Crafting Your Own Planner
Do you like organization? Do you have a specific method for how you plan your life? Do today’s planners just not measure up to your particularities? Well then, you’re in good company (maybe it is just us, I am not sure). I bullet journaled for a year, thought that would be my new life, but realized that is not the case due to extreme frustration when I would mess up or the aesthetics were not up to par. This led me down the road of thinking maybe an online “create your own” planner was the way to go. However, that experience led me to believe that planners are ridiculously expensive — and that they are still not laid out to perfection. My online “customized planner” was lacking in layouts as well as font and paper sizes, quite dissatisfying. I was searching for a planner unicorn: easy to rectify mistakes (while being a physical copy not on a screen), not too big not too small (as Goldilocks would put it), a hybrid life and financial planner, and a personal twist.
That was when I realized I had no other choice but to go to town to create my own. It would be a relatively cheap solution (depending on your resources at hand) and reusable year after year with minimal tweaking. If you want to know how I did it — read on. However, be forewarned, this tutorial is meant for you to alter as your little planning heart desires. That is the magic — we are all unique beings and require unique structure to our life.
Materials:
- Refillable journal (my preference was sturdy material in B5 size)
- Vector graphics editor (I opted for Adobe Illustrator)
- Paper cutter
- Three ring hole punch
- Printing service
Instructions:
- Order your refillable journal and make sure you measure out what journal dimensions you need before you start going to town. The measurements should account for a little bit of wiggle room as the three-ring prongs might cause the paper to shift forward. I would suggest 8.5x11 in. maximum, as this makes it easier to work with a printing service. I have linked the one I purchased online — solid material and the perfect size, in my opinion.
- Pick your theme. This is optional, but it makes it easier to distinguish between months and add a little personal flair. I opted for a “sketched flower” look, and each month had a different flower. I also chose to use only black and white to save money in the printing process as well as keep things simple. Other ideas could be — a representative doodle for each month (hearts for February, trees for December, etc.), different main font for each month, specific color for each month, background pattern.
- Head to your vector graphics editor. I am going to speak specifically from the standpoint of Adobe Illustrator right now. Create an artboard for the desired size of your planner. This part was tricky for me. My B5 sized journal was a problematic size for printing — abnormal dimensions lead to printing services only wanted to sell to you in bulk or don’t offer that sizing at all. For this reason, I didn’t want to pay extra for personalized paper size, so I just decided to go with a standard 8.5x11 in. and then later cut the paper down to the actual dimensions. Perhaps 8.5x11 in. is your ideal size, big congrats to you! No need to purchase a paper cutter. So set your artboard to be 8.5x11 in. (612x792 pt.).
- Now for the fun part — creating your planner. Add an artboard for each separate page in your planner. For this, the best workflow I found was to create an Adobe Illustrator (.ai) file for each month separately (plus a separate cover page). This gets easier as the months go on — you can reuse old files. January and the cover page will take the longest. To complement my theme, I did a wreath of wildflowers for the cover around large letters of 2020 (also name and phone). The brush tool is your good friend for creating drawings (if you opt for them). If you are less artistically inclined, you could also supplement with google vector images. The fantastic feature of Illustrator is the ability to warp, resize, and copy all your drawings for easy reproducibility.
5. I would stick to two fonts (one for titles/bolded info and one for smaller details). It helps separate information and to reduce clutter. Start with your cover page — some artistic rendering of the year and personal info. Then add a monthly grid outlook. It is just small calendars for each month of the year so you can quickly reference what day of the week matches with what date for the entire year. This can be one page; you won’t actually write information in these mini calendars.
6. As for centering — this, I learned the hard way. If you are unsatisfied with the 8.5x11 in. option, you will have to center accordingly. The easiest way is to make a stroke only (no fill) rectangular box to the dimensions you are trying to fit (to size to my B5 binder I used size 486x720 pt.). On page one, you will align the box to the top left and center the graphics inside the correctly sized box. Now on page two, you must align to the top right of the page. Do not skip this step, or you will have trouble cutting your paper later! Do this alternating alignment (odds top left and evens top right) for the entire planner. You only have to do one alignment for the cover page, but much more aligning for the 30+ page document for each month. After aligning, you can delete the constructed alignment rectangle.
