Depends on what you're going for, and also depends on what you mean when you say which works better: for who? You or the audience?
I like a mix of both. The Playlist runs plenty of themes, as does the Couch Potato, but then anything can crop up in Bitesize. The Psychic one is obviously themed. But then, Urban's is a masterclass in eclectism and it's been around since 1948. Unknown Soldier's is certainly a theme and it's one of the best and most popular journals here.
If your question refers to the audience, I think it's wrong to try to appeal to a specific group unless you're heading in that direction already. If you try to shape your journal to what you think people want, and it's not your own preference, it's likely to fail. Hell, if you try to shape it to what you think they want and it IS your own preference, it may fail anyway. There are no guarantees.
If you mean with respect to yourself, I'd say do what you're most comfortable with, or have a mix of both. As Urban has mentioned, your journal can be a mixture of things: it doesn't have to follow a set format, even if you begin it that way. It's your journal. There are no rules, but if you think you're breaking the format you set for yourself, throw in a quick line that says listen I'm changing things around. Who's going to stop you?
For me, the main thing is passion. Don't write about something you're not really interested in just because you think others want you to, or it's what you think people want to read. I learned that lesson with my defunct jazz journal. Write stuff you like, that you enjoy writing and that doesn't seem like a chore. Once it begins to feel like that, it's time to look at what you're doing, and why.
None of which answers your question but I think there is in fact no catch-all answer. It's up to you to decide what you write about, and how you write it.
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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018
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