A Year In Hyrule Planner
Role
Host, Graphic Designer, Production Manager
Project Overview
A Year in Hyrule is a collaborate planner and stationery project inspired by the Legend of Zelda universe. This project is brought to you by a team of 6 moderators and 31 artists. We created an A5 hardcover planner along with stationery merchandise like washi tape, stickers, notepads, etc. Each month features a different game in the Legend of Zelda universe and contains illustrations, undated monthly calendar grids, and weekly spreads.
Total Contributors
6 moderators, 26 illustrators, 5 merch artists
Project Duration
November 2022 - Present
The Planning Phase
For the first part of the project, we held interest check which was a small survey asking people what they would like to see in the project. We advertised our interest check through our social media pages.
After our survey closed I reviewed the results and handed the data off to Grapes, who created the interest check graphic results. I was surprised that the majority of the people who filled out the form were most interested in being a customer. Some people left comments at the end of the survey and I really loved how enthusiastic the messages were about the project.
We had a successful application period and ended up getting around 350 applications. I was blown away with the amount of applicants we got. Many talented artists wanted to join our project and selection was tough since we only had limited spots open. Once everyone accepted their position, we posted a lineup graphic introducing the whole team to the public.
During the interest check phase, we highlighted each moderator by posting mod spotlight graphics. The goal of posting these graphics was to show our followers who is running the project behind the scenes.
The Planner Layout
I wanted to make this planner better than my last planner project. I received a customer feedback from my previous planner project, Splatoon Planner, and made sure to adjust the layout to better match the customer’s need. A major piece of feedback was that there wasn’t enough writing space. People preferred to have more space on the week days and less space for notes. Instead of having all the weekdays on one side, I decided to have Monday through Thursday on the left and then Friday through Sunday on the right. I also decreased the notes section by half, giving more writing space to the days of the week section.
I created a template for spot illustrators and provided them with a detailed spot illustration guide. This is an example of the weekly spread. Illustrators were instructed to draw around 5 spot illustrations to decorate their page. Some illustrators decided to go above and beyond and added subtle backgrounds to their spreads.
Once both page and spot illustrations were done I compiled everything to create the spread. The strip at the top was taken from the page illustrator’s monthly drawing. After all artwork was placed in the file, I added color to the weekday dividers.
The example below is how one full month was formatted. Each month started off with a full spread illustration. The right side of the illustration contained a blank area meant for notes. The next page contained a blank calendar grid so the customer could use the planner during any year. Following the calendar grid were the 5 weekly spreads. The page illustration was drawn by Redundantz and the spot illustrations were drawn by Mixotito.
The Preorder Phase
The preorder phase is the most important part of the project. This is what all of our hard work lead up to. Lia and I worked together to come up with a social media schedule that would maximize engagement and promote preorders. Two weeks before our store launch, we revealed all of the merch items by posting a new item every day. Then throughout the preorder period we posted previews of each artist’s piece. On opening day, Alpa and Mich prepared a video showcasing Throughout the preorder period we doubled our follower count and got over 500 sales!
The Production Phase
As the production manager, I thoroughly researched manufactures that would suit our needs. For this project we made planners, sticker sheets, postcards, washi tape, memo pads, a pencil case, a small drawstring bag, a rubber stamp, an enamel pin, a binder clip, an embroidered keychain and a few acrylic stands. I received samples of every product and then photographed everything so that we could share production updates with our followers.
Happy Customers
One of my favorite part of these projects is getting to see how happy our products make customers. I love it when customers take photos of their planner and post it to social media. It just makes my day knowing that someone loves something that I helped make.
View the full customer post here.
Project Conclusion
A special shout out to all the moderators of this project: Lia (co-host), Grapes (Graphics), Alpa (promo artist), Mich (promo artist) and Kathy (finance and shipping). This project was full of collaborative teamwork and couldn’t have been done without everyone.
A tradition of mine has been giving a gift to each contributor. For this project Alpa and Mich collaborated together to create an exclusive enamel pin that we made for contributors only.
Thank you to every moderator, contributor, customer and supporter for helping to bring our project to life.
