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Business Moleskine Mania: How a Notebook Conquered the Digital Era

86 points by samclemens 2y ago

TheChaplain 2y ago
Moleskine is nice, but have you ever tried Leuchtturm1917?
- neom 2y ago
  Not sure why, however in high humidity, Leuchtturm pages stick together much more frequently where moleskine do not at all.
- bloopernova 2y ago
  The A4 hardback with square dotted paper is really nice. Before I moved my notes into text files, I used to put everything into mine. Work notes, sketches, plans, etc etc. Leuchtterm make gorgeous notebooks.
- ashton314 2y ago
  Leuchtturm1917 is so much better for fountain pens: the paper is smooth and the ink doesn't feather. The numbered pages are a great touch.
- ano-ther 2y ago
  They’re ok, but I prefer the slightly smaller format of Moleskine that strangely only they seem to make. It’s astonishing how much these branded notebooks cost. They must have great margins, not just Moleskine as described in the article.
walterbell 2y ago
> From 2005, Leuchtturm.. took on Moleskine, matching them for quality.. older companies like Clairefontaine, Rhodia, and Paperblanks refreshed their offerings. Western hipsters, always alert to high-end Japanese design, started to import notebooks from companies like Midori, Hobonichi, and Stalogy, which bested any of the European brands with their exquisite papers and bindings (Moleskine and Leuchtturm both use mainly Taiwanese paper). In the US, Field Notes struck a utilitarian chord with a mid-century aesthetic. All presented a fresh spin on the basic product, and all benefited from the product building that Moleskine had done. Stalogy has thin paper with minimal bleed, enabling small notebooks with more pages for writing and reference.
- sgu999 2y ago
  > (Moleskine and Leuchtturm both use mainly Taiwanese paper) I guess us Europeans can't even make paper anymore... I hope one day it'll be widely obvious to everyone that the true architects of our impoverishment are these CEOs who organized the offshoring of all our supply chain. But in the mean time we'll probably keep on blaming migrants for a while.
  - FredPret 2y ago
    That cannot be true: 1) A class of people (here it is “the CEOs”) consistently behaving a certain way over time can only be explained by one of two things: a conspiracy (unstable; almost impossible to pull off), or their behavior is shaped by the reality facing them 2) if CEOs consistently offshore manufacturing over decades, this must be because it’s most profitable to do so. This must then be because people elsewhere can make more widgets per dollar / euro of wages, or we’re back to conspiracy theories 3) If workers elsewhere can make widgets cheaper, it’s either because they’re further along in industrializing and have more automation (not the case here) or because they do more work for less money. The blame here is not with the CEO’s, and indeed not with the rich workers either, because they’ve evolved past that point 4) The rich workers should now switch to working at a higher level of abstraction - knowledge work. This way low-wage work gets offshored or automated or ideally both, consumer prices stay low, and wages go up. If you failed at step 4, that’s because it’s really hard. Adapting to the post-industrial paradigm is easier with a young population and a culture that celebrates change, neither of which is common or easy to maintain. “The CEOs” and “the politicians” are not to blame if the entire system isn’t working.
    - walterbell 2y ago
      > their behavior is shaped by the reality facing them Yes, e.g. public policy. See tariffs and subsequent relocation of some manufacturing from China to SE Asia. Or export controls on ASML and other technology.
    - _aavaa_ 2y ago
      > “The CEOs” and “the politicians” are not to blame if the entire system isn’t working. Yes they are. The CEOs and the boards are choosing to focus on maximizing short term profit over the wellbeing of the people in the countries they operate. That's a choice. And the politicians are directly responsible for setting up the rules under which such systems develop. That they allow companies to offshore to other countries and pay the people there much lower wages than the employees they fired is a choice. That they let them pollute in other countries in order to not pay for it is a choice, see the EU's border adjustment for the carbon pricing.
neom 2y ago
“Do you know there’s a section of our customer base that buys a fresh Moleskine every time they come into a store? We have no idea what they do with them” I give them out. I have far too many moleskine's yet I still buy one every time I'm in a store with them... I just can't stand seeing someone using a crap notebook. So when someone I like comes into my office and they're using some free shit they got as swag from salesforce or w/e, I give them a moleskine and a F-701.
- armitron 2y ago
  A moleskine is an overpriced crap notebook at this point. Paper quality has drastically diminished from what it used to be, to the point where one can't use fountain or gel pens without bleed through. Another example of enshittification.
  - neom 2y ago
