool is for working in an organized and efficient way.
You can indeed come across many Notion templates, tutorials, and whatnot to organize your work but there is always one problem in many of those templates, which is that they are too complex and overwhelming. Here is the problem. When you try to complicate everything inside Notion and create an advanced setup, it becomes overwhelming very soon, but you want your workspace to work for you and not against you.
Designing Your Notion Profile
If you are someone who uses Notion to track their professional life, you are probably all too familiar with how minimalist the app looks. While this can be a good thing for some users, it does not hurt to jazz up your setup with some visual flair. Here are some tips to make your Notion page look better and more organized.
1. Break the Paragraphs
The text editor is one of the top features in Notion, and given that it looks just like any old word processor, it is not hard to get carried away and fill it with clumpy blocks of text. Nonetheless, long texts can be too overwhelming for the eyes and will not get you any closer to creating an aesthetic and organized setup. So instead of typing everything in a big block, you can break your paragraphs into smaller ones, preferably in groups of one to two sentences.
2. Decorate the Text
An easy way to turn your page into eye candy is to style your texts. Unluckily, Notion only offers three fonts, which are Default, Serif, and Mono. There are, yet, several ways to make your text more attractive. One is to add color to your text block. You can either change the text color itself or just the background. You cannot choose a custom shade, though. Another way is to change the block from a Text to a Quote or Callout. The Quote adds a bold vertical line in front of the text, while the Callout puts the text in a colored box with its icon. If you prefer changing the text size, change the block to Heading 1, 2, or 3.
Plus, there also is a neat hack you can try to style your text using fonts outside of Notion's available ones. You simply have to go to igfonts.io or metatags.io, type your text, and then copy-paste it into your Notion page. This will add some mixture to your setup.
3. Color Palette
First and foremost, a cohesive and eye-pleasing page requires a color palette. Figure out what you want your page to look like color-wise. If you already have your eyes set on a certain color or theme, then you are good to start, but if you still have no color combination in mind, you can always take inspiration from online palette generators like colors. co or Canva. On both websites, you can just type the base color that you want, and you will be given dozens of palettes to choose from. There is also an option for you to upload a picture to extract a color palette.
4. Select the Icon
The icon serves as the profile picture of your page. It does not necessarily need to represent the contents of your page, so feel free to pick whichever one you like. Just make sure that it follows your color palette to make your page look cohesive. Notion offers tons of emojis you can use for your icon, from classic facial expressions to festive fireworks and party poppers. If you do not find what you like on the emoji panel, you can also upload or paste a link to a 280×280-pixel photo for a more personalized look, but there are many options to choose from.
5. Add Pictures
The last thing you want to do is fill your Notion page with nothing but words. So instead, spice up your setup with aesthetic pictures. First, you could add a cover photo. This takes up about a third of the page, so not filling it with a photo of your choice will leave your page looking bare. Lucky for you, the app has a curated gallery of plain colors, gradients, and photos. It is also linked to Unsplash, which helps to make it easier to find photos that match your color palette. You can search for virtually anything that matches the vibes of your page. You can also just upload a picture instead. Aside from the cover photo, put images on the page itself. These will act as fillers, so there will not be dull spaces.
6. Add Dividers
A Notion divider is a thin, horizontal gray line that divides your blocks from each other. Yes, it is a very small detail to add to your page, but it makes a world of difference in visual terms.
7. Use Embeds
Embeds are one of Notion's most useful tools as you can employ them to add PDFs, YouTube videos, Spotify playlists, Google Maps, and more to your setup, among other things. You just have to paste the link anywhere on your page and click “Create embed”.
Final Thoughts
If you are a designer and you have Notion incorporated into your design process, here is how to make the most out of Notion to have an organized workspace.
