I’m an aesthetically-minded girly.
I’ll be totally honest in saying that I need things to not only be organized- but look pretty too. I mean, obviously it’s nice to look at. But the bigger, more important reason?
My brain functions better when my environment makes me happy. So naturally, that extends to my devices- including my laptop, phone and more.
Now the truth is that I’ve been sporting an iPhone 11 for the last 5 years… and I’ve wanted a ‘new to me’ upgrade for a while. So when the battery started to go this summer I decided it was time, and I found me a steal of a deal on a mint-condition Iphone 15 Pro for $600 (thanks marketplace).
One thing I didn’t anticipate though (since it’s been years since I had a new phone), was the amount of time it would take to redownload all of my apps, sign into them, and reorganize them so that there are the same way as they’ve been for years.
It took forever. So needless to say, I was super excited when it was all completed- and I happily shared a couple screenshots on both here (Substack) as well as my socials.
Hours later I opened up my phone to see my inbox had blown up with so many of you asking how I made it look like this- and of course, the only reasonable thing to do was to provide you with this guide.
I’ll start by stating that this is for an Iphone set up. I’ve never had an android and I unfortunately have no idea if this can be done on them. This will likely require a bit of research on your end- or, if someone knows for certain, please drop below to the comments and keep us all in the loop!
So let’s dive in, shall we?
The Look:
The above is the current set up of my phone, including the lock screen, home screen, second and third screen. For a clearer picture, you can view any of these diagram sets on Canva HERE.
As you can see from the above, the coloring and organization of my phone is set up to match. Personally, I have my folders organized in a way that the apps I use most for certain things are grouped together- like all of my banking/finance apps in one folder, or all of my fitness apps in their own as well.
I have also left the things I tend to use most often, directly accessible on my home screen, with things that I don’t use as often (or don’t want to see as often) on the second and third screen (like my social media apps).
As a completely unrelated note, something that is also worth mentioning is that to keep with the aesthetic look and to keep my anxiety in check, I also have 99% of my apps turned OFF for notifications.
Meaning, I won’t get the big badge of numbers for anything other than messages, phone, or Whatsapp. Literally everything else remains a mystery to me unless I open the app- which has been a practice of mine that’s worked well for years. But that’s a topic for another time.
Now to get started with your own personal aesthetic look- you’ll first need to start with a background image that your colouring will be based off of. I highly recommend choosing an image (or a set of images) that create an emotional response or sensation for what you wish to feel each time you open your phone.
For me? I’m a big believer on vision boards, and as such, create a new one a few times per year (which is the background of my phone displayed here- and also the same for my laptop).
I created this wallpaper by considering the ‘vibe’ I want for this stage of my life and what I’m calling in ‘more’ of. I chose images that made me feel happy, at peace, excited, in my feminine, etc.
So before choosing the images that YOU personally want for your background, I recommend sitting with the question ‘how do I want to feel when I look at this?’ and also, ‘what is it that I am calling in for my future?’. Let that guide you in the selection of the pictures that you want for your board/background.
For access to the exact collage template I used on Canva, with the photos I’ve also used (originally from Pinterest), see HERE. You’ll be able to make a copy of this and change out the images for anything that you want (or heck, use the exact same one if you want).
Once you have the image you want for your background, you’ll go ahead and save that to your camera roll- and then under your settings in your phone, find and select ‘custom wallpaper’ and choose the image for both your home and lock screen.
The Organization:
After your wallpaper has been chosen and set, the next step to creating a design like this is to get organized. I’ll be walking you through the absolute basics of app moving, so if you already know how to do this- feel free to skip further down below.
STEP ONE → PRESS + HOLD
Take your finger and place it on the home screen, holding it until the apps start to slightly wiggle and you see little ‘-’ signs on every app. This is how you move and organize the apps that you have so that they are set up as you’d like.
You can also ‘hit’ the - sign to remove an app from your screen. It’ll give you the option to just remove the shortcut, or to delete the app entirely from your phone.
Please note that if you choose to delete it, all of the content within that app with also be removed (unless you choose to restore the app and sign back in).
STEP TWO → DRAG + RENAME
While in the ‘edit’ mode, you can then use your finger to grab an app and drag it to a different place on your phone. You can rearrange the entire screen as you’d like- including the main bottom 4x spots (which stay the same no matter what screen you’re viewing).
To group multiple apps in one folder, you’ll drag the app you are currently clicked on and hover it above another app that is similar. You’ll see that when you do this a folder appears, and you can ‘drop’ it into that folder.
Dropped an app where you didn’t want it? No big deal. Just repeat the press and hold steps and reselect the app you want, dragging it to the position you want it.
A little FYI- sometimes apps can bounce around on the screen and make it tricky to group them. If you’re noticing the folder is moving from position to position or screen to screen and you can’t seem to get them together, try moving both the folder and the app you want to add to it, to a different spot on the screen and try again.
I highly recommend organizing your apps in a way that make sense and allow you to function at peak performance. There’s nothing worse than having to search or scroll for long periods of time to get to the apps you want- so organize your work stuff together, your social stuff together, etc.
Lastly for this step, when clicking on a folder, you’ll see a ‘name’ spot appear at the top. Just click into that, delete what is there and rename it how you’d like.
Personally I love to have my apps reflect affirmations or fun little statements, so I’ve chosen to include simple words and emoji’s in my set up. If room permits, you could always name yours things like ‘I am healthy’, ‘money loves me’, etc.
