Features Put to the Test in Moleskine Academic Planner Review

Moleskine is one of the best-known names in planners. Accordingly, many people consider these products to be premier offerings. Understanding that reputation, we decided to put the Moleskine Classic Soft Cover Weekly Planner to the test.

We took the Moleskine Classic for an extensive test drive, finding that it has many features to recommend it. However, we also discovered that this product has room for improvement. The upshot is that there are better values out there if you want to ensure that you’re using the best planner.

The Moleskine Weekly Planner is designed to be used by students and professionals. It is flexible enough to be used for bullet journaling, and you can include a variety of tracking layouts on its pages.

Moleskine’s intention is to help users to increase their productivity, stay on top of their schedules and feel like they are more in control of their lives. The weekly planner includes features that are meant to help you achieve these goals.

This planner is available with a soft or hardcover. The corners are rounded for aesthetics and to avoid pointed corners becoming blunted with use.

An elastic closure is meant to keep the planner securely closed. Nonetheless, some users note that the elastic is too loose to accomplish this task. If you have a tendency to slip loose pieces of paper between the leaves of your planner, you could lose them.

The cover is plain and is available in a handful of understated colors. No adornments, even the dates contained within, are placed on the outside. If you have several similar planners, this could be annoying. Overall, it’s an attractive, if plain look.

Moleskine uses an ivory-colored paper that’s easy on the eyes. Some planners go with a blindingly white paper that causes eye fatigue. While the paper’s color is a mark in this planner’s favor, it’s also important to note that this paper is only 70 gsm.

That’s thin paper, especially if you plan to use highlighters, markers, fountain pens, watercolors or stamps in the planner. You will get excessive bleed through and ghosting, which can be annoying to some users.

The thin paper is a massive drawback since people who use these planners expect to be able to write on every available space. In fact, the Moleskine Classic is designed with the weeks occurring back to back so you have no choice but to write on the front and back of each sheet.
Unfortunately, you don’t even get the chance to fantasize about having really thick, wonderful paper before you start using this planner. As soon as you open the cover, you can see that the pre-printed pages are already visible from the other side of the sheet.

Before you’ve written anything, you know that your pages are likely to look pretty messy.

For many people, this is a deal breaker, but this doesn’t mean that the Moleskine Classic doesn’t have passionate supporters. If you can find the right pen that uses very little ink, then you may be satisfied with it.

Many people swear by this planner and couldn’t imagine going to work or school without it. Clearly, this planner must have things going for it that help people to see beyond the thin paper.

This is a dated, 18-month planner that runs from July to December. It features an expandable inner pocket that is color coordinated with the planner’s cover. On the flyleaf, you will find an “In Case of Loss” label that you can fill out so that you have a better chance of recovering it.

A single ribbon bookmark helps you to maintain your place. Additionally, Moleskine promises a flat, 180-degree opening to make writing in this planner a breeze.

Useful data is pre-printed on various pages of the planner. The Worldwide Holidays Calendar is mainly useful for trivia, but the international measurements, time zones and dialing codes may be helpful for frequent travelers.

There’s also an annual date at a glance page, which is perfect for long-range planning. With three sheets of icon stickers, it’s really easy to make special events and appointments stand out on the calendars.

The weekly layouts are formatted on two pages with the left-hand page being dated and divided for daily appointments and activities. The right-hand page is ruled so that you can make all sorts of notes, keep track of various goals, define your goals for the week or write to-do lists. Each week begins with Monday.

Many people love this layout because they have plenty of room to jot things down and get creative. It’s ideal for those who don’t necessarily need to track every hour of the day.

Of course, if you have a schedule that’s packed with meetings and teleconferences from 6:00 am to 9:30 pm, then this is not the right format for you.

The Moleskine Classic further includes monthly layouts for each of the 18 months contained in the volume. Unfortunately, Moleskine only gives you one page for each month. The result is incredibly small spaces to write.

You can use the icon stickers on the monthly layouts, but if you want to go into any detail, you’re out of luck. Additionally, some users take issue with formatting that puts the date in the middle of the calendar box rather than in one of the corners. 

The upshot is that while many people love the weekly layout, most people give the monthly layout a thumbs down. It truly is not a particularly functional design, which is especially sad considering how well-designed the weekly layout is.

Perhaps Moleskine’s philosophy is that the weekly pages will get most of the use so that there’s no need to emphasize monthly planning. We think that’s pretty shortsighted.

While we found several things to quibble with, we can’t deny that many people love the Moleskine Classic Weekly Planner. Moreover, there are things about the design and layout that we appreciate.

The thin paper is a huge disappointment in this Moleskine weekly planner review because it makes it really hard to do the creative stuff that disciplines like bullet journaling encourage you to do. Additionally, we’d like to see a two-page monthly layout so that more detailed planning can be pursued.

Similarly, we would prefer some additional layouts that are concerned with matters such as goal setting, habit tracking and productivity as these are things that really take a planner to the next level. If you want a straightforward calendar with some flexibility, then this Moleskine may be right for you. Others may want something with thicker paper and more innovation.