    And is that "from my own observations because I'm an expert in moleskins and I can tell you exactly why the paper quality has drastically diminished from what it used to be, here is the technique change" or "eh, I used a notepad once so I know what I'm talking about" Because I'm quite sure I know a lot about moleskine, and I'm quite sure you are totally incorrect, a classic is 70gsm, there is no way it wouldn't reject a fp or gel. Oh yeah, and as a note, I looked at your HN comment history, you might consider a once over of the guidelines, especially: "Please don't post shallow dismissals". https://www.despec.se/media/3080/msk-paper-guide.pdf https://www.despec.se/media/3080/msk-paper-guide.pdf
    - armitron 2y ago
      The web is full of independent observations of that exact fact, here's one that even comes with photos [1] but don't let me shatter your illusion. Feel free to keep giving them your money and supporting the enshittification. "Are Moleskines fountain pen friendly? No. The paper quality is low in general, and fountain pen users will experience ghosting and bleedthrough that prevent you using both sides of the paper, and even some feathering on the front side. There are far better options available, and at a cheaper price." [1] https://theanalogpastor.com/are-moleskines-fountain-pen-friendly https://theanalogpastor.com/are-moleskines-fountain-pen-frie...
wslh 2y ago
I prefer notebooks with rings at the top (A5 or A6). I think being left-handed also plays a role in this preference, as it makes writing more comfortable for me.
- soapdog 2y ago
  Rhodia makes some good ones like that and so does Field Notes.
cjs_ac 2y ago
I personally prefer Rhodia notepads and notebooks: I prefer the stark whiteness of the paper, the smoother paper, and the 5mm dot grid. Moleskine's marketing is simply too aggressive: they don't sell notebooks, they sell an aesthetic. I'm not going to claim to be above such marketing tactics: I'm definitely not. But Moleskine's claim to sell authentic Parisian notebooks used by struggling authors is such obvious bullshit. It reminds me of the 'Original Australian Ugg Boot Company', which is an American business that tried to trademark the name of a generic product made by countless Australian businesses from offcuts of sheepskin. Just as everyone in the southern half of Australia has a pair of Ugg boots (but only Bogans will wear them in public), so those famous authors used moleskine notebooks: they're not good quality products; they're just ubiquitous and cheap.
- Simorgh 2y ago
  I have also used Rhodia notebooks in the past. I think they are manufactured in France. Which for me is a plus since one assumes the manufacturing process is kinder and to a high standard. Rhodia pricing is also really good!
vr46 2y ago
Leuchtturm paper bleeds like a napkin, so hopeless. Moleskine works. Hobonichi rules.
- ashton314 2y ago
  What are you writing with? I write with a Lamy Al-Star EF nib and use take-sume black ink from Pilot; Leuchtturm doesn't bleed at all; doesn't feather either. Moleskine doesn't work nearly as well for fountain pens—too much feathering.
  - vr46 2y ago
    Capless EF, Diamine Red Dragon. We cannot be talking about the same books, my friend ordered one and found the same problem, not sure what they were using. Bled badly with a Pilot C4, as well.
- sevensor 2y ago
  I got a Leuchtturm once out of curiosity. Could only use one side of each sheet. Sometimes it was so bad I had to leave a leaf entirely blank on both sides. Absolutely worthless paper. For a good a5 notebook we are spoiled for choice at that price point. I’ve been enjoying Yu-Sari lately. Where I struggle is finding good paper in a pocket notebook.
- _kyran 2y ago
  Try the 120gsm
mihaic 2y ago
Honestly, I now think most people with a Moleskin are doing it primarily for show. They do have nice quality paper, so it's not really a bad choice, only could be better depending on what your exact needs are. For work I ended at Maruman Mnemosyne and I'm always happy with them. It's a Japanese brand with great paper, nice ergonomics of easily fitting a pen in their spire and plenty of combinations of size and grid pattern.
- Hamuko 2y ago
  I got a Moleskine because it seemed to be the nicest thing available in the bookstore when I needed a notebook. Got a small one with fire red cover to write my scratch codes. (The hope is that whenever I am actually locked out of my accounts and need to find a scratch code in panic, that red notebook is gonna catch my eye faster than any other colour.)
  - mihaic 2y ago
    In most bookstores a Moleskine really is the best brand available, so I completely understand your choice. Good luck that you won't need to use the codes though.
memset 2y ago
Fascinating! I myself am partial to the Muji lay flat notebooks. Question: how can I find a printer to make my own? I run a small business making staff paper notebooks. I want to make lay flat, thread + tape bound ones. How can I find a printer that can help me replicate? (I also want to launch a line of cheap mead-like notebooks, but similarly have trouble figuring out how to get those done.) most places will do spiral, wire-o, or saddle stitch with essentially copy paper but I’d like to be able to make these more specialized items.
- sgu999 2y ago
  Mind sharing more about your business? How did you end up doing that? Are you competitive at all on prices or are you mostly benefit from the fact that it's a local product for your niche market?
  - memset 2y ago
    themusiciansnotebook.com I’d paused it for the past couple of years but am bringing it back! Just scratching my own itch.
