Inside the Studio: How Our 2027 Planner Collection Is Coming to Life

Behind the scenes of designing our 2027 planners, from colours and materials to samples, layouts and everything still to come.

There is a whole side of creating a stationery collection that you rarely see once the finished pieces arrive on a desk.

The samples. The material tests. The colours that look perfect on screen but completely different in your hands. The tiny layout changes that somehow take weeks. The conversations with manufacturers. The products that are almost right, but not quite.

And then there are those little moments when a sample finally arrives and you think, yes, this is exactly what I imagined.

Right now, much of life behind the studio is centred around 2027.

We've been quietly working on our new dated collection for months, and as everything begins to come together, I thought I would take you behind the scenes and share a little of what we've been creating.

Designing around how we actually plan

Whenever I develop a new planner, I keep coming back to one question:

What do we actually need from a planner?

Not how many sections we can squeeze onto a page. Not how complicated we can make a planning system. And definitely not adding something simply because it looks good.

I want our planners to make everyday life feel a little easier.

For me, analogue planning is about taking everything that's floating around in your head and giving it somewhere to go.

Appointments. Deadlines. Ideas. Things you need to remember. Priorities. Plans for next week. That one thing you've been meaning to do for three months.

Once it's on paper, somehow it all feels a little more manageable.

That idea has shaped much of our 2027 Dated Collection.

This year, we’re introducing our Classic Weekly Lifestyle Planner alongside a completely new planner format we’ve never launched before. We’re also expanding our refillable collection with Productivity Planner Inserts and two brand-new insert layouts, giving you even more ways to create a planning system that works beautifully for your everyday life.

Each one is designed around a slightly different way of organising your days.

The best planner is simply the one you will actually use. We took every feedback from you guys.

And then came the colours...

This might be one of my favourite parts of developing a collection.

It is also one of the most time-consuming.

Choosing a colour sounds wonderfully straightforward.

Pick a beautiful shade. Approve it. Done.

I wish.

There have been far too many moments in the studio where I've been staring at two samples that probably look identical to everyone else.

One is slightly too warm.

Another is too grey.

This one needs a little more brown.

That one looked beautiful on screen but completely different in daylight.

And suddenly we're waiting for another sample.

For 2027, I wanted the colour palette to feel calm, timeless and considered, while still giving you enough choice to find something that feels like you.

There are understated tones for those of us who will forever love a beautiful neutral, alongside richer and softer shades that bring a little more personality to your planning space.

Some colours were an immediate yes.

Others went straight back.

And a few were almost perfect, which somehow results in the longest conversations because you know exactly what you want to change, even if that change is incredibly small.

But those tiny differences matter.

A planner isn't something you look at once.

It sits on your desk.

You reach for it in the morning.

You carry it in your bag.

You see it beside your laptop while you're working.

You might use it almost every day for an entire year.

So I don't want to choose colours simply because they happen to be trending at the moment. I want them to feel beautiful long after the excitement of opening your parcel has passed.

Colour is only half the story

Then comes the material.

This is where product development becomes even more tactile.

A planner is something you constantly touch, so the way it feels in your hands matters just as much to me as how it photographs.

We've been looking closely at texture, softness, structure and durability.

I want something that feels beautiful and considered, but not so precious that you're afraid to actually use it.

Because these products are designed for real life.

They should be able to sit on your desk, travel in your bag, be opened hundreds of times and become part of your everyday routine.

I don't want to create stationery that is simply beautiful to photograph.

I want to create stationery that becomes more meaningful because you use it.

Pages filled with handwriting.

Appointments crossed out.

Little notes in the margins.

Plans that changed.

Goals that happened.

Ideas that started as one sentence and became something much bigger.

That is when a planner really becomes yours.

You should see the sample table

At certain points during development, the studio starts to look slightly ridiculous. Samples everywhere, material swatches across the desk, colour references scattered around, and several versions of what probably looks like the exact same thing.

Behind all of this, we work closely with our amazing manufacturers, who help bring each little vision to life and have grown alongside us over the years.

