This is the Daycraft Animaland Diary. There are eight different designs you can select from, and this one is called the Baboon, in pink. As you can see, the art is playful, if not odd and whimsical.
On opening the planner, there is a sticker page to supplement action items or, if you want to be more random, you can just stick them all over to add some character to the pages of the book.
As I've seen in other Daycraft products, this planner, or diary as it is called, has pages with all sorts of useful information: a nutrition guide, international holidays and country information, measuring conversions, gift ideas, and an expense tracker.
With hectic schedules, it's nice when a planner can give you ideas of what to buy for special events like an anniversary or a wedding. Depending on what you're looking for in a planner, this might not be helpful, but it's there if you need it, and as far as I'm concerned, a planner that can help you grapple with day to day obligations by providing a little extra is always desirable.
Dr. Suess-esque trees? Sure. A fox/dog/creature thing with a beard? Why not? This type of art may be a playfully delightful for some, while being a gaudy turn-off for others. Daycraft makes planners to suit nearly every taste, so at least you know you can get something like this spunky is your preference.
And the silly drawings continue. How can one be stressed about that next appointment or To-Do item when chickens are hatching on the page with thoughts of ice cream and television?!? It doesn't make sense, but I think that is exactly the point - take your mind off of the daily grind with something a bit different.
The Animaland Diary has a pink page marker, which is great if you don't like to fold page corners down to mark your place. The format is week-at-a-glance, and I think there is ample space for the primary obligations in one's day, but you might have to write a bit smaller if your daily action-item list is packed to the brim.
I think most planners tend to start on a Sunday for the week-at-a-glance format, but the Daycraft Animaland Diary starts with Monday, so keep that in mind if you like one option over the other.
You can see that the artwork underneath is visible through the page, so I recommend using a ballpoint or pencil. I've tried using liquid ink and gel pens on this type of Daycraft paper before, and the showthrough was significant, but at least the ink did not bleedthrough. I'd say that a fine ballpoint would be the best choice for this type of paper.
The Animaland Diary also includes a Forward Planner so you can make note of the important dates that will go into your next planner. My modus operandi has always been that one cannot plan too far ahead, so I find this feature to be quite useful.
The back of the diary also has perforated memo sections so you can remove information without damaging the binding, which I have done in a number of my notebooks. I wish more notebooks had perforated pages in the back for all of your removable information - phone numbers, web addresses, etc., so I appreciate that Daycraft took this convenience into consideration.
Additional information about this Daycraft Animaland Diary (from the page site):
No. of pages:216 pages, week-to-viewCover material:Laminated pearl paperContent:‐ 71‐week planner (From 27th August 2012 to 5th January 2014)
‐ International holidays
‐ Gift ideas
‐ Nutrition labelling information
‐ Perforated memo
While there is no U.S. distributor for Daycraft, you can purchase this directly from the site, and the price includes free worldwide shipping. The price, as of today, is $119 Hong Kong dollars, or $15.34 U.S.
Stay tuned, because this Daycraft Animaland Diary will be part of an upcoming giveaway. Many thanks to Foreal Lee, at Daycraft, for sending this over for review!