- minkles 2y ago
  100% agree with the muji ones. I buy the planner every year. I do most of my organisation and most of my thinking work on a hoard of a two foot thick slab of muji squared paper and enough gel pen refills to last 20 years.
- yial 2y ago
  I’m not 100% sure I can help here, but the company I work for, we work with a printer / producer / manufacturer in Ecuador. If you’d like to shoot me an email with what you’d like to produce, I can see if it’s something they can make. (We manufacture fair trade goods, working with some producers, including notebooks… so this might be within the realm. I think the hardest part would be getting the exact paper you would want). My email is in my profile. (Also not entirely altruistic as I struggle to find notebooks I love, and frequently revert back to legal pads which just don’t work quite the same).
salamanderman 2y ago
Peter Pauper Press is my go to notebook. They aren't elegant in their simplicity like a Moleskin but they are lovely and very functional.
kwhitefoot 2y ago
My rule of thumb when reading a headline that says "How xx did yy." Is to always wonder "Did xx do yy?" There doesn't seem to be anything in the article to suggest that these particular notebooks are anything other than fashion accessories and Veblen goods, certainly nothing to suggest any kind of conquering of the "Digital Era".
nyc111 2y ago
I wasn't clear if they bought the "Moleskine" trademark, did they? Apparently the original company had been sold before.
oezi 2y ago
I think the notebook itself is secondary to the system employed for note taking. For me bullet journaling changed what I do inside a notebook roughly 10 years ago. Today I have moved back to scratch-your-own-itch digital tool to manage a bullet journal with markdown syntax: https://github.com/coezbek/rodo https://github.com/coezbek/rodo
threatofrain 2y ago
Ya'll may also want to check out Midori¹, a favorite of the journaling community. There's also Northbooks², a small American company. And Nanami Paper³ if you want to try out quality paper in the ultra-thin direction. [1]: https://md.midori-japan.co.jp/en/products/mdnote-cotton/ https://md.midori-japan.co.jp/en/products/mdnote-cotton/ [2]: https://gonorthbooks.com/ https://gonorthbooks.com/ [3]: https://www.amazon.com/Cafe-Note-Tomoe-River-Journal/dp/B0737T6YNS https://www.amazon.com/Cafe-Note-Tomoe-River-Journal/dp/B073...
- ktallett 2y ago
  I love Midori but even with the covers they simply aren't sturdy enough for popping in a bag without getting damaged.
  - Inconel 2y ago
    I've been using an MD Notebook A5 Grid with the clear plastic cover, and while I try to treat it gently, I have it in a tote along with a pretty bulky and heavy XPS 17 and it hasn't gotten damaged yet. I love that little notebook and started using it after Moleskin discontinued a hardcover notebook that I really enjoyed.
drekipus 2y ago
Pretty much the only moleskine I got, and still use regularly. Is the A5 week to a page diary. I love that the right hand side of any opening is lined for free form writing. And the thing is small enough to fit in your pocket. Absolute game changer, I think I'm up to my fourth year in a row now. Other than that I have used lechturm1917, I really like the numbered pages, but I find it difficult to get in any local bookstore. Having the pocket diary has changed the way I do notes, so I'm finding I need it less and less. I'm using a pilot juice-it-up four coloured pen 0.4mm ATM and love it to bits, but the ink runs out way too fast. It would be lovely if someone made a pen that has such vivid colours end flows well without quickly emptying the tank
dr_dshiv 2y ago
I can only write with papermate felt tip. And I love me some dotted paper.
austinl 2y ago
I'm curious about the main use-cases for physical notebooks from folks on HN. I love the idea of physical notebooks, but also have years of digital notes that are searchable and that I can access on any device. I feel like I'm in too deep with digital, and like the ability to access it anywhere. Has anyone made the switch from digital to physical and loved it? What kind of notes are you taking, how did you get it to stick?
- walterbell 2y ago
  They are not mutually exclusive, in the era of ubiquitous cameras and handwriting recognition. Paper and physical notebooks offer motor memory and time delay before data ingestion by cloud analytics.
  - d1sxeyes 2y ago
    Handwriting recognition is still very hit-or-miss. The best results I've had so far are by running the handwriting through the Google Cloud Vision API, and then asking ChatGPT to fix transcription mistakes. The problem with that is that effectively you are asking it to hallucinate. It's great at producing something that sounds a lot like what I might have written, but I can't trust anything that it says, because it frequently hallucinates numbers, dates, people's names—the exact kind of thing that I take notes to have a good record of. So I've given up and only use paper now.
- gk1 2y ago
  For me the benefit is avoiding distractions while writing. I can’t cmd+f to search my notes but I also can’t cmd+tab to switch to my email tab.
- reaperducer 2y ago
