Building the 2026 Planner and Goal Journal
It seems mad to think about 2026 already, but as the 8th month of 2025 is upon us, 2026 is not that far away.
How on earth did that happen?
Weeks spent wishing for summer and longer days filled with sunshine. Then said summer spins by in a flash.
All that in mind I need to get busy creating my 2026 Planner & Goal Journal and thought you might like to peek behind the scenes at a little of the creative process.
First port of call, customer feedback. When I started created the Planner & Goal Journal for the first time back in 2020 it was a selfish personal project. I wanted a well designed and thoughtful diary that could hold all my events and thoughts while also helping me keep my business and personal goals in mind throughout the year.
It needed to look good.
I didn’t want to ship it in from overseas.
AND it needed to keep me accountable.
So with Covid and it’s myriad lock downs putting a dampener on any freelance work at the time I decided to flex my stationery design muscles and create my own Planner & Goal Journal. All that to say, the first iteration was entirely selfish, based only on how I wanted to (or thought I wanted to) use the journal. Over the years, other amazing people have purchased and used my planner too and I want them to continue to love it, so I went hunting for feedback.
Next step implementing said feedback into the design, most of which was based around the internal pages and how useful or not they were. Although as a designer who loves colour and playing with bold graphics, the internal black and white pages aren’t the most visually stimulating for me. I do create the organisational elements and daily planners with the same level of fun as my prints. Also being an organisational nerd I love a bit of the align tool in illustrator (yes I know Indesign should be my go to for creating a book layout but you work with what you have available) and setting up my bleeds and page layouts while making sure the flow is easy to follow for the end user.
Now we get to the fun bit, the colour, the vibrant graphics, THE COVER PRINT. In years gone by I’ve pulled a print from my archives or one I’ve created ‘just because’ that I think will fit. This year though, I wanted to give the process a bit more love. In the same way I would any client project, I started with a mood and colour board.
Full of fun and colour I was excited to jump in, as you know if you’ve read my blog on creating a mini collection this is not a linear process, its a rollercoaster of colour and emotion but we got there, and I’ve narrowed it down to these three options. (Let me know your favourite in the comments).
Once all that is set, the final piece of the puzzle, sourcing the printer.
Now, I know I should start with this, as the printer’s limitations will play a big part in how page spreads and document bleeds work.
But…
I’ve worked with the same fabulous printer since I started creating my planners back in 2020 so it hasn’t been top of my list. I just upload my artwork, send my payment and approve the proof for production.
Things have changed a bit this year though as my lovely printer has been swept into a bigger company. While I’m hoping this won’t change anything when it comes to quality, it has meant forgoing the beautiful gold corners I love adding to my journals.
Which made me question should I review the format all together.
Maybe a hardback bound book with a more slimline feel so it could slip into a bag instead of sitting on a desk?
Ok, let’s go sourcing and see who else could produce it.
A few (*many) hours later.
I haven’t done a super deep dive, but as a small fish (with small order quantities) there isn’t a huge amount of choice when it comes to journal printers based in the UK and prices are fairly comparable. So knowing, or hoping I know, the beautiful quality. I’m going to stick with my go to printer, I might just change up the format (especially as the bulkiness was a comment from some of my lovely planner customers too).
That’s the story so far, a few decisions on format and cover prints to make, then time to launch the 2026 Planner & Goal Journal out into the world in October 2025.