I am so excited to be writing this review because that means I finally own a Day Designer! I have wanted a Day Designer for quite some time now - ever since I stumbled upon Whitney English's Instagram account I was absolutely hooked! While I decided to wait out 2015 with my Lilly Pullitzer planner, I couldn't contain my excitement when January 1st arrived.
I have always been and always will be a dedicated planner girl. Throughout my school years, I was lucky enough that my schools would always provide us with planners designed for the classes we were taking. Once college hit, I found myself in a situation where I really needed to decide what kind of planner worked best for my personal organization style. At the time, I still wasn't sure what exactly that organization style was. I've tried planners of all sizes and styles - small half-page ones to big week by week planners - but so far, none of them have fit my lifestyle as well as the Day Designer has.
How I use my Day Designer:
In order to let you figure out for yourself whether the Day Designer would be a good fit for your needs, I figured I needed to give you a little taste of what my organization style is like and how I use my Day Designer! I have about a million and a half goals and to-do's running around my head at all times so I like to get them all down somewhere. For me, that's on a digital platform called Trello, which I mentioned in this blog post from earlier this month). In order to really figure out how to tackle all of these to-do's, however, I like to have a written spot where I can see the days of the week and can transfer down the specific tasks I plan to tackle off of my master list. I'm also the type of person that gets a ton of satisfaction from seeing all of my accomplishments laid out in front of me so seeing what I've accomplished on a physical page motivates me to continue working towards my goals.
Style:
The Day Designer styles were really what drew me to the collection in the first place. My personal style is a mix of bright colors and more classic combinations so I love that the Day Designer collection is exactly that! There are classic designs like striped and dotted planners as well as more colorful whimsical ones. The classic Day Designers all include hard front and back covers that are reinforced with pretty gold corners. I appreciated the corners a ton because I tend to toss my planners around in my bags and I know that they can get really raggedy when not reinforced!
Price:
Their standard Flagship Day Designer is $59 while the mini runs at about $49, however, Day Designer also has separate lines of planners with Target, Blue Sky, and Belle & Blush that may have different price points. While the price of a Day Designer is quite a bit steeper than you might pay for a basic planner at your local bookstore, I truly feel that the value the Day Designer delivers is worth the price you pay. Their planners are so adorable and a lot of thought is put into the design of a Day Designer so as to make users as productive as possible!
Size:
The website lists the standard Day Designer as 9" x 9.75". This is also quite a bit larger than a standard planner. Since there's a page for every day, the Day Designer ends up being much thicker than other weekly planners. While it can be a little big to carry around, if you're like me and carry a tote + laptop to and from work every day, it's really not too much of an added burden. Plus, a planner that has a page dedicated to every day is bound to be thicker.
A weekend dual page
Page Design:
First, I want to start off by noting that the Day Designer really is more than just a planner. It also has a handful of great goal setting pages in the beginning that help set you up for achievement before you even begin using your planner! While I didn't use every worksheet among the goal setting pages, I do feel that the pages helped me organize my goals into more specific, measurable tasks.
The classic Day Designer has a monthly page for every month as well as a daily page for every day. The daily page has boxes for a schedule, daily to-do's, and your top three tasks. It also has convenient spots for due dates, dinner meal plans, and a gratitude box. I absolutely love this design because I love writing all of my to-do's down and the Day Designer provides a spot for me to do just that! Many of the planners I've tried in the past don't have enough spaces for the sheer number of things I want to write down so the Day Designer's long to-do's checklist works perfectly for my habits.
My only complaint is that I wish the weekend pages weren't one combined page! Day Designer has both Saturday and Sunday combined into one page - cutting the amount of space that's dedicated to each of these days in half. As someone who does most of my creative and household work on the weekends, I would love to see a Day Designer that has the same amount if not even more space dedicated to weekends!
Overall Verdict:
Overall, I am in love with my Day Designer! Ever since I stumbled upon it, I knew that I wanted one and it has not disappointed! It has really helped me feel more productive and in control of my everyday tasks and to-do's. This planner girl is officially obsessed!
Do you have a Day Designer? I'd love to hear about your experiences as well!
