If you haven’t heard of the Slice Planner, it’s a paper planner and an app. You plan on paper using a unique clock face layout, then take a photo with the app and it adds everything to your digital calendar!
Disclaimer: Evo Paper, the creators of the Slice Planner, reached out to me. They sent me a copy of the planner for free in exchange for this review. Coincidentally, I’d discovered the planner a few weeks earlier and was going to purchase it anyway. As always, all opinions are my own.
The Slice Planner
Quick facts
- Size: 5.5″ wide x 8″ high
- Bookbound / sewn bound
- Unique daily planning layout – clock face on 1 side and dot grid paper on the other page (i.e. up to 2 planning pages per day)
- Undated – can start planning anytime
- 2 Built in bookmarks
- Time block in 15 minute increments
Image courtesy of Slice Planner
2017 & 2018 Dates at a Glance
Apart from the dates at a glance for 2017 and 2018, the rest of the planner is undated.
Monthly Calendar
I really dislike this monthly calendar as Saturdays and Sunday’s are combined.
This planner seems to be geared more towards professionals that have meetings etc. wanting to use this as a work planner rather than a personal / life planner.
Daily Spread
Each page gets 2 pages per day (there is no weekly spread). The pages are undated so you can start planning anytime, or come back to this planner if you have a really busy day.
Trying out the Slice Planner
Black Friday / Cyber Monday weekend was hectic so I decided it would be the perfect time to give the Slice Planner a go!
I opted to use the right side of the page as a to do list – I numbered the tasks so I wouldn’t have to re-write them and draw arrows from the clock face – I could just put the number reference. If you didn’t want to use the planner with the app you could then use a highlighter to shade in the boxes when a task is complete.
Related: 6 Useful ways to efficiently plan your week using highlighters
Since the planner doesn’t recognise different colored pens I thought one way to code things would be to shade some timeslots left to right and others right to left on the same clock face. However, the app took longer to recognise when I tried this. So make sure you shade the clock face diagonally in the same direction.
After you’ve finished planning, open up the app, wait for the green boxes to appear then hit ‘sync’
That will bring up the menu where you can add in the tasks. I like that the app picks up on when things start and end based on where you shade the clock face, but I couldn’t get it to the pick up my hand-writing i.e. ‘lunch’, or the task number – it seems you have to enter these in manually 🙁
You can also use the app by itself without the planner if you prefer:
Whether you’re an early bird or a night owl, this planner will work for you – you can start it from 5am right through to 11am. If you’re a night shift worker frustrated with planners that only have day time hours this planner may be a good fit for you.
Pen Testing
As the paper is quite thin there was some ghosting on the back side of the pages, especially where you shade in the clock face.
I tested various pens on the planner – gel pens seemed to bleed through the most.
I used the Staedtler Triplus Color Pens (0.3mm) (love these pens, they come in so many colors and are so smooth to write with!) and color coded using 3 different shades of blue – the pages ended up looking very aesthetically pleasing! 🙂
The clock face format would also look really pretty colored in with rainbow colors!
Pros of the Slice Planner
- The physical size of the planner and the space for planning inside are just the right size
- Digital + pen and paper planning system
- Love the visual of the clock face
- You can use the app for planning without the planner. Likewise, you can plan using the planner without having to use the app
- Undated – can start planning anytime
- Gender neutral color & style
- 2 built in ribbon bookmarks
- Time block in 15 minute increments (which very few planners do!)
- The paper feels nice and smooth and is easy to write on
Cons of the Slice Planner
- I couldn’t figure out a way to get the app to register what I had written – it picks up the time with the shading, but it didn’t want to pick up the text
- I prefer to color code but the app doesn’t pick up different colored pens – only the fact that times are shaded
- Only 12 hours of planning space per day – on weekends I plan from 9am to midnight
- The cover is a bit plain and boring – it just looks like any notebook
- No cover personalisation available
Price of the Slice Planner
The planner is $35USD plus shipping. The planner was originally launched via a very successful kickstarter campaign in 2016.
There are leather versions with embossing on the cover. I personally hate leather (like those gross brown leather traveller’s notebook covers – yuck!) but the option is there if you like them.
Did I like this planner?
I like the idea of syncing pen & paper with apps but to be honest, I don’t use digital calendars, I’d just use it as a normal paper planner. The Slice Planner worked quite well as a daily planner – plenty of room to write so I could space things out and leave lines between tasks. I also really liked the visual of the clock face.
I don’t tend to use daily planners so if this planner company makes a weekly planner version that in some way integrates pen & paper and digital systems I’d be very keen to try it.
This planner would be ideal for someone that juggles a lot of meetings and things that need to get done at set times.
Disclaimer: Evo Paper, the creators of the slice planner, reached out to me. They sent me a copy of the planner for free in exchange for this review. Coincidentally, I’d discovered the planner a few weeks earlier and was going to purchase it anyway. As always, all opinions are my own.
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- How to make printable graph paper in Photoshop (perfect for habit tracking and bullet journalling!)
- Arcing my Plum Paper Planner – everything you need to know if you’d like to try it yourself!
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