THE IDEA
A journal that thinks the way designers think
SiyArts is my personal stationery brand, created to support mindful, intentional creative living. Its first product is a reflective journal designed specifically for emerging designers — a space to document ideas, track growth, and build clarity through thoughtful prompts, structured templates, and habit-forming creative rituals. In a digital-heavy world, it’s easy for thoughts and inspirations to get lost. SiyArts exists to offer a hands-on, personal way to stay inspired and intentional with design work. The brand is envisioned as an evolving stationery line that blends emotional wellbeing, productivity, and expressive design into everyday creative tools.
- “I start journaling with intention, but it usually turns into a messy brain dump.”
- “Some days it’s structured, other days it’s just sketches and scattered thoughts.”
- “I journal to clear my head, not to make something perfect.”
THE PROBLEM
Designer’s creative process has no real home
Designers today rely on digital tools and scattered physical notes that fail to support the inherently visual, iterative, and non-linear nature of their creative process. This disconnect makes it difficult to organize ideas, track progress, refine concepts, and revisit inspiration effectively. The absence of a structured yet open-ended system results in fragmented workflows, lost sketches, and reduced creative clarity — highlighting the need for a dedicated designer’s journal that combines guided frameworks with creative freedom to enhance both productivity and inspiration.
90%
of surveyed designers said they need plain sheets in their journal — flexibility over rigid structure
76.2%
said they want calendars or planners integrated, tying creative work to time and intention
85.7%
want different sections for different purposes, confirming the need for a modular, multi-mode journal
PRIMARY RESEARCH
100 designers. One survey. A lot of honest answers.
I ran a survey via Google Forms with 100 designers to understand how they use journals in their creative process. The responses revealed what journal formats they prefer, what type of paper they like, and whether they gravitate toward structured or free-flowing pages. A common thread emerged: journaling helps designers stay organized, but most existing products treat them like general consumers — not visual thinkers with non-linear workflows. Another emerging pattern was the desire for digital and physical hybrid journaling experiences alongside traditional notebooks.
24.3% — Taking notes
22.6% — Brainstorming ideas
19.8% — Planning tasks
18.2% — Documenting inspiration
13.7% — Sketching or doodling
32% — Organizing tasks
26.4% — Reflecting on growth
21.2% — Experimenting with designs
20.4% — Tracking project progress
48% — Daily
29% — Weekly
23% — Occasionally
Nearly half of designers want to journal daily, but the right
tool has to meet them there.
HOW WE GOT THERE
A four-stage design process
From defining the audience to delivering final screens, the project moved through concept, planning, visual development, and iteration.
- Surveys with 100 designers
- Competitor analysis
- Identify gaps & opportunities
- Brainstorm features
- Plan page layouts & templates
- Define content flow & structure
- Illustrated, functional pages
- Test layouts for usability
- Refine for creativity & organisation
- Establish SiyArts visual identity
- Finalise logo, colour, tone
- Ready for launch & expansion
THE PRODUCT
Not a sketchbook. Not a planner. A personal design companion.
The journal is designed as a customizable, modular system that adapts to every designer’s unique creative process. Instead of a fixed-format book, it offers a curated set of purpose-designed paper types, mapped to different stages of a designer’s workflow, allowing users to choose the kinds and quantities of sheets they need and build their own personalized journal. A detachable binder-ring mechanism makes it fully flexible: pages can be added, removed, rearranged, or expanded at any time, enabling the journal to grow alongside the user’s evolving practice. This hybrid of structure and freedom provides guided prompts, layout grids, and open creative spaces while preserving spontaneity.
PHYSICAL FEATURES
Pages can be added, removed, or rearranged freely
Illustrated, durable cover featuring the SiyArts character
Each illustrated with a different mood, marking a new design journey
Purpose-designed pages for every stage of the design process
THE THEME — A DESIGNER AND HER CAT
The journal is built around the character of a busy designer and her pet cat — a visual narrative that reflects the emotional ups and downs of a designer’s everyday creative life. Each illustration captures a different mood and mental state that designers commonly experience, from relaxed and inspired to over-caffeinated, frustrated, hyper-focused, and completely burnt out.
Relaxed, inspired, cocktail in hand
Head spinning, deadline looming
Eyes wide, pen flying
In the zone, nothing else exists
Emotional sidekick, always watching
JOURNAL SHEETS — 25 PURPOSE DESIGNED PAGES
Every sheet maps to a real stage of the design process. From brain dumps and mind maps to moodboards, SWOT analysis, persona profiles, market research, ideation sketching, and reflections — the journal covers the full arc of a project from first idea to final outcome.
BRAND SYSTEM
A brand as expressive as the designers it’s made for
SiyArts is a brand rooted in self-expression, creativity, and
emotional connection. The colour palette was intentionally
designed to feel warm, playful, safe, and human — mirroring how
designers think, feel, and create. Rather than sharp corporate
tones, SiyArts uses soft pastels with high emotional warmth,
making the brand feel approachable, personal, and comforting —
like a creative companion, not a tool.
Each colour carries meaning. Pink for emotion and
self-expression. Green for growth and new beginnings. Yellow
for optimism and creativity. Teal for calmness and reflection.
Purple for imagination and individuality.
COLOUR PALETTE
COLOUR READABILITY
FINAL LOGO
TYPOGRAPHY
Display font — headings & brand voice
Milkyway expresses SiyArts’ artistic, personal, and handcrafted feel. Its soft, handwritten style reflects creativity, emotion, and self-expression.
Lora Regular & Medium
Body typeface — clarity and comfort
Lora adds calmness, balance, and a refined literary tone to body text. Together, Milkyway and Lora create a contrast between expression and readability — reinforcing SiyArts as both soulful and functional.
BRAND FOUNDATIONS
Mission, Vision, Values, Tone of Voice
At SiyArts, we bring creativity to life with a fun and thoughtful selection of products designed to inspire, engage, and delight — from playful stationery to learning tools and lifestyle essentials.
To create high-quality, innovative products that spark creativity, wonder, and exploration — building a vibrant community of artists, dreamers, and storytellers connected through shared passion and imagination.
Transparency and trust. Customer-first design. Sustainability and care. And above all, championing play and exploration — creating spaces where creativity runs wild and imagination knows no limits.
Authentic, expressive, and playful. We balance functionality with fun, making creativity approachable — like chatting with a friend who just gets your artistic spirit. Thoughtful and intentional in everything we create.
LOOKING BACK
What building my own brand taught me about design
SiyArts was the first time I designed something entirely for myself
— and that made it the hardest project I’ve worked on.
There’s no client brief to react to. No constraints to push
against. Just your own taste, and the terrifying blank page of
“who are you as a designer?”
The research process grounded me. Talking to 100 designers reminded
me that the feelings I was designing for — the creative chaos, the
burnout, the love of the process — were universal. The journal
wasn’t just a product. It was a mirror.
What I took from SiyArts: building a brand from scratch forces you
to make decisions at every level simultaneously — colour meaning,
type pairing, tone of voice, product function, illustration style.
It taught me how interconnected every design decision is, and how
much a brand can carry when it’s built with genuine intention.
LINKS
Explore the full project
Brand book, research paper, and complete project documentation — all the work behind SiyArts.
OTHER PROJECTS
Check out the other projects
Memo, Stitches, and more — explore the rest of the portfolio.