  I feel like I'm in too deep with digital, and like the ability to access it anywhere. You can have both. My wife uses a smart pen that tracks her writing in her notebooks and creates searchable PDFs. Every couple of months she unloads it via Bluetooth into iCloud and the pages are available everywhere she is. She recently turned off the pen's built-in OCR after she found that macOS does a much better job of automatically OCRing the pages just by dropping the PDFs into the file system.
dayvid 2y ago
I'm a big fan of MUJI notebooks. Perfect for me on the cost-quality spectrum and they have blank paper options. I have some from high school that still held up.
oldpersonintx 2y ago
[dead]
djbusby 2y ago
Here I am using the backs of paper from spammy paper mail (post) held together with a binder clip and the random pen I got from my recent visit to a bank. The price in these things seems a lot to me. But I also spent money on a Remarkable (which is nice too).
sellmesoap 2y ago
I spend a fair bit of time out in the woods or on the water, I've become a huge fan of Write in the Rain products, along with Japanese made mechanical pencils. My writing and structure has improved a lot after volunteering with the local marine search and rescue crew. Having to write a lot of logging information for training and missions while cooping with the boat movement and weather adds extra challenge!
wenc 2y ago
I love my Maruman Mnemosyne 105 (not the 182 which is single sided) notebooks (I've been using them for years). The great thing about them is that the paper is thin but there is no bleed through even with fountain pens. They're also much more practical for ideating than a Leuchtturm because they are perforated for tearing off. With a Leuchtturm there is a hesitation to write because you don't want to waste paper or mess up a nice notebook, but the Mnemosyne there is no such hesitation (even though it's nice paper). https://www.jetpens.com/Maruman-Mnemosyne-N105-Notebook-A5-Dot-Grid/pd/27112 https://www.jetpens.com/Maruman-Mnemosyne-N105-Notebook-A5-D... Also, although I've been a fountain pen enthusiast for years (LAMY, TWSBI, Pilot), I find I can get the same quality of writing from a inky rolling ball pen like the Pilot Precise V5 RT. They're much cheaper and easier to carry around than a fountain pen. https://www.target.com/p/pilot-3ct-precise-v5-rolling-ball-pens-extra-fine-point-0-5mm-art-deco-collection-black-ink/-/A-13317289 https://www.target.com/p/pilot-3ct-precise-v5-rolling-ball-p...
crossroadsguy 2y ago
I have always failed to connect with the Moleskine admiration movement. Every time I go to one of those, kinda upscale, stationary stores, it would be kept there. I end up marvelling at the combination of its sheer inflated price and mediocrity and I end up buying a local notebook (of late that has been Paperkraft). This is very relatable: > buys a fresh Moleskine every time they come into a store? We have no idea what they do with them I have known people who keep (as they almost always do not use those) Molsekine notebooks just to keep it. They would drag one around meeting to meeting, keep it on their office desks, or in their home and wouldn't fail to talk about it when a chance arises. I did buy one years ago and it was such a waste of money. It was fit for none of ball, gel, or fountain pens. Their seams are very fragile and ugly - I can see thread peering out and holes stretched already. I tried their even costlier models and no improvement. The best notebooks I have used over journalising and note taking since mid-late 1990s (when I was a kid) are: - A few bought in Venice (apparently a very very old family owned store) - I forget the name. - A local Indian brand Brahma Books which was sold out to a bigger brand and of course stopped making good notebooks - A notebook my friend brought me from a Walmart or Costco when he returned from USA (he knew I loved writing on paper and he picked one from shelf which was not at all costly). I asked him and he said it was the store brand and not some other brand and cost few dollars iirc. Any Moleskine I have seen or touched, or the one I used, doesn't even come close to quality of these. I think purchasing and keeping Moleskine in itself is the bobby and the experience. Maybe.
LennyHenrysNuts 2y ago
Moleskine paper is like toilet paper, no good if you use a fountain pen. I use Clairfontaine notebooks, way better.
jdboyd 2y ago
I mainly use Field Notes brand. I like the thinner covers. I tend to grab a new book pretty commercial project, so those books didn't always get filled before I'm done with them. I also go through a series for sketching. I wish I could find something the same size that was good for water color though.
d1sxeyes 2y ago
For those in Europe who have a Flying Tiger Copenhagen nearby, their 'Bullet Journal' is a great, cheap notebook (seriously, 5 EUR, compared to 3-4x that for a Moleskine). Dotted, numbered pages. Paper quality is fine, I use a fountain pen so there's a bit of ghosting and a bit of bleed through, but it's only really noticeable if you lift the notebook up and really study the letters. The only thing I don't like about it is the STUPID lettering on the cover. Just give me a plain, blank cover! They keep doing seasonal ranges with reasonably acceptable covers, but the pages aren't numbered, which, you know, I shouldn't complain about for 5 EUR, but it's just so nearly perfect... https://flyingtiger.com/en-hu/products/bullet-planner-a5-3029014 https://flyingtiger.com/en-hu/products/bullet-planner-a5-302...