I did this before on my Iphone 11, but since switching to the 15 there doesn’t seem to be as much room for the folder names and was appearing too ‘squished’. So I opted for the shortened words this time!
STEP THREE → EDIT APPS
You might not know this- but every single app in your phone has the ability to display in a larger format! Similar to the press and hold function, when your phone is in this state, you’ll ‘click’ on an app and you’ll see a little menu of options appear.
The little boxes at the top of that menu give you the option to keep the app as small, or enlarge it to a bigger size (like how my calendar is displayed). Play around with this to find a format that you prefer!
The Colour Coding:
Okay… here’s where we get into the good stuff that you actually came for!
Here’s how I get my phone to change the colour of my apps so that it’s not the bright/bold (and sometimes ugly) colour that the app was originally.
STEP FOUR → COLOUR CODE
While you are still in that ‘edit’ stage of the phone, you’ll want to click the ‘edit’ button at the very top of the left side of the screen.
STEP FIVE → SELECT VARIATION
You’ll see a little menu pop up from the bottom that allows you to select default (where you’re currently at), dark, clear or tinted.
Each of these options provides you with the option to change ALL of your apps to match in a very aesthetically pleasing way. You’ll definitely want to play around with these to figure out which colour combination you like the most- and which one displays the best on your background so that you can still clearly see your apps.
This is why it is important to have your apps organized in a way that you know where everything is- because if you can’t ‘see’ the original colour of the app, your brain will need something to reference so that you can find what you’re looking for. Otherwise you’ll just end up super irritated and annoyed! lol.
You can see that based on my background I’ve used ‘tinted’ and ‘light’ as my settings for how I wanted my apps to look.
STEP SIX → CREATE DATE WIDGET
You might have noticed that my ‘date and time’ widget at the top of the screen is not the typical Apple calendar- and you’d be right. This is a specialty widget I downloaded and what I have been using for years.
You’ll want to head over to the app store and download ‘Color Widgets’, if you’d like to create a similar looking clock on your phone. It’s free!
STEP SEVEN → SELECT STYLE
Once the app has downloaded, you’ll open it up and you’ll see that there are a lot of templates that come with the free version of this app. I don’t use a paid one.
Scroll through and find a template that you like for font/shape, OR feel free to click to customize your own.
STEP EIGHT → CUSTOMIZE
Once you’ve selected the template you want, you can fully customize it for color of text, background, and even further change the text.
Personally, I went for a background of an image that matched the vibe/energy of what I was going for- and I kept the text super simple and clean.
You can find an image on Pinterest or other platforms like I did to make this.
Final Details:
Last but not least are those finishing touches to make the phone look and feel exactly as you want it too. I think that how we do one thing is how we do everything- so why not have a fully customized device where everything just feels good to use?
STEP NINE → ADD A NEW WIDGET
We’ve already talked about this indirectly, but let’s talk about adding a secondary widget for apps to display whatever you’d like!
In that main ‘edit’ mode of the phone, you’ll want to click that same button at the top of the screen on the left hand side. Select ‘Add Widget’.
STEP TEN → SEARCH FOR APP
Here’s where the power really lies in your hand. You? You can create LITERALLY anything with this handy-dandy tool.
Ask yourself, what do you want more of in your life? More music? More news? More books? More podcasts? More reminders? More SUBSTACK? I mean, of course lol.
Whatever the answer is- you can create a bigger, larger widget for exactly that thing. Not only can this help with the aesthetic part of your display, but it can also help to put your goals, upcoming podcast episodes, or your favourite music tracks, right there in front of your eyes.
As an easy example, if you look at ‘screen two’ from my display above, you’ll see that I have a larger ‘podcasts’ and ‘notes’ widget. Both of these display things I want to see more often or have them be ‘in my face’. Also not pictured above is my reminder screen- which is the full screen to the left of the home screen- that I’ve set up with larger widgets of my daily reminders like so:
I won’t include instructions for this set up here, but if it’s something you want me to walk you through- let me know!
STEP ELEVEN → CUSTOMIZE (a final time)
After searching for the widget of your choice, you can then scroll through the options for display to select the size that you’d like- moving it around on your screen until you find the position that you’d like it to be in.
And just like that… you’re done like dinner! Congratulations- you now have a fully customized, and beautifully displayed Iphone screen.
I hope that this guide helped you to learn something new, and get one step closer to an aesthetically pleasing life 🤭
Should you have any questions on any of the above that I’ve shared, or want me to go deeper into anything else- I’ll happily share. Just drop below into the comments and let me know what you want/need.
Your aesthetically minded girl,
Brianne xx
P.S. If something I shared today made you think, smile, or feel something deep inside- you can now buy me a tea to help fuel even more early morning creative sessions 💌
About the Author:
Hey there! I’m Brianne, the messy human behind love, sunday. I’m a full-time writer, speaker, and host of the Go Regulate Yourself podcast. Born and raised a small-town Alberta girl, I now spend six months a year travelling the globe in search of a slower, softer way of living.
Here, I write about romanticizing each day, how to become the main character of your life, what living out of a suitcase is teaching me, and all the ways to create a life more magical and delicious than your wildest dreams.
I’m so honoured to have you here in my little corner of the internet- and I hope that my journey inspires you to demand more for your life. Thanks for being here!
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