notebook

I want to get a fancy notebook.

• goal: have a place for quick notes, sketches, doodles, drawings
• transient notes, not long-term organization or knowledge, see handwriting
  • I don’t want to have a full archive with categories and sorted stuff, just a place to write down things, notes, sketches, thoughts, etc.

Organizers / Ringed Binders

There are various organizers / ringed binders systems.

• overview
• poster child: Filofax
  • tend to be quite chonky
  • also, original inserts are reportedly not very fountain-pen friendly
• Plotter
  • pretty
  • not easily available in Europe
• Atoma
• I mostly want to do sketches and quick notes, maybe journalling
• so there’s no real need for shifting pages around
• a binder and me wanting to organize stuff around might even make it too complicated, so I won’t end up using it
• these tend to have proprietary hole punches available for putting in any paper
• but again, I don’t want a binder for filing away documents
• I want something for every-day carry, and these tend to be chonky
• also not compatible with my wallet idea (see below)
• and no model that’s available here really makes me happy

Insert Systems

You buy inserts that are small notebooks on its own and put potentially multiple of them into a cover to build a custom notebook.

• current favorite: Traveler’s Notebook
  • flexible
  • simple
  • a lot of high-quality inserts available
  • trivial to make my own if desired
  • can fit non-paper inserts
• TN regular size (1/3 of A4, i.e. A5 but narrower), TN passport size (A6) or another notebook in A5/A6?
  • I like regular size
  • it has more space than A6 available, but still small enough for a handbag or a pocket in a sinch
  • can fit A4 when folded 1/3
  • narrow size is also nice for writing on my leg
  • although A6 is more of a common size for paper
• original cover is simple leather with elastic bands for holding the inserts and holding shut the notebook
  • not cheap, ~60 €
  • very simple, no pockets or anything, but customizable
  • e.g. with plastic stickers that form a pocket for paper on the inside
  • different colors available, but only this one variant
• Voyager Notebooks
  • knockoff of TN, same size, faux leather, similar types of inserts, cheaper
• notebook and wallet in one?
  • would be nice as I’d still only have to carry one thing around with me
  • post
  • there are various pre-made wallet inserts available
    • Galen Leather
    • Baum-kuchen
    • various ones on Etsy
  • maybe make one myself?
  • maybe passport would be better after all for this, would fit better into my pocket
  • although as long as it fits my handbag, it should be fine
  • should fit a fountain pen and a mechanical pencil
• alternative: Roterfaden
  • inserts are held with metal brackets
  • you can only use as many inserts as your cover has brackets
  • so less flexible than TN
  • variety of covers with different formats, features and materials available
  • pretty, but expensive
• Wandelband by adlibitum
  • no system, “just” a cover for generic A5/A6 notebooks
  • held with elastic bands
• Paper Republic
  • similar to TN, similar types of inserts available, but normal A6/A5/A4 sizes, no narrow A5