How to Develop Your Unique Planning Philosophy
Here’s the beauty and the challenge when it comes to the world of planner design:
No idea is truly “brand new.”
Every idea is born of an iterative process, something that began as a flicker of an idea, maybe inspired by something we saw or heard or experienced, and then it gradually evolves to take on a unique life of its own — in large part, influenced by our own personal stances and experiences.
So how do you take this process and apply it to your custom planner design?
Below, I’m sharing three steps you need to keep in mind in order to build your own unique planning philosophy for your custom planner design.
Why this is important
A quick note on the importance of crafting your own unique planning philosophy:
We uphold a strong belief here at Copper Bottom Design Co. that each planner we work with should be completely unique and personal to the author and mastermind behind the planner. It’s our job as designers to pull out your unique approach and bring it to life through your planner design.
More to come this month on our view behind ethical design, but for now, know this: you have a unique planning philosophy already because YOU are unique.
Your goal should be to intentionally create a product that not only serves your audience well, first and foremost, but also stands out by putting your personal spin on the product experience.
And that’s something completely unique to you.
How to Develop Your Own Planning Philosophy
Step 01: Make notes about what you know
If you’re designing a custom planner, chances are you’ve had your experience with a variety of planning tools already.
Rather than ignore these and start *completely* from scratch, a good strategy is to start by taking notes of your personal experiences using planners with your ideal customer in mind first and foremost.
Keep it simple. Open a new doc in Google Docs or your Notes app, and start listing out features and planning styles that would serve your audience well and those you’ve experienced that wouldn’t be as relevant or helpful.
Make note of any specifics that you would consider essential to your custom planner.
This bit of research gives you a great foundation to start building out your unique planning philosophy.
Step 02: Determine the main structure of your unique planning philosophy
This is what will truly set your planner apart.
But it can also be the hardest to uncover at first.
To get those wheels turning, here are a few questions to ask yourself:
How does my ideal customer operate on a daily basis?
What driving factors affect their day, productivity, stress, and happiness?
What hurdles do they need to overcome?
How does their mind process information?
Why do they need this planner in the first place?
What does a positive planning experience look like for them?
What can they not operate WITHOUT on a regular basis?
This list is here to get ideas flowing when developing your unique philosophy. And as you’re answering these questions, you may have a LOT of ideas that come to mind — that’s ok. Write them all down.
But before you finalize your unique planning philosophy, keep this in mind: simpler is better.
The more complex your planning system is, the more difficult it’ll be to explain to your audience. Complicated ideas are harder to understand and harder to sell.
Simplify your system while keeping it highly valuable and impactful for a winning product design they’ll love.
Step 03: Incorporate any additional features that are essential to your ideal customer
What else does your ideal customer need to have access to through their planner?
For avid planner users, their planner is almost an extension of themselves, holding details, schedules, plans, and notes they’ll access every single day.
That said, it’s also easy to go overboard here. There are SO many features you can certainly work into your planner (here’s a roundup we did of brilliant planner additions to get some momentum going!).
But the truth is, the more features you add to your custom planner, the more overwhelming it can be for your customers to use.
To keep the overwhelm at a minimum, we recommend no more than 2-3 special features that are in line with your planning philosophy and actively support your ideal customers.
Bonus step: Test it out!
Never ever take an idea fully to production before officially testing it out for yourself.
If you have to print out copies of your self-designed pages and tape them in an existing notebook for a week, make it happen. It’s vital that your planner is just as functional as it is beautiful and thoughtful, and the only way to ensure this is to take it for a test spin.
Wait! Before you officially round out that planning philosophy and finalize the details, don’t forget to include these five things . . .
if you want your planner to really SELL.
Grab the guide at the link below: