Plan-It Day Planners August 2010-August 2011

I'm so excited Plan-It planners now come in the academic-year format! I LOVE the new colors and styles of the covers.

I saw this gorgeous bird cover a couple of months ago on Amazon and had to have it!

I ordered it from Amazon for a great price. (Search Amazon.com for daily student Plan-It day planner)

I emailed Paul Alford, CEO of Plan-It/ Student Media Group to tell him congratulations on his new line of academic-year planners with their beautiful covers.  He emailed me back and offered to send me some of the new planners and asked for my feedback on them.  Thanks so much Paul!!  You know I'm always more than happy to give feedback on planners!  ;)

Paul very generously sent me four planners from the new August 2010-August 2011 line, which you can see in the photo at the top of this post.  You will notice two of them have plastic spiral bindings and two have white wire bindings.  Paul asked which I thought works better and is more aesthetically pleasing.  (The plastic spiral, definitely.  The pages turn easily without catching).

I still can't get over how pretty the covers are!  Here's a view of the back covers:

I got some close-up shots of the cover designs so you could see some of the details.  Here is the beautiful Paisley Bird cover, and close-up:

Here is the Bird Stripe cover, with a close-up.  So pretty!!

The Carolina Stripe cover has a very classy-looking color combination and pattern:

I know that Kaylyn, SMG's Operations Director designed the Paisley Bird covers.  I don't know who the artist was who did the others, but they did a great job!  The art is gorgeous.

Those of you who remember my review of the Plan-It University and 2010 Fashion planners will remember that I loved them, for so many reasons.  There are so many great features!  I'll walk you through the new August 2010-August 2011 planners and explain what it is about them that I like so much.

First let me say this: You know when you're watching an Olympic downhill skier or diver and they make it look so easy? These planners are like that.  They make it look so easy.  But when you start looking through them, everywhere you look there are excellent, highly useful features that exponentially increase the functionality of the planner.

Second, let me say this: so many planners these days are too serious, too boring, not pretty or interesting.  They are so focused on "time management" or "productivity" that they completely lack personality.  What I love about these planners is they have a fun, lighthearted personality AND kick-ass productivity.  Let me show you what I mean.

Inside the front cover there is a 2010 Year At At Glance calendar for easy reference of the entire year.

The first page of the planner has space for your contact info.  Also on this page there are the websites to find Plan-It and Student Media Group on Twitter (twitter.com/planitplanners) and Facebook (facebook.com/studentmediagroup), and the website for Style Hop (www.stylehop.com) where the fun monthly fashion tips came from!

The next page has a 2-page spread for two semesters' worth of your class schedule.  I like timetables like this even for those of us who are not in school ourselves, for writing recurring weekly events for myself and other members of my family, as a handy quick reference when I'm planning each week:

Okay, here come the planner's features that really make it stand out: there are monthly planning calendars with the month across the entire 2-page spread, so there's plenty of room to write in the daily squares:

This monthly calendar is packed with features, you can click on the photo for a larger view to see what I mean.  At the top of the monthly pages are fun fashion tips and trivia.  The calendar itself has the holidays printed in the day spaces, for easy planning around holidays and events. There's a column for Notes at the right side of the page.

The current month and year is clearly printed at the top, and last and next month's calendars are on this month's page for reference too, which is a very handy feature:

Also you will notice that the month is indicated in a colored tab at the edge of the pages, to make it easy to find the month you are looking for when flipping through your book.  The tabs for all the months of the year are arranged down the side of the page:

And here is a feature that's very hard to find: the months are embedded in the weekly section at the beginning of each month! I love this.  You can easily plan from month to month by flipping to the monthly tab.  And, having the months in with the weeks, I've discovered, has a special effect for those of us who are Procrastinators (with a capital P).  Let me explain:

With each month's calendar at the beginning of that month's weekly pages, I am so much more aware of where I am in the month as the weeks progress.  I can easily see, because of the month tabs, as I am approaching the following month.  I no longer have the problem of one month flowing into the next. No more beginning-of-the-month surprises.

This works extremely well for deadline-oriented people.  Students who need to complete assignments on time, writers who have to submit their manuscripts, businesspeople who need to finish their projects--anyone who needs to keep their target date in sight.

The weekly setup works great too.  It looks deceptively simple (click to enlarge photo):

At the top of the weekly pages, the current month and year are clearly indicated.  There is also a planning calendar of the current month, which is very handy.  I like to use a highlighter to mark the current week, to help keep myself on track as the weeks progress.  Also you will notice the monthly tabs at the edges of the pages.  There is a pretty swirl design in the background on the pages, which is a nice touch.

The daily spaces have the holidays printed, which is great, and a large space at the top of each day where you can write that day's priority, deadline, special event, birthday, etc.

Monday through Wednesday are on the left page, each with ten lines.  Thursday through Sunday are on the right page.  Thursday and Friday each have 8 lines, Saturday has 7 lines and Sunday has 5 lines.  This, in my opinion, is very smart.  I usually have the most to do in the first half of the week, and on weekends I tend to do more on Saturday than Sunday.  The result is that the days that need more space have it, and weekend days don't get edged out.

Because the day spaces are lined but not timed, they are very flexible and can be used in many different ways.  If you have a lot of appointments, you can use the left side of the day's space for morning and the right side for afternoon.  Or, you can write appointments on the left side of the day's space and To-Dos on the right.  Or, you can write across the entire space if you want.  There are no constraints.

Inside the back cover of the planner is a year at a glance calendar for all of 2011, and a handy quick-reference page for your Frequent Numbers:

The page size is generous, yet the book is still slim and portable:  each page measures approximately 5 1/4 by 8 1/4 inches.  It will fit into any bookbag easily, and nearly any purse, so that you can take your planer with you everywhere.

The spiral binding allows the book to lay completely flat, and even fold back on itself with no problem.

Plan-It 2010-2011 academic year planners are available now on Amazon.  You can click the links below to go directly to the Amazon pages:

Here is the Paisely Bird cover planner:

2010-2011 Daily Fashion Plan-It Day Planner Organizer Agenda - August to August- Paisley Bird

Here is the beautiful natural-tones Bird Stripe cover:
2010-2011 Daily Fashion Student Day Planner Organizer Agenda August to August- Bird Stripe

 And here is the Carolina Stripe:

2010-2011 Daily Fashion Day Student Planner Organizer Agenda August to August- Carolina Stripe

They also have the purple cover I love so much, in the 2010-2011 version! (this is the cover on my 2010 Plan-It):

2010-2011 Daily Fashion Plan-It Day Student Planner Organizer Agenda August to August- Purple Passion

They also have more cover colors and styles, which you can see all of here:

Search Amazon.com for daily student Plan-It day planner

Plan-It also makes planners for universities, which the university bookstores give to students for free with purchase.  Local businesses advertise directly to students by having their ad printed in the planners, where students will see them every day!  If you are interested in putting an ad for your business into your local university's Plan-It planner, click here for more information.  You can see what these ads look like in the planners in my review of the University planners here.

If you are a university student looking for an internship in sales and marketing, check out Student Media Group's internship program!  Click here for info.

Many thanks again to Paul Alford for sending me these planners!  These are fantastic products from a wonderful company.