DESIGN: the Mark+Fold Planner Pad
In 2016 we developed the first in our series of desktop planner pads.
The Planner Pad was created to fill a gap between scraps of paper and a nice notebook; to cater for a different mode of note-taking that was neither throw-away nor something you'd keep forever.
As a designer, and a naturally organised, pragmatic note-taker, we observed a habit among our team of creating different 'zones' to reflect different types of thinking and working. These would serve as prompts to help you get your day started.
Sometimes when you sit at your desk first thing, coffee in hand, it takes a moment to get your head into gear and start work. It can helpful to have a template to prompt those first tasks
"I tend to start with a list of actions, sometimes grouped into different types of tasks." says our creative director Amy. "I also like to write down some 'headlines' which may be over-arching priorities for the day or week, or maybe a big meeting I have coming up later in the day. Then as the day progresses, I often work on some sums or sketches, which require a different mode altogether. So that's where the grid comes in."
But as with all Mark+Fold designs, the layout is intended to be very neutral and flexible, so it can be used in myriad different ways.
We created a series of different designs and recruited people who wanted to try them out for us and send us feedback. The final design evolved out of this process; it confirmed a few hunches and also raised lots of new thoughts.