How to get started with Digital Planning
If you are new to digital planning, this is the right place for you: I know that at the beginning understanding all the types of digital planners and all the tools that you need can be hard, so in this page I’m going to share with you the first steps that you need to take to get started!
Table of contents
Device
Personally, I am using the iPad 7th generation with the apple pencil to also have the handwriting experience. But my suggestion is to start with what you have: if you already have a tablet, you don’t need to buy the latest iPad Pro to start with digital planning!
If you don’t have a device yet, my recommendation is to purchase an iPad with the apple pencil. If you don’t want to buy the pencil, you can still use the keyboard and you can also find a lot of handwriting fonts online.
App
My personal recommendation is Goodnotes (only for Apple users), but there are a lot of other options!
Here are some examples:
- Notability (Apple)
- Noteshelf (Apple and Android)
- Zoomnotes (Apple)
- Xodo (Android)
Digital Planners
Online you can find a huge variety of digital planners: landascape, portrait, light mode, dark mode, etc.
The majority of the planners that you can find online are PDF files with hyperlinks that allow you to “jump” from one page to another easily.
Normally, the planners can be:
- Undated: you have to add the dates* but you can re-use them every year;
- Dated: you can’t re-use them, but you don’t need to add the dates and normally the days in the monthly spread are linked to the daily spread – they can include 12 months, 18 months or even multi years!
There is no “best option”: you choose what is best for you – even considering the sections that you need in a planner.
Some sellers, me included, offer free samples for their planners so that the customers can decide if it fits their style and needs or not.
Where can I find digital planners? I would recommend to start with etsy, since there is a huge variety of options and it’s where the majority of the creators start selling their creations. If you can’t find what you are looking for, you can find a designer with a style that you like and try asking them if they can create a custom planner for you.
Digital Stickers
Just like with physical planning we have physical stickers, with digital planning we have digital stickers. They are PNG files, which means that the images have transparent backgrounds, that you can import in your planner. And the best thing is that once you buy a digital sticker you can re-use it forever!
Besides the PNG files, most sellers also include a Goodnotes file with pre-cropped stickers so that you won’t have to import the stickers everytime you need them: you just have use the lasso tool to select and copy the sticker that you need and then paste it.
If you want to try some stickers for free, you can join the JDS VIP list to access all the freebies from JeyDesignShop!
Handwritten Fonts
If you don’t like you handwriting or you just want your planner to have a cleaner look, you can try handwritten fonts! They look like a handwriting but they’re much cleaner. And if you don’t like typing you can use the scribble function (iPad) that you can activate in Settings > Apple Pencil > Scribble.
If you’d like to try a handwritten font, you can try the JDS Handwriting Fonts from my shop (it comes with regular and bold versions).
I hope that this article was helpful and that you will enjoy your journey to the beautiful world of digital planning!
If you want to ask me anything, you can either leave a comment or contact me on social media.
