Our week-view Diary layout was designed in 2016, in conversation with our customers who told us about what they love (and hate) about the many diaries they had tried before. We wanted to develop the ultimate, user-friendly week-view layout, which would offer a clear picture of the week and help people plan in the most useful and pleasurable way possible.
We were very proud to have our Diary design recognised recently at the International Society of Typographic Designers' Awards. But what matters most is the real people who have been using it, day in day out, some of you for 9 years now and counting! To hear that you look forward to moments at your desk with your Mark+Fold Diary, that it makes planning feel good, is really what it's all about. Many of you tell us that once you tried it there was simply no going back, and that the layout just feels 'right.'
So what is it that makes it so special? We've picked out 10 specific features that make it work so well:
1. Day divided into sections but no pointers
It's useful to have the day sub-divided into sections, so that you can organise your notes in a way that makes most sense to you. For example, if you have pre-work commitments like exercise classes or school drop-offs, you might like to keep these separate from whatever counts as 'work' time. Or if you have a meeting after lunch, it might feel right to write this below the line, to remind you it's an afternoon thing.
However, something we don't do is specify what these different areas are for. We don't tell you what's 'morning, afternoon' or '8am, 9am' etc as everyone's day is different and we want your diary to feel like your own, to customise as you see fit.
It needn't even be to do with time — we have seen customers' diaries divided by theme or activity, to help them remember what's a client meeting and what's a 'to do' item. We also have a customer who is a vicar and uses it to plan his sermons. It's really up to you, we see our job as providing you with a blank canvas that is so neutral and flexible, that it can work for everyone.
2. Space at the top for headlines & birthdays
We are very respectful of your need for writing space, as try to provide as much as possible. We even reduce the size of margins to be much narrower than 'usual' so that you can write on as much of the page as possible, And we've removed all sorts of unnecessary 'clutter' that you might see on other diary layouts.
But one area of 'blank space' we wanted to keep is the area at the top of the page. Some people use this to write in birthdays or 'headline' commitments like travel plans; others prefer to leave it blank.
3. Line weights subtly different for weekends
When we designed the Mark+Fold Diary, we wanted the overall feel to be light and airy, to provide you with a structure on which to hang your plans, but without it feeling over-bearing or like it was getting in your way.
One big part of this is the typography, and we used a typeface called Brown which is a modern take on classics like Gill. It is set in a very open style, with plenty of space and it was chosen as much for its elegant numerals as the letters, given the importance of dates in a diary.
Another key element of the design is the line weights, which had to be clear and helpful, but virtually invisible at the same time. We varied the weights very subtly, so that the page is divided into satisfying boxes ready to hold your plans in place.
We then varied these lines further so that weekends 'feel' different. After all, most of us make different kinds of plans on a Saturday and Sunday. It look a lot of time and fine-tuning to get this balance just right, so that the various line weights work in harmony, and the overall design doesn't become too busy or fussy.
4. Left hand column for lists
Since the page is divided into 8, with 7 days, this of course leaves us with one blank column. By placing this on the left-hand side, at the 'beginning' of the week, it lends itself nicely to weekly to-do lists and top priorities.
Needless to say, it's for you to use as you wish, but many customers tell us they love to fill this space with their 'top 5 things' for the week — a helpfully narrow space to reflect teh fact that you can only manage so many priorities at once!
...(and please do feel free to fill it with doodles if you prefer!)
5. Humpday in the centre-fold
Our Diary is designed around an 8-column grid, with 1 column for each day of the week, plus a blank column for lists, priorities (or a pleasing bit of blank breathing space if you prefer).
We placed Wednesday on the centre-fold, so that it symbolises what has become known as the 'humpday' feeling (once you're past Wednesday, you're into the home straight!). And even if you love your work week, and enjoy Mondays as much as Saturdays, it is always useful to have a clear 'picture of the week' in your head, so that you can visualise what's happening when.
It's all about helping you feel more on top of things.
6. Grid section at the bottom
7. Post its to fit
8. Dot grid pages at the back
9. An underlying grid
10. Year overviews
