Usually, I’m the one putting stationery through its paces here on Scrively. This time, the questions came my way.
The team at Etchr Lab, makers of sketchbooks and art supplies, invited me to talk about how I choose and use notebooks. At the time of our conversation, they were exploring how their experience with paper, covers and lay-flat construction might translate into a notebook for everyday writing. What would stationery enthusiasts want from it, and what would make it worth choosing?
That gave us plenty to talk about: the relationship between paper and fountain pens, different notebook formats, the small features that make daily use easier, and the slightly contradictory pleasure of starting a new notebook.
What follows is an edited and rearranged version of that conversation, with Etchr Lab’s questions and my answers condensed for clarity and flow. These are my preferences and experiences as a stationery reviewer and user, rather than a comprehensive map of the notebook market. Interview published with the permission of Etchr Lab.
Did your interest start with fountain pens or with notebooks?
For me, it was probably the notebook. More specifically, the classic black Moleskine.
I bought into that whole romantic idea: you’re sitting in a café, a bit of an Ernest Hemingway figure, pencilling your important thoughts and plans into a little black notebook. You start with whatever pen happens to be around. Then, as you get further into the hobby, you discover different pens, inks and fountain pens.
That was also where the romance with Moleskine started to wear off for me. Once I wanted to use fountain pens, the paper became a frustration. The appearance of the notebook could only take it so far. So I started looking more closely at alternatives: Rhodia, Clairefontaine, Leuchtturm1917 and notebooks using Tomoe River paper.
Other people arrive from the opposite direction, through handwriting, calligraphy or an interest in pens. Either way, eventually you find yourself thinking about how the whole combination works.
You called that combination a “holy trinity”. What do you mean?
Paper, ink and nib width. It’s the interplay between those three that you need to get right for what you want to do.
If avoiding smudges is a priority, as it can be for a left-handed writer, you might look for a finer nib, a quicker-drying ink and more absorbent paper.
If you want to enjoy a broad or flexible nib and an ink’s shading, sheen or shimmer, you may want paper that lets the ink stay on the surface longer.
Those are quite different writing experiences and expectations. That’s why I find it difficult to talk about a notebook’s paper in isolation. What pen and ink are you going to use with it? And what do you want from them?
How do you make sense of the different notebook categories?
In my own use, I tend to think in three categories. And they may not be a perfectly mutually exclusive mapping.
First, there’s the classic standalone notebook: hardback or softcover, different colours, different sizes. The familiar notebook you can simply pick up and use. I still like that format a lot.
Second, there are notebooks used as inserts inside a separate cover, often leather. The cover stays with you, and you replace the notebook inside it. I enjoy those combinations too, although finding an insert that fits a particular cover can be part of the challenge.
Third, I think of the Traveler’s Notebook type and its inserts as a category of their own. It has a distinctive format and a very enthusiastic community. I have one and use it as an analogue calendar since many years. I’ve also made inserts for it myself. But I don’t particularly like it for general note-taking because it doesn’t lie flat in the way I want. That’s a good example of how I can like a notebook system and still prefer something else for a particular use.
When you evaluate paper, what are you actually looking for?
Feel, colour and how it behaves with the pen and ink.
I don’t like paper that is too smooth. I want to feel that I’m writing on something. But I don’t want it to be so coarse that the writing feels rough. Leuchtturm1917 is a useful reference for the sort of feel I personally enjoy.
I use both white and off-white paper, so I don’t have a strong personal preference there. If you’re particularly interested in seeing the colour of an ink in very “true and objective” ways, though, the colour of the paper becomes more relevant.
Then there’s the practical performance: feathering, bleed-through and how much writing shows through from the other side. Those things matter to me. A notebook can have a lovely look, but if ink bleeds through the page, I’m going to be annoyed every time I use it.
Consistency matters too. I’ve had notebooks that worked well – and then been disappointed by another version from the same brand. That’s frustrating because you think you’ve found something you can rely on.
Would a well-known paper brand matter to convince you to try a new notebook?
I care much more about whether the paper works.
What frustrates me is reading “fountain pen friendly” in the specifications, buying the notebook and then discovering that the ink goes straight through. The claim by itself doesn’t tell me enough.
Show me the testing. Use different pens and inks, include a broad, wet fountain pen, and show both sides of the page. If you’re claiming that the paper handles other media, demonstrate those too. Watercolour. Copic markers. Highlighters. Whatever. A video would be particularly useful because you can see what was used and what happened.