86 points by samclemens 2y ago

TheChaplain 2y ago

Moleskine is nice, but have you ever tried Leuchtturm1917?

neom 2y ago
Not sure why, however in high humidity, Leuchtturm pages stick together much more frequently where moleskine do not at all.
bloopernova 2y ago
The A4 hardback with square dotted paper is really nice. Before I moved my notes into text files, I used to put everything into mine. Work notes, sketches, plans, etc etc. Leuchtterm make gorgeous notebooks.
ashton314 2y ago
Leuchtturm1917 is so much better for fountain pens: the paper is smooth and the ink doesn't feather. The numbered pages are a great touch.
ano-ther 2y ago
They’re ok, but I prefer the slightly smaller format of Moleskine that strangely only they seem to make. It’s astonishing how much these branded notebooks cost. They must have great margins, not just Moleskine as described in the article.

walterbell 2y ago

> From 2005, Leuchtturm.. took on Moleskine, matching them for quality.. older companies like Clairefontaine, Rhodia, and Paperblanks refreshed their offerings. Western hipsters, always alert to high-end Japanese design, started to import notebooks from companies like Midori, Hobonichi, and Stalogy, which bested any of the European brands with their exquisite papers and bindings (Moleskine and Leuchtturm both use mainly Taiwanese paper). In the US, Field Notes struck a utilitarian chord with a mid-century aesthetic. All presented a fresh spin on the basic product, and all benefited from the product building that Moleskine had done. Stalogy has thin paper with minimal bleed, enabling small notebooks with more pages for writing and reference.

sgu999 2y ago
> (Moleskine and Leuchtturm both use mainly Taiwanese paper) I guess us Europeans can't even make paper anymore... I hope one day it'll be widely obvious to everyone that the true architects of our impoverishment are these CEOs who organized the offshoring of all our supply chain. But in the mean time we'll probably keep on blaming migrants for a while.
- FredPret 2y ago
  That cannot be true: 1) A class of people (here it is “the CEOs”) consistently behaving a certain way over time can only be explained by one of two things: a conspiracy (unstable; almost impossible to pull off), or their behavior is shaped by the reality facing them 2) if CEOs consistently offshore manufacturing over decades, this must be because it’s most profitable to do so. This must then be because people elsewhere can make more widgets per dollar / euro of wages, or we’re back to conspiracy theories 3) If workers elsewhere can make widgets cheaper, it’s either because they’re further along in industrializing and have more automation (not the case here) or because they do more work for less money. The blame here is not with the CEO’s, and indeed not with the rich workers either, because they’ve evolved past that point 4) The rich workers should now switch to working at a higher level of abstraction - knowledge work. This way low-wage work gets offshored or automated or ideally both, consumer prices stay low, and wages go up. If you failed at step 4, that’s because it’s really hard. Adapting to the post-industrial paradigm is easier with a young population and a culture that celebrates change, neither of which is common or easy to maintain. “The CEOs” and “the politicians” are not to blame if the entire system isn’t working.
  - walterbell 2y ago
    > their behavior is shaped by the reality facing them Yes, e.g. public policy. See tariffs and subsequent relocation of some manufacturing from China to SE Asia. Or export controls on ASML and other technology.
  - _aavaa_ 2y ago
    > “The CEOs” and “the politicians” are not to blame if the entire system isn’t working. Yes they are. The CEOs and the boards are choosing to focus on maximizing short term profit over the wellbeing of the people in the countries they operate. That's a choice. And the politicians are directly responsible for setting up the rules under which such systems develop. That they allow companies to offshore to other countries and pay the people there much lower wages than the employees they fired is a choice. That they let them pollute in other countries in order to not pay for it is a choice, see the EU's border adjustment for the carbon pricing.

neom 2y ago

“Do you know there’s a section of our customer base that buys a fresh Moleskine every time they come into a store? We have no idea what they do with them” I give them out. I have far too many moleskine's yet I still buy one every time I'm in a store with them... I just can't stand seeing someone using a crap notebook. So when someone I like comes into my office and they're using some free shit they got as swag from salesforce or w/e, I give them a moleskine and a F-701.

