I’m still on the lookout for my perfect planner solution for 2020, and I’m sure some of you other planner perfectionists are, too. Since I’ve had such a hard time finding my planner peace, I decided to give digital planning a try. It’s never really worked for me in the past, but none of my past solutions has been working particularly well this year either, so it was worth giving it a shot.
The digital planning solution I found is called Artful Agenda, a subscription app-and-website combo that promises to combine everything you love about digital planning with the beauty of paper planning. I’m on a mission to simplify my life — could Artful Agenda be just the program to do that?
Well, the short version is no… but that doesn’t mean it won’t be a good solution for you. Read on to learn about what I loved (and didn’t love!) about Artful Agenda.
What I Loved:
Artful Agenda is beautiful.
This is the ONLY digital planner solution that I’ve found that is as aesthetically pleasing as a paper planner. Multiple layout views mimic what I would find in a paper planner, and you can even adjust your calendar colors so that they are more in line with your aesthetics. (Is it just me or does Google Calendar’s color picker leave a LOT of great colors out?) You even get a few tabs to flip from one view to another.
Motivational quotes.
I’ve used a lot of planners where I didn’t really love the layout, but I loved one of the “something extras” that they put into the layouts. Motivational quotes are a big one for me. Some of my favorite old planners had motivational quotes on either the monthly, the weekly, or the daily pages. Artful Agenda has them in all three spots! Sometimes these spots lag a little bit but that’s minor. Sadly, they don’t show up on the mobile app.
(Reasonably) customizable.
You can change some labels (specifically, “custom list”). This allows you to add one label of your own choosing, which will appear over a checklist section on the daily page. This list does not auto-migrate (I was hoping it would!) but the heading for this section does. I tried to use this as a journal section and it didn’t work out well because it auto-formats as a list… which made it a pain in the ass to then remove the “journal entry” (the text doesn’t automatically wrap around, and the delete button appears at the end of the line).
You can make lists.
These lists can probably function as journal entries if you want to use them as such (although I haven’t checked to see if there’s a limit to how many “lists” you can have, and you can’t change the section title — they’re called lists no matter how you use them). I actually used the list view to create a list of pros and cons that would eventually turn into this blog post. 🙂 I love that I can change from my list page to my actual planner pages and, when I flip back, I’m still in the same list — I do have more than one but I have to manually click out of the one I’m in to pick a new one. I can also see how that might be inconvenient for someone who wants to use the lists pages as diary pages.
Cute “cover” options.
Most are floral and highly feminine, which isn’t really my jam, but if that’s something you’re into you’re going to love it. I do wish there were more options, especially more that weren’t so girly, but it’s nice that they offer the feature in the first place. An easy workaround would be to allow you to upload your own cover; I would love this feature even if the built-in cover options went away. When I was researching, I also learned that there are a few covers you can “unlock” with referrals, but as of this blog post, I haven’t verified this personally.
“Handwriting” choices.
Again, there aren’t many choices, but just the fact that there ARE choices is nice. I would love if we could upload our own fonts, although I understand the programming on that would be a lot to ask for at this price point.
Syncs with the top 3 digital calendar services.
(For those not in the know, that would be Google Calendar, iCal, and Outlook.) It also syncs automatically and saves everything (I think!) so that you can effortlessly move from your laptop to your phone or tablet, then back again. Unfortunately, that syncing means that you must be online constantly to use Artful Agenda — there is no offline mode.
Clean interface.
For those who are functional planners, the fact that the design is intuitive and well-labeled is nice. I’d like to be able to refine the layout a little more for my own choosing, but I do understand that at that point I might as well learn how to code and do my own. 🙃
There are stickers!
I actually (briefly) used Trello as a digital planner (which was incredibly inefficient for the way I plan) just because of the ability to use stickers. That being said… there aren’t many stickers available for Artful Agenda, and their use isn’t totally intuitive. I’m bummed that I can’t sticker my lists pages because realistically, that’s where I would use the most stickers. Also, some stickers are premium, which blows because of course the first one I wanted to actually use cost $1. Boo. Emojis, however, are free (on the mobile app and with the Google Chrome extension — not through the planner itself), and that’s something I can’t do in my paper planner.
There’s a two-week free trial.
They ask for your credit/debit card information when you sign up for the trial, but mine lagged out and got an error and it still let me start the trial anyway. I haven’t yet added my debit card back in or found a way to cancel the trial aside from picking a plan from the signup page.
What I Didn’t Love:
Not very customizable.