Reviews help for the same reason. I want to see someone actually trying the paper. I don’t need a particular name attached to it; I need confidence that it will do what I’m buying it for.
Blank, dotted, ruled or squared?
For me, blank and dot grid are the interesting options. Those are the ones I’d want to choose between.
I wouldn’t need a new notebook range to offer every possible ruling to get my attention. Give me paper I enjoy, in formats I use, with a blank or dotted option, and you’ve covered a lot of what I’m looking for.
And which sizes do you actually use?
Roughly A6 through to B5, including A5 and B6. A5, A6 and B6 would make a particularly appealing core selection for me.
I like changing formats. I don’t feel that every notebook has to be A5 just because it’s familiar. I could even see square formats being very interesting for note-taking.
At the same time, I know my limits. I don’t use A4 notebooks, and I don’t tend to use anything smaller than A6.
Fit also matters when you’re using a separate cover. I have a B6 cover for which I’ve struggled to find alternative inserts. In that situation, another suitable option would be much more interesting to me than another version of something I can already buy easily.
Hardcover or softcover?
I use both, and I switch between them. Sometimes I’ve been using a softcover for a while and simply feel like having a hardback next.
What matters more to me is whether the notebook lies flat. I take a lot of notes, and I want to be able to use the page comfortably.
There are situations where the cover makes a practical difference, of course. If you’re writing on a subway on your lap, a hard cover gives you support. At a desk as the primary use case, that may matter less.
For a conventional notebook, I also like an elastic closure. With a very soft leather cover, however, the same feature might not make as much sense, and with a too tight strap, it might bend the edges in annoying ways. It depends on the notebook as a whole.
You said you both love and hate changing notebooks. Why?
I love changing notebooks because I get to experience something new: a different format, different paper, a different cover.
But I also have to go through the old notebook and transfer the unfinished tasks scattered across its pages. That part is less enjoyable.
A thicker notebook lets me keep more context with me. I can look back at earlier notes without having already moved into another book. Very thin notebooks make me switch more often than I’d like.
Around 192 pages feels like a good starting point to me, but I’m also curious about much thicker notebooks. There’s an obvious weight trade-off. Still, I can see the appeal of having more of my notes together in one place.
How much does the cover design matter?
Quite a lot, but my preference is fairly simple: I don’t want too much going on.
I like a clean cover, perhaps some texture and a small logo. Large graphics, elaborate patterns and very prominent branding generally aren’t for me.
That doesn’t mean everything has to be black. I enjoy muted colours and pastels, but I also like a bright poppy orange, a strong blue or a red. Colour is welcome. I just prefer a relatively uncomplicated design.
There are of course stationery users who enjoy a much more decorative approach, with stickers, washi tape, stamps and lettering. That’s part of what makes this world interesting. My own taste in covers happens to be more minimalist.
What small features would make a notebook more useful, in your opinion?
Page flags. I’m always adding them myself. I buy those little adhesive markers, stick a supply inside the notebook and use them to mark pages I want to find again. Having a small set already tucked into the back would be genuinely useful to me.
I also carry a few sticky notes or loose index cards. Sometimes I want to give someone a note. Sometimes I want to write down a few ideas, lay them out and move them around. I prefer having separate cards for that to tearing pages out of the notebook.
Page numbers are another feature I appreciate. They make it easier to refer back to an earlier note. Interestingly, I don’t use an index that is sometimes found at the front, even though I like numbered pages. It also depends quite a bit on what type of note-taker you are, e.g. whether or not you are following certain conventions such as commonplace-note booking, bullet journaling, or whatever.
These are small details, but they come from things I already find myself doing. That’s where I’d look for ideas to make a notebook more useful.
With so many notebooks already available, what would you like a new maker to get right?
I’d like a notebook with reliably good fountain pen paper, a pleasant writing feel and a clean design, in a useful range of sizes and colours. Blank or dot grid. Perhaps a choice of white and off-white paper. And it should lie flat.
I don’t think a maker needs to start with five different paper options. I’d be interested in one paper that works consistently well, with clear demonstrations of what it can handle.
That sounds quite straightforward, but inconsistent paper is still something that frustrates me. Getting the everyday experience right would give me a reason to try something new.
And I enjoy seeing new makers enter this space. It’s good to have more people thinking carefully about stationery and making analogue things that simply work extremely well. I’m always curious to see what they come up with.