armitron 2y ago
A moleskine is an overpriced crap notebook at this point. Paper quality has drastically diminished from what it used to be, to the point where one can't use fountain or gel pens without bleed through. Another example of enshittification.
- neom 2y ago
  And is that "from my own observations because I'm an expert in moleskins and I can tell you exactly why the paper quality has drastically diminished from what it used to be, here is the technique change" or "eh, I used a notepad once so I know what I'm talking about" Because I'm quite sure I know a lot about moleskine, and I'm quite sure you are totally incorrect, a classic is 70gsm, there is no way it wouldn't reject a fp or gel. Oh yeah, and as a note, I looked at your HN comment history, you might consider a once over of the guidelines, especially: "Please don't post shallow dismissals". https://www.despec.se/media/3080/msk-paper-guide.pdf https://www.despec.se/media/3080/msk-paper-guide.pdf
  - armitron 2y ago
    The web is full of independent observations of that exact fact, here's one that even comes with photos [1] but don't let me shatter your illusion. Feel free to keep giving them your money and supporting the enshittification. "Are Moleskines fountain pen friendly? No. The paper quality is low in general, and fountain pen users will experience ghosting and bleedthrough that prevent you using both sides of the paper, and even some feathering on the front side. There are far better options available, and at a cheaper price." [1] https://theanalogpastor.com/are-moleskines-fountain-pen-friendly https://theanalogpastor.com/are-moleskines-fountain-pen-frie...

wslh 2y ago

I prefer notebooks with rings at the top (A5 or A6). I think being left-handed also plays a role in this preference, as it makes writing more comfortable for me.

soapdog 2y ago
Rhodia makes some good ones like that and so does Field Notes.

cjs_ac 2y ago

I personally prefer Rhodia notepads and notebooks: I prefer the stark whiteness of the paper, the smoother paper, and the 5mm dot grid. Moleskine's marketing is simply too aggressive: they don't sell notebooks, they sell an aesthetic. I'm not going to claim to be above such marketing tactics: I'm definitely not. But Moleskine's claim to sell authentic Parisian notebooks used by struggling authors is such obvious bullshit. It reminds me of the 'Original Australian Ugg Boot Company', which is an American business that tried to trademark the name of a generic product made by countless Australian businesses from offcuts of sheepskin. Just as everyone in the southern half of Australia has a pair of Ugg boots (but only Bogans will wear them in public), so those famous authors used moleskine notebooks: they're not good quality products; they're just ubiquitous and cheap.

Simorgh 2y ago
I have also used Rhodia notebooks in the past. I think they are manufactured in France. Which for me is a plus since one assumes the manufacturing process is kinder and to a high standard. Rhodia pricing is also really good!

vr46 2y ago

Leuchtturm paper bleeds like a napkin, so hopeless. Moleskine works. Hobonichi rules.

ashton314 2y ago
What are you writing with? I write with a Lamy Al-Star EF nib and use take-sume black ink from Pilot; Leuchtturm doesn't bleed at all; doesn't feather either. Moleskine doesn't work nearly as well for fountain pens—too much feathering.
- vr46 2y ago
  Capless EF, Diamine Red Dragon. We cannot be talking about the same books, my friend ordered one and found the same problem, not sure what they were using. Bled badly with a Pilot C4, as well.
sevensor 2y ago
I got a Leuchtturm once out of curiosity. Could only use one side of each sheet. Sometimes it was so bad I had to leave a leaf entirely blank on both sides. Absolutely worthless paper. For a good a5 notebook we are spoiled for choice at that price point. I’ve been enjoying Yu-Sari lately. Where I struggle is finding good paper in a pocket notebook.
_kyran 2y ago
Try the 120gsm

mihaic 2y ago

Honestly, I now think most people with a Moleskin are doing it primarily for show. They do have nice quality paper, so it's not really a bad choice, only could be better depending on what your exact needs are. For work I ended at Maruman Mnemosyne and I'm always happy with them. It's a Japanese brand with great paper, nice ergonomics of easily fitting a pen in their spire and plenty of combinations of size and grid pattern.

Hamuko 2y ago
I got a Moleskine because it seemed to be the nicest thing available in the bookstore when I needed a notebook. Got a small one with fire red cover to write my scratch codes. (The hope is that whenever I am actually locked out of my accounts and need to find a scratch code in panic, that red notebook is gonna catch my eye faster than any other colour.)
- mihaic 2y ago
  In most bookstores a Moleskine really is the best brand available, so I completely understand your choice. Good luck that you won't need to use the codes though.

memset 2y ago

Fascinating! I myself am partial to the Muji lay flat notebooks. Question: how can I find a printer to make my own? I run a small business making staff paper notebooks. I want to make lay flat, thread + tape bound ones. How can I find a printer that can help me replicate? (I also want to launch a line of cheap mead-like notebooks, but similarly have trouble figuring out how to get those done.) most places will do spiral, wire-o, or saddle stitch with essentially copy paper but I’d like to be able to make these more specialized items.