7. Next is January. This is the outline for the rest of your planner. I like to start with a monthly overview. This includes a vertical layout that has dates 1–30ish, their associate day of the week, holidays/birthdays if applicable, a line with space to add in events, and then a monthly goal/to-do list at the bottom. Then on a new page, I have a money log to outline my finances for each month. This is a physical tracker for my money coming in/out so I can be more aware of my spending.
8. Then I get into a daily layout — each page hosts two full days. I have the day/date, an AM/PM slot with lines for events, a separate to-do tracker, and any again holidays/birthdays at the top is applicable. Go crazy here. This is your world — have it represent you. Some people might opt for a meal log/planner, mood tracker, gratitude list, quote of the day. Make sure the artboards are ordered for the final layout you desire — makes it easier once exporting to a pdf. Also, add in your doodle of choice! This can be placed on each page if you wish, and especially highlighted on the monthly overview page. You can also copy to paste it into the mini calendars on the cover page document.
9. Did you remember to align? Another tip: when designing other months, if there are more/less days in the week, make sure your month still has an even number of pages to fit both front and back. If you are missing a back page, just add a blank artboard to account for the misalignment.
10. Now you have your base! Copy and paste this .ai file to work on February. Rinse and repeat for every month in the year. I like to leave the cover page file open to add your new doodle to the mini calendar overview. Remember that months could have different days and especially days of the week. You will have to add/delete lines from the monthly outline, redo days of the week, add/delete pages from the daily outlines, redo the name of the month, change out the monthly theme picture, add/delete reoccurring events like holidays and birthdays. Again, making sure there is an even number of pages overall (or adding in a blank). The process is easier if you have an old calendar handy. Some months will start on the same day of the week, so it is easier to copy and paste and adjust from there. The further along the faster it will go.
11. Double-check everything — it will save you the money and economic impact of reprinting. Now we export. Export the files to PDF — I used the smallest file size as the output quality (click file -> save as -> pdf dropdown). Separately export each month and the cover page. Now I used Adobe Acrobat’s combine files tool to add all the PDFs into one giant planner PDF. Once drag and dropping all the files into the tool, rearrange to the correct order, combine files, then save as a master PDF. You’ve done it! Now triple check (alignment, dates, month names, the whole lot).
12. Find a printing service. I found Staples document printing worked just fine for my needs. Next select color (black and white is cheaper), double-sided, finished page size (8.5x11in.), the paper type I dig for this project is 32lb Premium White. If you choose three-hole drilled and you changed the centering of your planner, the holes may not align to your planner. Only select this option if you opt for 8.5x11 in. Add in payment and shipping/pick up, there you go.
13. Once you receive the lovely print job, go ahead and hole punch it, centering appropriately. For my B5 size, that meant I had to use my three-prong hole punch and center the paper by having an even overhang on the top and bottom. I found it easiest to cut and hole punch 5–7 pages at a time. Then, use your paper cutter to measure out your pages. The cutting process is just making line marks with a pencil on the corners of your respective dimensions (I traced the plastic insert from the leather journal I ordered). Line up the marks, I cut bottom first and then the side of the planner. Make sure to press firmly down when slicing your paper to avoid tears.
The great thing about making your own planner is not only the customization aspect but being able to use the template or slightly adjust if your lifestyle changes throughout the years. Overall, you shouldn’t have to repay for another binder to hold everything together, so you just have to pay the print costs each year. Before the start of next year, maybe replace some doodles, adjust the days of the week/dates, change out fonts if you are feeling wild, and you are ready to rock and roll! I feel so at peace, knowing my planner is the exact layout and size I need to crush the day, and hopefully, you will too. Happy planning!
