Circular trackers are incredibly popular at the moment. And it’s no wonder as they are simple, functional and there are endless ways to decorate them. This article will show you how to create a circle tracker step by step. Just read on!
I’ve actually been bullet journaling for over 2 years and I’ve never tried a circular spread until this month. I’ve always been a bit intimidated by the look of it. I’m a perfectionist and the thought of creating a less than perfect circle was always the barrier. Even more so because I didn’t own a compass or “safety compass” until recently.
So a few months ago, I bought a Helix Angle and Circle Maker from Amazon. And it sat there, the thought of a circle still intimidating me, even though I had the perfect tool! But I saw this amazing post on Instagram by Erin from thepetiteplanner.com and I knew I had to try give it a go. So here’s how I did it…
Before You Start
First you need to decide what your circle tracker is going to be for. Here are some examples of how you can use a circular spread.
Circular Habit Tracker
This is a variation of your standard graph form habit tracker, instead of having the days and habits along an x and y axis it’s all within a circle. Here @journalbymir has allocated each line within the circle to a different habit, with the days of the month written around the circumference of the circle. Each “square” will be filled in when a habit is completed.
You will need to decide how many habits you want to track so that you know how many circles you need to draw for your tracker.
Supplies: Tombow Dual Brush Pens
Circular Mood tracker
This simple mood tracker will give you a quick overview of how you’ve been feeling during the month. You will need to create a colour coded key for your moods and add that to the page also. Here is a beautiful partially completed circle mood tracker by @bujo_nina
Circular Monthly Log (Calendar Wheel)
This was originally created by Dee from decadethirty.com and acts as a monthly log. Tasks and appointments are connected to the corresponding date with a straight line.
Circular Birthday Calendar
This spread sections the circle into months, you can add important birth dates around the circle next to the corresponding month. This beautiful one was created by @bumblebujo (Pssst – if you really want this exact one in your bullet journal, she actually sells these stickers in her Etsy shop)
Circular Future Log
A variation of the calendar wheel, instead of the circle representing a single month the circle represents a whole year and like above is sectioned off into months. Important dates are added around the outside. This beautiful circle spread was created by Erin @the.petite.planner
Let’s get started….
Supplies Used:
- Dingbats* Notebook (I also highly recommend the Scribbles That Matter and Leuchtturm)
- A pencil
- An Eraser
- Black Staedtler Pigment Liner
- Helix Angle and Circle Maker
How To Draw A Circle Tracker
In the following example, I’m going to create a combination of the examples above. My circular spread will be both a circle mood tracker and a calendar wheel.
Place your circle maker in the center of your page. Using a pencil draw a circle around the outside of your circle maker. This circle is NOT actually going to form part of your tracker, but will just be guidance in case you need to reposition your circle maker back on the page later. Believe me, you’ll thank me for this. Also mark where the centre of the circle is.
Using the first hole closest to the edge of the circle maker, draw the first circle. Then, skip a hole and draw another circle. Continue until you have 4 circles within each other.
Next, section off the circles for the days of the month. To do this make a mark every 10 degrees around the circle.
Now you can join each of these marks to the centre point of the circle.
Count off the sections so you have enough for every day of the month, then erase the lines you no longer need. If you don’t want a continuous circle erase this section as well. (I always erase the lines I don’t need before I ink with a pen so that I don’t confuse myself. There’s been many times I just mindlessly trace over pencil marks with my pen to find that I wasn’t supposed to do that!)
Reposition the circle maker and ink over your pencil marks with a black pen.
Label your circles and add the days and the dates. Here, I’ve decided that I want the day and dates in the inner circles with the mood around the outside. Then decorate with some handlettering and your favourite doodles.
My hand-lettering was done with a yellow dual brush pen, then I outlined it with an orange muji gel pen. Finally I used a light grey dual brush pen to create a dropshadow effect.
I drew the flowers below using a Staedtler Pigment Liner and coloured in and around the circle with a yellow watercolour pencil. I brushed over it with a wet brush to make the colour more vibrant and to spread the colour around outside the circle.
I’ve added a small colour coded key in the corner for my moods. And then added my tasks and appointments (I seem to have almost NOTHING on this month!)
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As you can see with a Helix Angle and Circle Maker, it is incredibly easy to put together a circular spread. I love this tool so mcuh and I highly recommend it, plus it is really affordable. However, if you can’t get hold of one, you can just use a standard compass to draw your cirle and a protractor to mark off your sections.
I hope you give this a go, and let me know how you get on. I’d love to see what you circle spreads you come up with!
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