A little fun fact: when we started almost six years ago, we were both relatively new to business. We learned together, experimented together, made plenty of mistakes, and figured things out as we went.

I think there is something quite special about that. As Faye Co Papier has grown, they have grown with us too. We understand each other better, we have refined our processes together, and sometimes they know exactly what I'm trying to create before I've even explained it properly.

Not every sample has been perfect and not every idea has worked the first time, but that's part of creating something from scratch.

Material swatches everywhere.

Paper samples.

Colour references.

Planner prototypes.

Different versions of what appears to be exactly the same shade.

I'll put two samples next to each other, walk away, come back, move them closer to the window, look at them under different light and somehow still be thinking about them several hours later.

Then there are the layouts.

Something can look perfectly balanced on a computer screen and feel completely different once it is printed and you're actually writing on it.

Is there enough space here?

Does this section really need to be there?

Does the page feel too busy?

Would I actually use this every day?

And perhaps my favourite question:

Could we remove something instead of adding something?

I think good planning pages should give your thoughts room to breathe.

Sometimes simplicity takes much longer to design than complexity.

Not every sample makes it

This is another part of product development that doesn't often get talked about.

Sometimes a sample arrives and it just isn't right.

There doesn't necessarily have to be one huge problem.

The paper might not feel quite right.

A colour might be different from what we imagined.

A detail could feel slightly off.

Or we might use the product ourselves for a while and realise that something needs changing.

So it goes back.

We modify it.

We sample again.

And sometimes we decide not to produce it at all.

It can be frustrating, particularly when you've already spent weeks developing something, but I've learned that being willing to say not yet is an important part of creating physical products.

I'd rather delay something than release it simply because we planned to.

While you're thinking about summer, we're thinking about January

One of the strangest parts of running a stationery business is how far ahead you have to live.

By the time you see a collection appear online, we've already been living with it for months.

The initial idea is only the beginning.

Then come layouts, prototypes, samples, revisions, materials, production, photography, packaging, website updates, emails, launch planning and approximately a thousand tiny decisions in between.

New routines.

Fresh pages.

Plans for another year.

And what someone will need when they sit down with their planner on the first Monday of 2027.

There is something I really love about that.

And we're already thinking beyond the 2027 launch...

While our main focus at the moment is bringing the 2027 Dated Collection to life, that isn't quite the end of what we're working on this year.

Behind the scenes, there are already a few other things taking shape.

In November and December, we're planning to introduce a couple of modified products alongside some completely new and rather exciting pieces.

I'm going to keep those details inside the studio for a little longer.

Partly because I love a surprise.

And partly because product development has taught me never to announce something too early.

A product isn't finished simply because the idea exists.

It has to make it through sampling.

It has to feel right.

It has to work.

And ultimately, it has to earn its place in the collection.

But I am very excited about what is coming.

Does this deserve to exist in someone's everyday routine?

Will it actually be used?

Will it make planning easier?

Will someone look forward to reaching for it?

Will it still feel beautiful six months after it arrives?

Those questions matter much more to me than how many products we can release in a year.

Because stationery doesn't have to completely transform your life to be valuable.

Sometimes its role is much quieter.

A blank page gives you somewhere to put everything occupying your mind.

A weekly layout helps you see that Wednesday is already too full.

A handwritten list gives you clarity when your brain feels like it has twenty tabs open.

A planner can simply create a small moment in the day where you sit down, put pen to paper and work out what matters next.

That is what analogue planning means to me.

And it is what we keep coming back to while creating the 2027 collection.

There are still samples scattered around the studio, decisions being made and plenty happening behind the scenes.

But slowly, everything is coming together.

And seeing something that once existed as a little idea become a physical product never really gets old.

A little note before you go...

If you haven't signed up for our 2027 Dated Planner Collection Pre-Order waiting list yet, you can join below.

We are currently aiming to launch the collection in early October, and those on the waiting list will be among the first to hear when the collection is ready, along with little updates as we get closer to launch.

If you're hoping to make 2027 a year of calmer mornings, clearer plans and a little more time away from the screen, I hope you'll find something in this collection that becomes part of your everyday routine.