I nearly screeched when I found the Emily Ley Simplified Planner: Academic Daily version tucked neatly on a shelf in a local Charlotte paper boutique! The hugely sought after planner is tough to come by online, never to pick it up in your very own hands and walk it over to a cash register.
Things I love:
- The layout is perfect. I definitely subscribe to the simplified theory. If there’s too much going on on a page, it’s easy to lose sight of the important things. This has exactly all that I need.
- The cover. It’s durable and gorgeous.
- The coil. It’s heavy duty but still allows for you to flip the cover all the way back so you’re only looking at one page at a time.
- The new size. I’ve heard a lot about these planners over the last few years, and while people seem to love them, they didn’t seem to love the size. They were huge. The academic daily is the first to release the new portable and more lightweight (more on this later) design. It’s an inch smaller than the original on all sides.
- The dual page monthly calendar layout. I like being able to see my entire month at a glance–but I also like having enough space in the boxes to actually write things.
Things I don’t love:
- Thin Pages. This is a big one. While yes, it does make the planner more light weight, it renders the pages nearly useless. Anything you use to write on these pages will show through. While pens won’t bleed necessarily, the pages are so thin that you can actually see the PRINTING from the next page through it. They’re like…tissue paper thin. This is a huge deal breaker for me, especially for the price point of this sucker.
- No notes. I get that with a daily planner, any additional pages is just going to add to the bulk of the planner (which to be fair, this one is not bulky at all considering it’s a daily), but it would have been nice to have at least a few notes pages.
- Tabs. I love having tabs–but having them attached to tissue thin pages makes me question how long they’ll actually last. All of my planners from years past have had card stock thick pages to separate the months where the tabs were attached.
Over all, I’m left unsure. I haven’t written in it yet because I’m strongly considering trying to either return the planner (I purchased it from a local retailer) or exchanging it for the Day Designer (if the quality of that paper is better). While I am absolutely in love with the idea of this planner, the thin pages is a huge turn off for me.
If the pages were even just a hint thicker, this would be my dream planner. But part of the fun of a planner is using nice, fun pens–and I’d be wary of writing in this with anything other than pencil.
Do you have the academic daily? Have you started writing in it yet? What are your thoughts? Please share below!
That planner is absolutely gorgeous!!! That being said though….thin pages in a high end planner? Not cool. I would have been pissed. Park of the fun of those planners is to use the pretty colored pens and stuff and I am with you on being weary about it.
This looks so fancy- love the box it came in and the cover and coil definitely look durable! The thin pages would bug me too, but everything else looks so nice!
Oh thin pages is a no go for me too! I like to write in colorful thick pens so this would be a problem for me too!
I haven't used a planner since my college days. I'm not sure if I'd use it if I had it. These days so many of my events or birthdays are in facebook. Then facebook reminds me. That's pretty handy. I do love organization and tabs. I would agree with you on the paper. It needs to be sturdy enough for daily abuse. estherdavison@gmail.com
I have this planner, too! I use Staedtler pens to write in mine. They don't bleed through, and even with the thin pages, it doesn't pose a problem coming through. xo
The Simplified Planner actually has come across as just as durable as the EC planners. Maybe even more so because it has the metal coil, not the plastic one. HOWEVER, you know my thoughts on it and the lack of a Notes section really bugged me at first. I do like how the pocket is at the front because I don't forget about stuff in it. With other planners, the pocket has been in the back and that didn't do much for me.
The pages in the Simplified Planner aren't actually that thin. I can see through if I use markers/highlighters but it's not enough to bug me. It seems like the Academic daily pages are thinner. (Just compared SP to EC..because I save my planners…and the pages are the same thickness.)
Yes to all! I love tabs for each month, but the paper has to be thick enough to make it work. I must have a calendar view, but I also like the daily pages for details. I can't stand when ink bleeds (love color coding with sharpies or sharpie pens 🙂 ). It's so tricky to find a great planner. As much as I would love a super fancy one, I found one in Walmart the past two years that has done the trick. It's BlueSky and sometimes I wish the coils were stronger, but it works. And I throw that thing in a lot of bags, so I was happy to get the same one again this year.
These planners are so darn beautiful… but the thin pages would drive me nuts. I pretty much only use colorful markers and pens in my planner, so that would be a huge deal breaker for me too! Hope you can resolve the issue! 🙂
xoxo
Kat
It definitely is a pretty planner! The thin pages would bother me too. So how thick is it? I know you said it's thinner than they used to be but I don't know what that is because I've never seen one. Also, I like the daily idea but also like seeing weekly and monthly. To get what I want would be huge, yet I don't like huge :-p Haha!
I like the layout, but are the weekend pages the same? I mostly use my planner for work so I don't need a separate page for each weekend day. Having to worry about the paper would be annoying – I use everything from a highlighter to a sharpie to any color pen so I need to not worry about my choice in writing utensil or I'll never use the planner!
That sucks so bad that the pages are so thin, that's be a deal breaker for me 🙁 Why would they do that?!
i say return it for sure! the pages would be a deal breaker for me. i just ordered a new plum paper planner 🙂 can't wait to get it!
I have been looking for a good planner so this is super helpful!! i have been checking out etsy mostly 🙂 dang thing pages! it is a super cute planner, though!
xo, Candace | Lovely Little Rants