sgu999 2y ago
Mind sharing more about your business? How did you end up doing that? Are you competitive at all on prices or are you mostly benefit from the fact that it's a local product for your niche market?
- memset 2y ago
  themusiciansnotebook.com I’d paused it for the past couple of years but am bringing it back! Just scratching my own itch.
minkles 2y ago
100% agree with the muji ones. I buy the planner every year. I do most of my organisation and most of my thinking work on a hoard of a two foot thick slab of muji squared paper and enough gel pen refills to last 20 years.
yial 2y ago
I’m not 100% sure I can help here, but the company I work for, we work with a printer / producer / manufacturer in Ecuador. If you’d like to shoot me an email with what you’d like to produce, I can see if it’s something they can make. (We manufacture fair trade goods, working with some producers, including notebooks… so this might be within the realm. I think the hardest part would be getting the exact paper you would want). My email is in my profile. (Also not entirely altruistic as I struggle to find notebooks I love, and frequently revert back to legal pads which just don’t work quite the same).

salamanderman 2y ago

Peter Pauper Press is my go to notebook. They aren't elegant in their simplicity like a Moleskin but they are lovely and very functional.

kwhitefoot 2y ago

My rule of thumb when reading a headline that says "How xx did yy." Is to always wonder "Did xx do yy?" There doesn't seem to be anything in the article to suggest that these particular notebooks are anything other than fashion accessories and Veblen goods, certainly nothing to suggest any kind of conquering of the "Digital Era".

nyc111 2y ago

I wasn't clear if they bought the "Moleskine" trademark, did they? Apparently the original company had been sold before.

oezi 2y ago

I think the notebook itself is secondary to the system employed for note taking. For me bullet journaling changed what I do inside a notebook roughly 10 years ago. Today I have moved back to scratch-your-own-itch digital tool to manage a bullet journal with markdown syntax: https://github.com/coezbek/rodo https://github.com/coezbek/rodo

threatofrain 2y ago

Ya'll may also want to check out Midori¹, a favorite of the journaling community. There's also Northbooks², a small American company. And Nanami Paper³ if you want to try out quality paper in the ultra-thin direction. [1]: https://md.midori-japan.co.jp/en/products/mdnote-cotton/ https://md.midori-japan.co.jp/en/products/mdnote-cotton/ [2]: https://gonorthbooks.com/ https://gonorthbooks.com/ [3]: https://www.amazon.com/Cafe-Note-Tomoe-River-Journal/dp/B0737T6YNS https://www.amazon.com/Cafe-Note-Tomoe-River-Journal/dp/B073...

ktallett 2y ago
I love Midori but even with the covers they simply aren't sturdy enough for popping in a bag without getting damaged.
- Inconel 2y ago
  I've been using an MD Notebook A5 Grid with the clear plastic cover, and while I try to treat it gently, I have it in a tote along with a pretty bulky and heavy XPS 17 and it hasn't gotten damaged yet. I love that little notebook and started using it after Moleskin discontinued a hardcover notebook that I really enjoyed.

drekipus 2y ago

Pretty much the only moleskine I got, and still use regularly. Is the A5 week to a page diary. I love that the right hand side of any opening is lined for free form writing. And the thing is small enough to fit in your pocket. Absolute game changer, I think I'm up to my fourth year in a row now. Other than that I have used lechturm1917, I really like the numbered pages, but I find it difficult to get in any local bookstore. Having the pocket diary has changed the way I do notes, so I'm finding I need it less and less. I'm using a pilot juice-it-up four coloured pen 0.4mm ATM and love it to bits, but the ink runs out way too fast. It would be lovely if someone made a pen that has such vivid colours end flows well without quickly emptying the tank

dr_dshiv 2y ago

I can only write with papermate felt tip. And I love me some dotted paper.

austinl 2y ago

I'm curious about the main use-cases for physical notebooks from folks on HN. I love the idea of physical notebooks, but also have years of digital notes that are searchable and that I can access on any device. I feel like I'm in too deep with digital, and like the ability to access it anywhere. Has anyone made the switch from digital to physical and loved it? What kind of notes are you taking, how did you get it to stick?

walterbell 2y ago
They are not mutually exclusive, in the era of ubiquitous cameras and handwriting recognition. Paper and physical notebooks offer motor memory and time delay before data ingestion by cloud analytics.
- d1sxeyes 2y ago
  Handwriting recognition is still very hit-or-miss. The best results I've had so far are by running the handwriting through the Google Cloud Vision API, and then asking ChatGPT to fix transcription mistakes. The problem with that is that effectively you are asking it to hallucinate. It's great at producing something that sounds a lot like what I might have written, but I can't trust anything that it says, because it frequently hallucinates numbers, dates, people's names—the exact kind of thing that I take notes to have a good record of. So I've given up and only use paper now.
gk1 2y ago
For me the benefit is avoiding distractions while writing. I can’t cmd+f to search my notes but I also can’t cmd+tab to switch to my email tab.
reaperducer 2y ago
I feel like I'm in too deep with digital, and like the ability to access it anywhere. You can have both. My wife uses a smart pen that tracks her writing in her notebooks and creates searchable PDFs. Every couple of months she unloads it via Bluetooth into iCloud and the pages are available everywhere she is. She recently turned off the pen's built-in OCR after she found that macOS does a much better job of automatically OCRing the pages just by dropping the PDFs into the file system.

