NOTION CALENDAR REDESIGN • IVEY PRODUCT SOCIETY 2026

Notion Calendar Redesign

Inline property display for Notion Calendar

Notion Calendar PRD Hero Presentation Slide

Role: Product Fellow
Timeline: Jan 2026 – Apr 2026
Output: Full PRD, User Flows, Industry Pitch
Frameworks: Figma, User Story Mapping, Prioritization, Value Map

The Challenge

Bridging the gap between Notion databases and Google Calendar

As a Product Fellow with the Ivey Product Society, I identified a core friction point in Notion's product ecosystem: despite its strength as a database-driven productivity tool, users had little incentive to abandon Google Calendar for its Notion counterpart because it felt completely disconnected from their existing Notion database workflows.

The Problem

Invisible database context and context-switching fatigue

Students and professionals live in Notion to track assignments, projects, and task databases. However, when opening Notion Calendar, event cards displayed no database context, meaning that critical database properties were hidden.

"I already live in Notion, but I haven’t switched from Google Calendar because it just doesn’t feel connected to the rest of my workflow the way I expected. – User Interview"

Notion Calendar Problem: Properties are almost invisible

Seeing properties requires clicking into the event.

Notion Calendar Problem: Cannot change color by property

Because database colour is locked to the calendar source, visual hierarchy is limited.

MY Solution

Inline property display and property-based color coding

My PRD detailed two core feature enhancements designed to keep users inside Notion's ecosystem:

Before vs. After: Standard calendar cards (left) vs. Enhanced Inline Property Display & Color Coding (right).

1. Inline Database Property Display

Exposes selected database properties as visible badges directly on calendar event cards via a "Show on Calendar" toggle within the event detail panel.

2. Property-Based Colour Coding

Allows users to assign custom colors to property values (e.g. status, priority level, course code), replacing calendar-source color limitations.

Sidebar: Customizing Shown vs. Hidden database properties

Inline Property Display and Color Coding

Calendar View: Inline status badges and property color coding

Interactive PRD Prototype

Live Interface & Feature Previews

Simulated Notion Calendar view showing inline database property badges and custom property color-coding:

CS2208 Lecture 12:30 PM – 2:30 PM

Natural Sciences Centre • Course: CS2208

Do 2257 Case 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM

● In Progress 🕒 Due Today @ 6:30 PM BUS2257

Do 2208 Homework 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM

● Not Started 🕒 Due Next Tuesday @ 11:59 PM CS2208

Zero-Click Context Access

By controlling property visibility in the sidebar, users see priority, status, and course code without having to open individual Notion page popups.

PRD Need & Opportunity Analysis

1. Prevent unrealistic daily schedules before they happen High Importance / Low Sat → Top Opportunity

2. Clearly distinguish between events & actionable tasks High Importance → Opportunity

3. Make high-priority items visually impossible to ignore High Importance / Low Sat → Top Opportunity

PRD Key User Flows

To ensure implementation feasibility without altering Notion's database backend, I mapped out the end-to-end logic for database-to-calendar surfacing and property color assignment:

Flow 1: Database-to-Calendar Surfacing Flowchart

Flow 1: Database-to-Calendar Surfacing Logic

Flow 2: Property Display & Colour Customization Flowchart

Flow 2: Property Display & Color Customization Logic

The Outcome

Full PRD delivered and pitched to industry professionals

PRD Value Map & Opportunity Analysis Table

PRD Value Map: Customer Needs, Importance, Satisfaction & Opportunity Conclusions.

At the conclusion of the fellowship, I presented the concept during Ivey Product Society's Product Review Day, sharpening PM fundamentals in product requirement definition, user story mapping, and feature prioritization.