Custom Planners: Building my Empire
Per usual, I was happily filling out my Papier planner and using it to it’s fullest extent, as it had cost me an arm and a leg. To my despair, I realized I was approaching the end of its pages… only a few months into the year. Up a creek without a planner, I talked myself down from panic with a very logical, mature, and measured perspective. Even with the price tag and quality, I had at least two other planner/journals on hand at all times that served other purposes- reading log, meal planning, diary etc. I conceded that my short-lived designer planner wasn’t cutting it, even though it’s the sexiest one I’ve had yet. With only one arm and one leg, I decided having one planner to serve all my needs was something worth finding. And spending a genuinely crazy amount of money on Papier was not the answer.
You’re getting the sneak peek- as my favored few readers. If any of you steal this for profit, just know the FBI is already on your tail.
I’d like to thank Canva, my inane pickiness, and those grueling months of graphic design work in college for getting me to this point. To start, I spread all my planners and journals out in front of me, even pulling some from the archives, and noted all of my favorite features of each.
What I was looking to cover was:
-Long Term Goal Tracking
-Meal Planning and Shopping Lists
-Weekly Schedule
-Daily Habit Trackin
-Period Cycle
-Weekly ToDos
-Daily Schedule
-Daily ToDos
-Reading Tracker (pages per day, books and ratings etc.)
-Weekly Gratitude Journal
You might think- Inés, please! You ask too much of a measly journal, they’re supposed to be half-usable!
To that I say, behold!
I have achieved my checklist AND managed to sneak some inspirational quotes in (not pictured). Once I finalized my layout and features, I shipped the design (metaphorically, as this is all digital) to Lulu.com and I received a BEAUTIFUL hard copy of my book within just a few agonizing weeks of waiting and for just $15 cold, hard cash.
Here, I’ve shared a few pages, in no particular order.
The design process inspired me to consider other ways that such custom designs could come in handy for someone. I’m sure there are so many people out there who purchase or are given planners relevant to their interests who end up only using the one or two sections that they most like. For example, I was given an incredible reading journal, but only used the daily tracker and the list to rate books- out of probably 5 or 6 other features! So most of the book went to waste, but I was lugging it around with me all the time anyway, for just the two features I loved.
So for those of you with special interests, maybe you “work out,” manage social media, have homework/assignments, have a job that requires specific checklists…. Sky’s the limit. There are customizations that can help you stay organized with anything! I’m happy to try putting layouts together to suit different needs. If you (or anyone you know) are a journal freak like myself, I’d love a chance to create something that could help. I don’t think anything is more satisfying than a well-designed planner, and I think I can keep getting better and better. I can’t wait for Custom Planner 2.0!