dayvid 2y ago

I'm a big fan of MUJI notebooks. Perfect for me on the cost-quality spectrum and they have blank paper options. I have some from high school that still held up.

oldpersonintx 2y ago

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djbusby 2y ago

Here I am using the backs of paper from spammy paper mail (post) held together with a binder clip and the random pen I got from my recent visit to a bank. The price in these things seems a lot to me. But I also spent money on a Remarkable (which is nice too).

sellmesoap 2y ago

I spend a fair bit of time out in the woods or on the water, I've become a huge fan of Write in the Rain products, along with Japanese made mechanical pencils. My writing and structure has improved a lot after volunteering with the local marine search and rescue crew. Having to write a lot of logging information for training and missions while cooping with the boat movement and weather adds extra challenge!

wenc 2y ago

I love my Maruman Mnemosyne 105 (not the 182 which is single sided) notebooks (I've been using them for years). The great thing about them is that the paper is thin but there is no bleed through even with fountain pens. They're also much more practical for ideating than a Leuchtturm because they are perforated for tearing off. With a Leuchtturm there is a hesitation to write because you don't want to waste paper or mess up a nice notebook, but the Mnemosyne there is no such hesitation (even though it's nice paper). https://www.jetpens.com/Maruman-Mnemosyne-N105-Notebook-A5-Dot-Grid/pd/27112 https://www.jetpens.com/Maruman-Mnemosyne-N105-Notebook-A5-D... Also, although I've been a fountain pen enthusiast for years (LAMY, TWSBI, Pilot), I find I can get the same quality of writing from a inky rolling ball pen like the Pilot Precise V5 RT. They're much cheaper and easier to carry around than a fountain pen. https://www.target.com/p/pilot-3ct-precise-v5-rolling-ball-pens-extra-fine-point-0-5mm-art-deco-collection-black-ink/-/A-13317289 https://www.target.com/p/pilot-3ct-precise-v5-rolling-ball-p...

crossroadsguy 2y ago

I have always failed to connect with the Moleskine admiration movement. Every time I go to one of those, kinda upscale, stationary stores, it would be kept there. I end up marvelling at the combination of its sheer inflated price and mediocrity and I end up buying a local notebook (of late that has been Paperkraft). This is very relatable: > buys a fresh Moleskine every time they come into a store? We have no idea what they do with them I have known people who keep (as they almost always do not use those) Molsekine notebooks just to keep it. They would drag one around meeting to meeting, keep it on their office desks, or in their home and wouldn't fail to talk about it when a chance arises. I did buy one years ago and it was such a waste of money. It was fit for none of ball, gel, or fountain pens. Their seams are very fragile and ugly - I can see thread peering out and holes stretched already. I tried their even costlier models and no improvement. The best notebooks I have used over journalising and note taking since mid-late 1990s (when I was a kid) are: - A few bought in Venice (apparently a very very old family owned store) - I forget the name. - A local Indian brand Brahma Books which was sold out to a bigger brand and of course stopped making good notebooks - A notebook my friend brought me from a Walmart or Costco when he returned from USA (he knew I loved writing on paper and he picked one from shelf which was not at all costly). I asked him and he said it was the store brand and not some other brand and cost few dollars iirc. Any Moleskine I have seen or touched, or the one I used, doesn't even come close to quality of these. I think purchasing and keeping Moleskine in itself is the bobby and the experience. Maybe.

LennyHenrysNuts 2y ago

Moleskine paper is like toilet paper, no good if you use a fountain pen. I use Clairfontaine notebooks, way better.

jdboyd 2y ago

I mainly use Field Notes brand. I like the thinner covers. I tend to grab a new book pretty commercial project, so those books didn't always get filled before I'm done with them. I also go through a series for sketching. I wish I could find something the same size that was good for water color though.

d1sxeyes 2y ago

For those in Europe who have a Flying Tiger Copenhagen nearby, their 'Bullet Journal' is a great, cheap notebook (seriously, 5 EUR, compared to 3-4x that for a Moleskine). Dotted, numbered pages. Paper quality is fine, I use a fountain pen so there's a bit of ghosting and a bit of bleed through, but it's only really noticeable if you lift the notebook up and really study the letters. The only thing I don't like about it is the STUPID lettering on the cover. Just give me a plain, blank cover! They keep doing seasonal ranges with reasonably acceptable covers, but the pages aren't numbered, which, you know, I shouldn't complain about for 5 EUR, but it's just so nearly perfect... https://flyingtiger.com/en-hu/products/bullet-planner-a5-3029014 https://flyingtiger.com/en-hu/products/bullet-planner-a5-302...