I haven’t written in a while.
Between raising a 1 year old, taking care of the house, and managing my own free time and sanity, I somehow found a mental space to ask myself:

“If I were, in this one year away from work, to do something else, something that truly defines me, what would it be?” 

After testing some ideas, none of which moved me in any particular way, I was thinking, one day, that I should order new planners for the year ahead. My favorite company was hosting their annual sale, and I’m a fan of their colorful designs.

So the idea sparked in my mind – what if, I would not buy yet another planner which fits me only 80%, but instead, would design my own, for my particular needs? 

What if I were to decorate it in my own way, using my paintings and lettering?

What if it were more than a weekly organizing tool? 

What if, it could help myself (and others!) to gain a new perspective on life? 

Of course, self doubt was creeping in.

My art isn’t THAT good. I don’t do this for a living.

How would I even design it? I have no experience working in…well, whatever software you use for designing a planner.

Where would I print it?

How would I distribute it?

But then, this idea would not give up. 

Evening after evening, night after night, I found myself thinking more about it, being engaged by it, visualizing how the planner would look like, the impact it could have, how beautiful it would be, and useful at the same time…wouldn’t that be wonderful?

I had always wanted to inspire. This would be such a clear way to do it, one for which I had practiced my whole life until now.

So I had to give it a try. 

I decided that even if I would just print it for myself, it would still be worth it.

I started painting. Testing headers. Testing covers. I found out that I had not one, but more ideas for covers. I found a single element (the hexagon) to repeat and be the “base shape” to work on.

I worked on structures. I thought about multiple templates. I wanted to make it flexible and allow users to make their own. Soon I had to give that idea up, because it would complicate printing immensely. So I decided on those templates that in my view, would be most useful:

- a “LIFE” view based on a COACHING tool
- a yearly view
- a monthly view
- a weekly view 
and then added budget and projects, since I believed these are the most “scary” topics people want to get organized on, but don’t know where to start.

I worked with a designer. We started clumsily, but then we got aligned, and the beautiful insides of the planner came to life.
I approached multiple printing houses.
I met with some entrepreneurs to get ideas.
I read A LOT about starting a business and using crowdfunding. I filled pages with notes and ideas, scratched them out and started again.

I gave the first prototype to print.

It may seem much, but only took a few months, and I cannot tell you the immense joy it brought me when I saw the first planner and notebook.

“This could actually work”, I thought. “People might actually like this. They could use this.”

So I went forward, prepared the planner campaign and started spreading the word.

Now, full of anticipation (and a bit of fear), I am launching the crowdfunding campaign and site for the COLORFUL MIND Planner. 

I cannot say how excited I am that something I made is going out into the world. 
My deepest hope is that it will inspire, bring daily joy and actually be useful to people. 

If you want to see more details, please visit the local crowdfunding campaign (it is in Romanian only, but if you’re interested and cannot access it, approach me directly). It is active from October 16 to November 20, and planners will reach destinations no later than 20 December, just in time for Christmas gift-giving.

Every support matters, whether financial or plain feedback. 

Thank you for visiting <3 , and stay inspired!

Comments

comments