Creating a Digital Planner: Your behind-the-scenes access
Digital Planning, Let’s start at the beginning...
There are SO many reasons why I love using Digital Planners, and if you know me then you’ll know that I talk about a lot.
To someone who has no idea what I’m talking about, then let me fill you in (and tell you what you’ve been missing out on all this time!). Digital Planners are super easy to use. You don’t have to be a tech-whizz or have any fancy-dancy equipment, just your iPad or tablet will do!
From the moment you take a leap into the world of digital planning, the ease and efficiency will grip you, let alone the fact that you’ll never have to worry about losing your notes ever again! All of your most important plans, notes, and ideas will all be together and ready for you at any time, ready to customize to suit your business and lifestyle.
Plus, you’ll never have to worry about forgetting your planner, or even iPad, as everything is synced and backed up to your phone - bonus! If you want to learn more about what a Digital Planner actually is then my blog Digital Planners: Why You Need Them In Your Life is the perfect place to start!
Digital planner - The creative process
After years of researching, brainstorming, testing, and improving, I have perfected the best steps to follow when creating a digital planner and I’m going to share them with you for the very first time!
Unlike printable planners, the digital planner has a whole new process! Let me walk you through each step...
The Concept:
It’s time to think about who is the planner is for. The more specific you are easy for you to sketch and digitize every page because you have an audience and a target market in mind. It helps you to create a planner solution for your target audience's problem when It comes to finding the one planner they need.
Before anything else, you need to think about who the planner is for. The more specific you are, the easier it will be to sketch and digitize every page because you have your target market in your mind! It will also help you to create a planner solution for your audience as you’ll understand exactly what they do and don’t want in a planner.Type of planner:
Generally, planners come in two varieties: dated and undated. With a digital planner, you can create either style or even create a mix of both! With your target audience in mind, you can begin to think about what you want your planner to include and which type of planner would best suit your desired final product.
Planner style:
The style of your planner can be determined by the way you like to take notes on the Ipad. The top 3 choices are vertical single pages, horizontal double pages, or horizontal single pages! It’s important to put a lot of thought into what you (or your target audience) would prefer - this can really make or break any planner!
If you’re looking for more guidance with the style of your planner, then I suggest that you head over to my Design Your Own Digital Planner course where I break down each planner style and type with examples and templates!Hyperlink map-out strategy:
This part is very crucial in designing your digital planner. It’s important to have a clear idea about the specific aspects of your digital planner. You’ll need to think about;
» The location of your tabs
» The number of tabs you want to include
» Which tab linked to a specific page
» How to make the planner user-friendly to your customersIt is critical to remember that you want to make your digital planning easy to use for your customers. Have them in mind at every stage of the creative process!
This is something that I discuss in depth within my Design Your Own Digital Planner course. Within the course, I share the 5 most popular hyperlink map-out strategies to choose from! You can learn more about that here.
Sketching your planner
Now, this is where the fun really starts - it’s time to unleash your creativity and sketch out every page of your planner. You can download digital planner creation and use the sketch templates to sketch every page. Lacking inspiration? Use Pinterest to kick start your creativity. Remember this is for inspiration and NOT for copying other people's work. You want to stand out and being recognized for your work, your style, and your fabulousness!
Designing your Planner
The sky's the limit! Now that you’ve done a lot of the hard work, you can really get creative to design your planner!
Before anything else, you’ll need to select the program you’ll use to build your planner. Don’t have a clue where to start? You’re not alone! I’ve put together a blog to help you decide which program is best for you. You can check that out here.
You’ll start this process by digitizing every page based on the sketches that you’ve just created. After this, you can organize the pages in the order you want them to be before you add hyperlinks to the pages. Then it’s onto exporting the file and putting it to the test within your note-taking app of choice!
This is where YOU come in!
By now, I’m sure you’re beginning to understand exactly how much work and passion goes into creating a digital planner - but you’re not in this alone! I’m right here to help you through the whole process and I can even teach you EVERYTHING that you’ll need to know about Digital Planner creation! I’m taking a step-by-step guide with examples, templates, and more!
I know this might all sound a little daunting at first, but trust me - there’s no need to worry. I have put lots of resources onto The Pink Ink website to support you with every single aspect of creating your own Digital Planner!
Already feel confident enough to jump on board and create your very own digital planner? Wow - go you! Keep hold of all that excitement and creativity inside of you and head over to the 4 Programs That Make Creating A Digital Planner A Breeze! here
Are you ready to dive into this exciting creative journey? Of course, you are - I am too and I’ll be right there with you along the way. Get the ball rollin’ by signing up here.
