Who doesn’t like pretty things?
No one – especially when they’re useful.
So it’s no wonder that you’ve probably already seen one of Design Love Planner’s pretty little agendas appear in your Instagram feed.
Specifically keeping business and style in mind, Design Love Planner has quickly risen in the female online community to become the go-to planner of choice and has already officially attracted the attention of one of the most important retail buyers of all: Chapters Indigo.
So what goes into the making of a tool that helps every aspect of a busy young woman’s everyday life?
We sat down with founder Marissa Cristina to find out how Design Love Planner came to be:
What is your career background?
I went into publishing knowing nothing about design and I came out knowing this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. While going to school, I worked as a graphic designer full-time working on advertising and occasional branding projects. I became obsessed with typography and colour and wanted to know everything there was to know about it. Then I discovered bookbinding. My very first planner was hand-bound by me and that is pretty much where it all started.
What made you actually start Design Love Planner?
The Design Love Planner truly came out of a need for a good planner. This is also where my book binding skills came in handy. Once I started using it, people kept asking me to make one for them. Next thing I knew I was making them for all my friends. I started an Etsy Shop to give selling them a try. It worked!
How does Design Love Planner differ from other similar agendas?
Design Love Planner is absolutely nothing like the others. It is based on what I have personally found to be the best method for organizing and planning. Many companies create products based on trends. You can essentially purchase the concept of certain popular agendas at a big box retailer for $6.95 because it is organized in the exact same way. Design Love Planner includes budgeting sections, goal setting pages, note pages, two pockets, two ribbons, a non-scratch lamination, heavier and softer paper stock for comfort of writing, and removable prints every month.
What do the logistics to create a yearly agenda look like?
I went into this thinking I would design a planner in a weekend, send it to my broker and I would have a perfect sample within a month. Six months later – we were still working on making it just right. Finally, after eight months we were able to launch the product.
What is your greatest joy from starting Design Love Planner?
If you told me two years ago that I would be here today – I would not have believed you. I had an opportunity and I went for it full force without looking back. I love all the amazing people I’ve met along the way who have inspired me to do even bigger things, I love how much I have grown as a young woman and how much I’ve learned since I started. I have had a love for stationery and beautiful lifestyle products since I was young and the fact that I now get to design them provides me with the greatest joy.
How has Design Love Planner made a difference in the lives of young professional women who use it?
The planner is dated January 1st, 2015 to December 31st, 2015. All the ladies out there who have a planner have eagerly started using them and we are just beginning to hear about how it’s changing their daily professional lives. So far, so good.
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