How to make a printable weekly planner in Illustrator

Hello! I’m Cristina from Elan Creative Co and in this tutorial I’m going to show you how to make a printable weekly planner using Illustrator. This is the planner we are going to make. It’s fun, modern, and simple. I usually print them with my home printer, so I don’t want to have many colors or patterns.

And I love using Illustrator for this type of work because I feel I have more control over the layout than when I use InDesign. But I do use InDesign if I want to create documents that have many pages such as eBooks or workbooks. Open Illustrator and create a new document. I’m going to use A4 size paper. That’s 11 inches by 8 inches. The orientation is set to landscape and I’m going to add a bleed of 0.125 inches. The color mode is set to CMYK and the resolution to 300ppi. Click Create Document to continue. I’m going to start with the title area.

I’m going to use the Rectangle tool and this very light blue, and I will draw a rectangle that’s larger than my artboard. Then I’m going to rotate it a bit and then using the Selection tool I’m going to move it up here. I want to delete the area that’s outside the artboard so I’m going to use the Rectangle tool again and create a rectangle that’s the size, the width of my artboard. Then I’m going to use the Selection tool to select both of them and go to Window > Pathfinder and then Crop. So, as you can see, we have the background for the title. Let’s switch to the Type tool and change the color to black and add the text. I’m going to write “this week” and then change the font to a font called The Secret. It’s a free font that I really love. I changed the size to 72. Then I’m going to use the Align panel to center it and maybe just move it a bit down.

I’m going to group the two layers you can press Ctrl G or right-click on it and select Group and then I am going to lock the layer. The next step is to add a few rows. I’m going to switch to the Line Segment tool. The shortcut is backslash and I’m going to use a grey for the lines. And I’m going to set the stroke to grey. Hold down the Shift key to draw a straight line. We are going to fit four lines on our artboard. Set the stroke to one point and then open the stroke panel. Change the caps to round cap and check the dashed line box and enter four points in the first box. If you switch to the Selection tool you can see that we now have a dashed line.

Next we are going to duplicate this line and move the second line under first. So hold down the Alt key until the cursor changes and then click on the first line and drag hold down Shift to align the second line with the first. We are going to use the Blend tool to create the rest of the rows. So select both lines and then double-click on the Blend tool, the shortcut is W, to open the options. Change the spacing to Specify Steps and then enter the number of steps you want.

So, we already have two rows, and I want to have six in total, so I’m going to enter 4 here then press OK.

Now click on the first line and then click on the second line. I’m going to expand all the objects. As you can see, now we have six lines instead of two lines, and then I’m going to expand the stroke. This is an optional step, but I like doing this in case I might need to use the Pathfinder tools. We are going to move it up here and then duplicate it to create four columns. So, hold down Alt to duplicate it, and then hold down shift to align it to the first. Do this for the other two columns. My columns are a bit too big so I’m going to just drag them all and make them just a bit smaller. So, let’s use the Align tool to make sure all the spacing is the same.

So, select Align to Key Object and I’m going to enter a half an inch. I think one inch is too big and then let’s select this one. I’m going to press the Horizontal Distribute Space button. I’m going to do the same for this one just to make sure that they are all aligned. I’m going to add the first four days of the weeks so I’m going to switch the color to black and use the Type tool. I’m going to use another font called Kristelle Sans. This one is not free, but you can use Amati from Google Fonts that’s similar and i think I’m going to change the size to 36. Now to align the day of the week with the row, let’s move it up, I’m going to select both of them and then go back to Align to Key Object and let’s select the rows and just press the Horizontal Align Center button then do the same for the other four columns. Now I’m going to select them all again and duplicate them. So again, I’m going to press the Alt key and then hold down the Shift key and move everything down.

Now we’re going to use the type of tool to change the names. So now we can group each column and then I’m going to group all of them. Now we’ll have to scale them again because they’re just too big. I think this is fine. Let’s create the check boxes for our To Do list. So, I’m going to use this pink and then switch to the Rectangle tool, and you can hold down the Shift key while you draw to create a square. Let’s zoom in now. I’m going to hold down Alt and Shift and drag it over here. I’m going to use the Blend tool again to create the rest of the boxes. So just select the Blend tool.

We have the same number of check boxes as we had lines so just click on the first and then click on the second. And if you want you can go to Object > Expand to have four rectangles then you can ungroup them and rearrange them if you need to. Let’s move everything. The last step is to create a small ribbon. So, I’m going to change the color and use the Rectangle tool again to create a small rectangle and then I am going to switch to the Add Anchor Point tool, the shortcut is +, and I’m going to add an anchor point here and another one on the right side. I am going to try to add it in the middle but it’s not very important. Then you can switch to the Anchor Point tool. Click on the first anchor point and using the arrow keys, the right arrow key, press about five times, maybe six, and then select the other one and click the left arrow key.

Now I’m going to switch to the Selection tool and send it to the back. Let’s rotate it a little bit. Add it over here. So, this is our weekly planner. Next, I’m going to show you how to save it. You should always save a copy as an Illustrator file. So go to File and save and give it a new name. I’m going to save it as an Illustrator CC file and then we are going to save another copy as a PDF. So go to Save as and change from Adobe Illustrator to Adobe PDF and click Save. If I’m going to print it on my home printer, I won’t change anything, but I am going to go to Marks and Bleeds and check Trim Marks then click Save PDF. This is how our PDF looks like. As you can see, it automatically added the trim marks and it’s ready to print.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial. If you want to see more Illustrator and Photoshop tutorials, please visit my blog or subscribe to my channel. Thanks for watching!

https://www.worldsite.ws//?sponsor=yosekbaez60&template=2

Author: yoselkbaez36ck

Discover the Inspirational Journey of Jose Amoros I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to introduce you to a compelling narrative that might inspire and resonate with you: "Biographical Info de Jose Amoros." Jose Amoros, renowned for his innovative contributions and profound insights, offers a remarkable story of perseverance and achievement. His journey is a testament to the power of resilience and vision, illustrating how dedication can transcend obstacles and lead to impactful success. Diving into Jose's biography unveils lessons on leadership, creativity, and transformation—elements that are essential in today's fast-evolving landscape. Whether you're looking for motivation, new perspectives, or inspiring stories, Jose’s experiences can provide valuable takeaways for your own endeavors. I'd love to discuss how his journey can inspire and benefit [https://website.ws/yosekbaez60/] as you navigate your path toward continued success. Are you available for a brief call this week? Looking forward to the opportunity to connect. Best regards,