Passion Planner Review

Introduction

After a dissatisfying start with the Shinola Runwell Planner, I decided to get the Passion Planner. (Actually, my friend bought it for me!) I have been using it since I got it on the 11th of February and, so far, I am happy with it. I won’t do a set-up post for this planner until I’ve had a little while longer to get comfortable with it. If you want to learn more about the Passion Planner layout, you can check out their Full PDF. For this review, I will be focusing on the design of the notebook and the writing experience, as usual. In addition, I will also add a section about the pro’s and con’s of the planner for me.

Design

The Passion Planner is a Moleskine-esque notebook with a softcover leatherette outer, a black elastic band to keep it closed, a lime green bookmark ribbon (love it!), and a satin expandable backpocket. The paper inside is a nice, thick 100gsm stock and 100% recycled. The ‘Passion Planner’ logo is embossed on the front of the planner.

Construction-wise, the Passion Planner isn’t quite as polished as most planners I’ve encountered. At the top of my planner, you can see fabric from the binding sticking out. The pages are printed in a greyscale that is perfectly sharp, but not very opaque. I usually wounldn’t consider this an issue but for some strange reason, the pages look cheaper because of it. Perhaps, I’m just not used to the grey-tone of the paper. This might be similar to the tone of the Whitelines paper, but I don’t have any to compare. Either way, these “flaws” are not really flaws and I don’t doubt this planner will last me a while.

Writing

The paper in this planner is absolutely wonderful and is definitely fountain-pen-friendly. I find it really similar to the paper in my Levenger 5-Year Journal and I also love that one. It is thick and smooth, yet doesn’t have prohibitively long drying times. I do get smudges from time to time, but that is only when there is an excess of ink or when I touch it the second after I write. There is little to no feathering, bleedthrough or showthrough unless you’re using a really saturated ink or a really wet writer. On top of all that, this paper is 100% recycled. If you are determined to use fountain pens in your planner, you don’t need to hesitate about buying a Passion Planner.

Planner Layout

Like I said before, the Passion Planner is very structured, so if you prefer your planners more bare, I wouldn’t recommend it. That being said, it is really customizable to your own needs and the more I use it, the more I find ways to customize it to my own needs.

Here is list of things I like about the layout:

1. 6am-11pm Appointment Layout in the Weekly pages
2. “Good Things That Happened” Section
3. Weekly Quote/Challenge
4. Monthly, Weekly, and Daily “Focus” Boxes
5. Monthly Reflections
6. Blank & Graph paper
7. The many “Spaces of Infinite Possibility”
8. The Passion Plan guide

From a pure planning perspective, I love the Passion Planner. The year-at-glance, 2-page monthly layout, and the appointment calendar is exactly what I wanted and I love that there is always blank space to take notes. I am still getting used to the Passion Planning element, but it’s definitely growing on me.

Conclusion:

I still feel a little disoriented because I didn’t use this from the beginning of the year. However, I am slowly getting used to the Passion Planning aspect of this planner and the planning section is in my ideal layout. While all the sections can be a little overwhelming, I am finding them fun to fill out.

Though it isn’t perfecct, the quality of this notebook is still impressive. It is solid in all the areas that are most used, which includes the cover, the paper, the elastic band, and the ribbon. The only thing I would’ve preferred is a whiter paper stock. Overall, I am pretty optimistic about this planner and I recommend it for those that want a structured and goal-oriented planner. You can find it a the Passion Planner website for $24.99. I hope this was helpful!