One of my favorite things about paper planners is that you can choose the page layout that works best for you (even if the planner company doesn’t offer multiple page types, you have the option of buying a different paper planner instead). With Artful Agenda, there’s one layout for each view, and just because you like it in the browser version doesn’t mean you’ll like the same view on the mobile version, I’ve found. I wish the layouts were at least consistent from one to the other, even if I don’t get to choose what the layout is. Hopefully the tablet version will improve this.
Font choices are not great.
Some of the fonts are practically unreadable unless you turn up the size so much that it’s no longer aesthetically pleasing (to me). I understand that this is a personal issue (both aesthetics and readability) and also acknowledge that I should be wearing my glasses when I’m on my computer. Still, it would be nice if there was a better workaround. Update: Can see the fonts better when I wear my glasses. Sigh.
SO MUCH LAG.
It doesn’t hit me as hard on the computer, but on my phone, the app can get practically unusable. Specific instance: When I was trying to do type my notes on mobile, the app lagged out and it ended up adding “listlists” when I typed “lists.” Honestly, if adding stuff on the go is going to piss me off, I’m probably not going to do it. Also, I’ve started to find that not all my changes to my lists are being saved when I switch pages on my laptop; I acknowledge that I switched pages a lot for the purpose of this review, but I’m nervous about what notes I may have lost entirely (and can’t remember already).
Discount price = $4/month or $35/year.
This is more expensive than I typically spend on paper planners (although to be fair I rarely use the whole thing for a full year, so if I paid for and stuck with this exclusively for an entire year it would be cheaper). Also, the paper planner I’m currently drooling over costs about twice this much, so I can’t really complain too much.
Mobile setup leaves a lot to be desired.
It’s not realistic for me to carry my computer around everywhere (not to mention I’m not the type of person who WOULD lug my computer with me everywhere). And, quite frankly, I’m just not impressed with the mobile app version of Artful Agenda. This is a personal issue, of course, but one worth noting.
If you’re the sort of person who really only uses their paper planner at home, and only infrequently needs to add things on the go, this is probably no issue for you. Likewise, if you’re the type of person who already carries your computer with you everywhere, this would be great because the browser version is gorgeous.
Default view can’t be changed.
Or at least I can’t find how to change it. For those of us who use the “monthly” view infrequently, we’re going to do a lot of clicking-out just to see the stuff you actually DO use. This is a minor complaint, since with paper and digital I tend to flip between views a lot anyway; I already can’t tell you which view I use the most between day, week, and lists. I just so happen to not use the default very frequently at all. I guess that’ll change if I start using this digital planner more, though.
The handwriting font isn’t consistent through all sections.
The calendar section uses a standard, unchangeable font, which sort of clashes with the font I’ve chosen to mimic handwriting. This, also, is a personal issue; the font used for the calendar DOES match with the font used for labels, and I could just use that same default font for the “handwritten” areas… but if I’m going to mimic the look of a paper planner, I don’t want it to look so “digital.”
No widgets.
I use calendar widgets way more often than I use digital calendars, so any digital calendar that doesn’t offer one is hard for me to pull the trigger on, especially at this price point. I found myself putting the app next to a nearly-full-page schedule widget just so I can actually see what’s on it… and the app with the schedule widget is free and came pre-installed on my phone. If there was a way to have this beautifully-designed calendar widget-ed onto my screen, I would be all over it, but there isn’t one currently.
Overall:
I could see the benefit in being able to set Artful Agenda as your browser’s homepage if you love the look of paper planning but the feel of digital. Even though I don’t know how to change the default view, it really is only a click to get to your day, your week, or your lists — not really that big of a deal. I also know that many planners use their monthly view way more often than I do, so I’m probably not even in the majority here.
If you’re looking for a digital planner to take with you on your phone or tablet, I’d hold out. The current mobile version is incredibly disappointing when compared to the browser version, and it’s inefficient to use the browser version on a phone or tablet. (If you’ve got faster internet than I do, this may be different for you.) The Artful Agenda team has teased the release of a tablet-specific app, too, but as of today that version isn’t released. If it comes out before my trail expires, I’ll update this review.
As it stands right now, I can’t picture myself paying for Artful Agenda. It has a lot of promise for converting someone who plans 100%-paper to a digital planner, or for converting a 100%-digital person to more customized planning, but for me it just doesn’t replace enough of what I love about paper or digital. There are definitely some things that are done very well, but the things I like most about it are done equally well by just a few (free) apps. If you’re trying to downsize your app collection anyway, and don’t mind learning an all-new system that isn’t particularly adaptable, Artful Agenda might be a good solution for you.
Still want to give it a try? Head on over to the Artful Agenda website. Don’t forget to use my referral code RB55004!
