Halfway Through: PaperBlanks 2013 planner

Paperblanks planner: halfway through

I’ve been meaning to do a “halfway through” post about my Paperblanks planner. Seeing as how its technically 3/4s through 2013, I decided I better get to it.

Since the book started off with a subtle distressed finish, the nicks and dings from riding in my bag, back and forth to work, have not marred its appearance. I have crammed it with various bits of paper, notes and markings so the covers have bowed a bit to accommodate it. I don’t use the elastic to close it since the book gets accessed multiple times a day so it has not stretched out though it does seem a little loose inside the back cover. I’ve written in it with pen, pencil and marker. I get a little show through with dark, bolder colors from page to page but no bleed through. The binding has withstood being open and closed repeatedly and stretched to get page to lay flat. I often keep the book open all day on my desk so that I can use the right hand page to jot notes, reminders and messages.

Paperblanks planner: halfway through

I tend to walk away from planners mid-year because they don’t do what I want, do too much or I get itchy to try something different but I’ve been pleasantly satisfied with the Paperblanks. The paper stock is an improvement over the Moleskine planners I’ve used in the past. The size is a good “desk size” (A5-ish). I love the clean simple typography inside. The two ribbon marks let me mark the page for the week as well as the corresponding page for the monthly view.

I don’t keep all my meetings listed in the planner since those are mostly kept digitally and get changed, moved and updating with a frequency that would require a personal assistant to update my planner hourly. Instead I keep track of personal tasks, project to-do’s and overall scheduling.

I’ve started hunting for a new 2014 version of my Paperblanks planner but I clearly selected the more obscure page formatting (the Verso formatting) and I’m having trouble finding an exact match at present. I’ve contacted Paperblanks directly about availability for 2014 and will elt you know what I find out.

Other formats are available and in multiple sizes. Visit the Paperblanks site or Jenni Bick to see the selection.

Monsieur Notebook Goes Global

Help get Monsieur Notebook, the real leather notebook manufacturer, the funding they need to truly take their products worldwide. They are using IndieGoGo, a service like Kickstarter, to help finance an increase in production and warehousing to be able to keep up with demand.

They have expanded their range of products since my previous review to include eight different colored covers and a range of paper stocks including fountain pen-specific paper, dot grid, sketchbook and watercolor papers as well as the original lined and blank editions.

I have reviewed Monsieur notebooks in the past and think their products are worthy of recommending to my fine readers.

Link Love: Long Labor Day Weekend Edition

I’m taking off for the Labor Day weekend but will be back, re-inked, freshly sharpened and opened to a clean page on Tuesday. In the meantime, enjoy the diverse collection of links this week and feel free to explore the archives! Happy Labor Day!

Pens:

Inks:

Paper and Notebooks:

Misc:

House Industries Goes to the Desk

 13_journal_animation-1   15_journal_lineup_image

I have been a loyal supporter of the type design gurus at House Industries since the early 90s. They have a flair for the vintage and an eye for detail seldom rivaled so when I heard they were introducing a line of office supplies to their already extensive repertoire, I knew it would be good.

6_labels_and_stickers_animation

4_portfolio_image-1

House Industries has partnered with Chronicle Books to create a box set of 100 letter-centric postcards ($19.95), a set of four pocket notebooks ($9.95) featuring their graphics on the covers and a set of die cut labels and stickers ($10.95).

9_postcard_box_image-1 11_postcards_image

(via Chronicle Books and House Industries)

Handwriting Makes You Smarter

MS Handwriting Extinct 1

In the September 2013 issue of Martha Stewart Living, there was an article title “Is Handwriting Becoming Extinct?” written by Joanne Chen. The article dives more deeply into the psychological, brain development and creative benefits of writing than I would normally expect from a newsstand magazine usually focused on home decor and recipes. It discusses several scientific studies that researched the advantages of writing on cognitive development, memory and comprehension.

What we here all know, that writing helps us think, organize and remember (“I’m writing it down to remember it now”), is clearly a scientifically proven fact, one that we should help to nurture in ourselves and in others. Digital doesn’t solve everything and might be making up even more forgetful.

I would love to share a link to the article but I could not find it on the Martha Stewart web site. Maybe when the October issue is published, they will post the article on their site. In the meantime, the September issue is on newsstands (the article is on page 158) as well as being available from the iTunes newsstand for $3.99. The issue is the How-To edition with lots of organizational tips which might appeal to you as well.

MS Handwriting Extinct 1