22 Dec 2015

a tour and review of my rifle paper co planner in use

Back in September, I introduced my Rifle Paper Co planner for the latter part of 2015 and the whole of 2016. Today, I want to share how it looks when in use and also do a more thorough review of it.


Cover and Materials

The cover is made of hard cardboard and the cream paper used for the diary inserts feels very thin but actually holds gel pens quite well. There's no showthrough with the Muji gels I've been using in it and the thin paper ensures that isn't too heavy to tote around in your bag.

Even though I've had this for two and a half months' now, the cover design still has me in awe of its beauty every time I use it. The inside cover has space for your name and I've decided to use washi tape here to add some colour.

The page size is A5 but the overall size is slightly wider and just a tiny bit taller than that. In terms of weight, it is definitely lighter than a ring-bound planner but I do still kind of miss the ability to chop and change the pages I carry around with me on a daily basis. That said, I don't miss the weight or the rings that really get in the way when writing!


Yearly and Monthly Pages

The yearly pages are currently used to plan festivals in 2017 (in hindsight, I should probably look up 2016's sometime soon!). Although I live in the UK, I try and stay as close to my cultural roots as possible and there are some Chinese festivals I must celebrate.

Monthly pages are spacious and aren't used as much as my weekly pages but this has always been the case for me. I mainly use them for two things: one - to gain an overview of when my bursary comes in (essential to ensure I have enough to pay for transport to and from placement, and food of course!) and two - to keep track of some health things.


Diary Pages and Lack of Bookmark

There is more than enough space in the weekly pages for my planning. I use the left hand side for what my daily schedule involves and the right hand side for tasks that need doing. My one gripe is that there is no intrinsic bookmark and I've ended up using a Midori brass clip for this purpose. The number '10' is seen above as that was used during October and it was switched to '11' for November, etc.

Occasionally, the spiral rings can get in the way when writing in the pages but it's not quite as bad as when using a ring-bound planner because these rings are smaller.


Extra Storage Space, Note Pages and Address Pages

The extra storage space at the back is perfect for receipts, vouchers and diary stickers and as it is double sided, there's never been that dilemma where I've run out of space for those extra bits and bobs.

There are more than enough note pages for me personally but with only eight sides available for this purpose, some of you may not agree. Furthermore, in the contacts section, there is only enough space for 18 addresses and contact details and again, for many, this won't be enough. But then again, who needs to carry around an address book with them on a daily basis anyway? Ultimately, whether or not you can see past this depends on what how you use your daily planner.

Overall

To conclude, this is one of my favourite diaries ever used and the design definitely contributes to this opinion. I'm a sucker for beautiful stationery and this planner represents that to the T. Add in the high quality paper used for the pages and the thought that has gone into designing a functional, yet aesthetically pleasing planner, it was always going to be a winner for me.

4 comments

  1. it does look pretty. and I think as long as it is useful everyone should own pretty things

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  2. okay let's be honest. your handwriting is just right on goals !!!

    ReplyDelete