During a buyer meeting last year, we were presented with the opportunity to come up with a unique agenda that made scheduling fun and something people looked forward to. I immediately got to work designing art for each monthly page. I wanted to create a hand painted look to replace the boring monthly pages that feature a simple, geometric pattern and the name of the month typed out in an uninspiring font that the majority of agendas contain.

I began by making a list of the months with a corresponding shape that reminded me of each month.  February obviously had to have hearts, March, four-leaf clovers- you get the gist. I then created templates for each shape and channeled my 5-year old self by cutting each and every one out of plain, white paper. Then, the fun really began. I purchased watercolors and brushes at a local art supply store, and began mixing up colors.

After every single shape was individually painted with its own unique color scheme, I scanned the painted paper straight to my computer. I then clipped out the shapes in Illustrator, and arranged them in my already laid out InDesign document. I had laid out the rest of the pages during my painting breaks (one can only paint for so long before carpal tunnel threatens its existence), and therefore needed only to pop my shapes on to their designated pages. I selected a fun font and color that complimented the color palette of that page, making sure that every page was completely unique of any other. After the inside of the agenda was finished, I designed a couple of sticker pages and a pocket to go in the front. After sending a PowerPoint presentation of my monthly pages, along with cover design options to the buyer, we were ready to begin production!

Here’s just a few of my favorite monthly pages.

Notes Section in Back (I glued actual sprinkles to my donut shapes after painting them.)

Sticker Pages

Final Product

Overall, I think these agendas turned out really cute! They go on sale in stores starting next month so contact me if you’d like to know where you can purchase one.