Year in Pixels: what it is and how to track a year one color at a time

Year in Pixels is a tracker where every day of the year gets one square, and you color that square based on the day's mood. Each square is a pixel. When the year is full, the colored grid shows the emotional tone of 365 days at a glance.

It is the most visual form of a mood journal. It needs no writing and no commentary; one color a day is enough. That is why it is often the easiest way back for people who have dropped a long form diary.

The idea belongs to Camille, a French bullet journaler who posts as Passion Carnets. According to her account on the official Bullet Journal site, in December 2015 she asked herself: how many days a year am I really happy, and how many bad days do I have?

To answer it she drew a simple grid: 12 columns for the months and 30 or 31 squares for the days. She chose five colors, warm tones for positive feelings and cold tones for negative ones, and judged each day as a whole, with its emotions, feelings and events, rather than a single moment. The grid spread quickly through the bullet journal community and is now one of the best known mood tracking layouts.

1. 1Draw the grid. On one page, draw 12 columns from January to December and 31 rows. A dotted or squared notebook makes it easier; keep each square at least 5 mm wide.
2. 2Set your key. Choose five moods and five colors, and add a small key at the edge of the page. Keep the same key all year.
3. 3Pick a moment. Every evening at the same time, look at the day as a whole and color one square.
4. 4If you are torn, pick what outweighed the rest. On a mixed day, ask whether the good or the bad weighed more. Splitting a square is tempting but makes the year harder to read.
5. 5Look at the month when it ends. Spend a minute on that month's column. The big moment is the end of the year, but month ends are small rewards.

Five levels are enough for most people: great, good, neutral, low and rough. More colors look detailed at first, but they make each evening's choice harder and blur the year view.

• Order them from warm to cold. Like Camille did, giving good days warm tones and hard days cold tones makes the grid readable without checking the key.
• Avoid colors that are too close. Light green and light blue can blur together on paper, in dim light or in a photo.
• Think about color blindness. If you use red and green side by side, add a small mark to each color: a dot, a line or a symbol. A second cue next to the color means everyone can read the grid.

The grid's real value shows once it starts filling up. After a few months, look for:

• Seasons: do cold tones grow in winter, warm ones in summer?
• Months: which month is brightest, which is heaviest? Exams, big projects and holidays stand out right away.
• Weekdays: do Mondays form a pattern, are weekends brighter?
• Runs: a string of hard days says something different from the odd hard day. A long dark run may be a sign to take a little more care of yourself.

For the research behind this kind of tracking, read our guide to the benefits of journaling.

The joy of paper is real; opening the notebook and coloring a square is a ritual of its own. But if the notebook is not with you that evening, the square stays empty, and as gaps pile up it gets easier to give up on the grid. Your phone is always with you, so an app makes the streak easier to keep. To compare digital options, see our guide to the best way to keep a journal online.

Now. There is no need to wait for January; a grid that starts mid year still becomes a picture of that period by the end of the year. On paper, start with today's square; in an app, tap today's square. What matters is not the start date but coloring another square at the same time tomorrow.

Pixmood is a mood journal built on this idea. You mark your day by tapping one of five moods: Great, Good, Calm, Low or Rough. Each mood has its own color plus a second icon, so the scale works for color blind users too. An entry takes about five seconds, and your days turn into a mosaic in the week and month views.

You can style the mosaic your way: there are eight cell shapes, namely square, cushion, circle, heart, leaf, flower, star and droplet. The Pix and Watercolor themes are free; the Sunset, Memory Orbs, Skies, Snow Globe, Blossom, Ocean, Aurora and Meadow packs come with Pro, and any pack you unlock stays yours even if the subscription ends. Memory Orbs, Skies and Snow Globe are animated glass orb themes. You can create one custom theme on the free version and as many as you like with Pro. You can share your mosaic as a 1:1 or 9:16 card or set it as a wallpaper.

On iPhone there are home screen and lock screen widgets; the large year widget is part of Pro. The Android widget shows the last 30 days as a mini mosaic.

Two limits up front. The year view that shows all 365 days on one screen is part of Pixmood Pro; the week and month views are free. Pixmood also only lets you log today: a missed day stays empty and cannot be filled in later. That is by design; every square is colored on the day, with how you felt at the time.