18 September 2011

Diary Inserts for 2012 - Part 4 - Filofax Personal

This time we take a look at the Filofax Personal size. Don't forget there are other options which were covered in Parts 1 and 2 of the series. Part 3 covered Filofax own brand A4 and A5 inserts.



Personal Size: This is the size with the most variations in terms of paper colours, layouts and also variations on these layouts that are localised in different countries. This is wonderful, but not all of the Filofax websites have on-line ordering.

Remember that Slimline and Compact use the same size inserts as Personal, but with reduced ring sizes, not all organisers in the Slimline size will take a full 12 month diary insert. 

Day on a Page: In personal size there are only a few designs. The most common one comes in either English only or 5 European languages:


But if you venture beyond the UK site you will find this layout on the Danish site:


Or this one on the German site:


The two pages per day is a fairly standard set up, it doesn't have appointments though, just large blank spaces.

A day on two pages, is similar to the day on one page, although the extra page is used Notes and To/do listings. This insert comes in French/German and English but it is not available on the UK site. But you will find it on the French FF site.  But remember it will be a lot of paper...

One of the most popular formats in Personal size must be Week on Two Pages, because it has the most choices in terms of layout and paper colour (including pink... ok moving on) There are a couple things to note that can catch you out when looking for the right insert in this format.

Look out for the start day of the week. Monday start in white features less space for Saturday and Sunday. Compare this to a similar insert in cotton cream which also starts on Monday, but has equal space for Saturday and Sunday and also has a 'this week' space.

  

Yet if you want something similar to this in white you have to go to a Sunday start to the week. 


There are also 'lined' inserts available in this format:


and in horizontal format too(Do Not Adjust Your Set!):


The French Filofax site has some lined with appointment timings available in white and cotton cream:

The German site also have their own version of this layout in their 'Professional' range:


The Swedish FF site has this week on two page vertical format layout which reminded me of the Quo Vadis Timer 17 format but the FF format has wider columns compared to the QV layout.


Week on one page layouts are similar to their A5 equivalents with pages available in white and cotton cream. There is also a Week on One Page with a Notes page facing too.

The French FF site has a variation on this theme with lined appointment slots on the diary section, but they then slot in Sunday at the bottom of the facing page.

Turning to the Monthly formats, some people like their months to be 'tabbed':


Or in a more traditional calendar format on two pages:

or on a single page:



One set of Monthly inserts that looked very different on the European sites were on the Danish Filofax site. They look like they have proper month tabs that stick out, but it is difficult to tell from the pictures.

Year planners come in a few different formats. But if you are a real long term planner, there is a four year planner, with two years per side:



Coming up in the next part will be Filofax Pocket and Mini sizes.

5 comments:

  1. Steve, thank you for this wonderful post! I'm giddy with all the choices for my personal! But it's midnight here in this part of Canada and I have to get some sleep, so I'll be back tomorrow to give it a good read.

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  2. Oooh! This is great! I like the Swedish layout very much. Has anyone ordered from there? Did it work out OK?

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  3. Steve thanks so much for this excellent post! It's great to see all the variety of diary inserts that Filofax provides.

    But for me it begs the question: why do the English language versions lack variety? Surely the entire English-speaking customer base must be large enough to support variety in the layouts including an English-language vertical columns format, and a timed horizontal like the French format?

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  4. This was very well done. Thank-you. I ordered my personal Malden last week and am excited to get it set up when it comes. I was curious about various layouts.

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  5. I would so love that French layout with week on the left (with appointments) and notes on the right. But in A5. Which they haven't. ARGH! Would be perfect for a project I'm doing. Looks like I'm gonna need to hit the drawing table myself. Sigh ...

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