Planner decorating with stickers, washi tape, stamps etc. is not or everyone. If you’re one of those people that value functional planning over everything else, it doesn’t mean your planner has to be boring! There are plenty of ways to add a little extra flair to your planner without needing to drop a lot of $$$ on cute planner supplies. Here are some minimalist and functional planner decorating ideas.

Minimalist planning using a black pen

Everyone has a black pen. But instead of just writing in your to do’s, appointments etc, why not add a little extra flair? Here are some simple things you can add to your planner to decorate it while still keeping it functional!

Related post: Favorite black pens for planner addicts

Titles/Headers

For titles such as AM/PM, categorised task lists, events, days of the week, if you’re doing bullet journaling or just for general list making, here are some ideas to add a bit of interest to your titles!

• Draw a banner around the text such as a flag or ribbon
• Dashed, dotted or straight lines lines on either side of the word or letter
• Add a dotted border or rectangle around the text
• Draw a cloud (or spikey cloud) around the text (I also used to do this with my study notes for university)
• Bubble writing
• Underline (or do a double or triple underline)
• Underline by drawing shapes – diamonds, arrows, squares, dashed etc.
• Wavy underline
• Brackets
• Dashed or dotted brackets
• Bracket underline
• Circle around the letter or word
• Double box outline around the word (hollow or shaded in to create a shadow)
• All letters in uppercase

Related post: Favorite black pens for planner addicts

Dividers

If you like to divide sections of your planner into 2 to create more spaces to plan each of your categories, or you want to take a boring piece of paper in your notebook and turn it into a custom weekly planner, here are some things you can do to break up the sections of your page:

• Straight line
• Dashed line
• Dotted line
• Line with dots on the end (or use other shapes such as a hollow circle, hearts, diamonds, squares etc.)
• A mixture of dashed and dotted lines
• Arrows
• Hearts
• Circles
• Diamonds
• Wavy line
• Scallop
• Polka dots
• Chevrons (my personal favorite!)
• Arrow chevrons
• Horizontal stripes
• Diagonal lines
• Vertical stripes
• Stars
• if you’re good at drawings you could draw a sketch
• Flourishes/curly lines
• ‘Timeline’ bar
• Stitched line
• Clouds
• Double line
• Curly bracket
• Curved line
• Repeated words (this is ideal for lists)

Colorful and simple planner decorating

For a more decorative style, here are some options for planner decorating:

• Colored dot stickers (these are my most often used stickers!)

• Washi tape (my favorite is the Doodlebug rainbow brand – it comes in chevrons, polka dots, scallops and solid)

• Mini stickers (such as asterisks and these icons)

• Writing title in rainbow colored text instead of black. My favorite pens for rainbow colorful spreads are the Inkjoy Papermate gel, Staedtler Ball 432 M (tri grip) and the Pilot Frixion Erasable Pens. A lot of the pen collections from cheap shops such as Kmart and the Reject Shop in Australia have really good rainbow packs as well and the pens actually write usually well (note that most of them are usually quite a fine tip).

• Repeated word (great for lists!)

• Multi-colored lines (vertical or horizontal)

• Stitched or solid line

• Rainbow arrow chevrons

• Patterns such as polka dots, chevrons, horizontal stripes, vertical stripes, diagonal stripes

• Shapes such as hearts, stars, squares, diamonds or a combination or each – or use the same shape but alternate between a hollow shape and a colored in shape e.g. a shaded in heart followed by a hollow heart

• Alternate between a shape and a solid or dashed or dotted line e.g. star, dash, star, dash etc.

• Multiple shapes in different colors

• Stamps (the flower ones shown in the image below are the Pilot Frixion Erasable stamps – they come in lots of other icons too! I also really like these MAMBI Happy Planner stamps – they’re self inking so they’re not messy

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Want more planner inspiration:

• Week 4: Minimalistic planning: how to plan your week using a blank notes page and stickers
• Comparison of the 9 most popular print and ship planners
• Planner Dividers with Tabs – Photoshop Template
• Make your own personalised printable recipe binder 
• Which is Cheaper: DIY Printable Planners or Pre-Printed & Assembled Planners?
• How to make use of blank pages in your planner
• 60 Facebook groups for planner addicts