The tool | How to use
Festoon Studios Document Planner
Plan your annual report without a designer – before a single word is laid out.
Our page planner helps comms teams, researchers and designers map out a polished annual report before a single paragraph is laid out in InDesign. By mocking up the report’s structure, length and content first, you’ll avoid late‑stage rewrites and think with a designers eye before the process begins.
How to use it
1. Build the page flow
Use the “Add new page” button to insert blank pages
Or jump to the Templates tab to drop in ready‑made spreads – front covers, executive summaries, infographics, tables and more.
Drag‑and‑drop arrows let you reorder pages instantly.
Arrange pages exactly as they will appear in print: the tool automatically shows the cover and back page singly, with all internal pages displayed as left–right pairs.
One‑click of the ‘X’ on a page removes any pages you no longer need.
2. Add the vital details
Click a page to edit its title, notes (for design or copy instructions) and target word count.
A live total‑word counter keeps track of overall length, helping you stay within any set limits.
Toggle Show page titles to see at‑a‑glance which page is which – ideal when presenting the plan to stakeholders.
3. Colour‑coded templates
Each template category has its own subtle background tint, so you can see at once whether a page is narrative text, infographic, title or back matter.
4. Save, share, iterate
Click Save Data to download a lightweight .json file containing your entire plan – perfect for emailing to colleagues or archiving between drafts.
Later, hit Load Data and choose that file to pick up exactly where you left off; every page order, note and word count is restored in seconds.
5. Sharing the plan
Once your structure is signed‑off, you can send the saved file to the designer you’re working with who’ll be able to review and assess the file, allowing them to understand the scope of your document design.
This is particularly useful if you’re at an early stage of the project and you need an idea of how the document might look, how many pages it will be and the total wordcount.
This can be useful to help you understand the scope of your document, think about possible page templates and get more accurate quotes from designers.