• Related: Moleskine Hacks

2004 was quite the year of discovery for me, and one of the many things I became aware and incredibly fond of is Moleskine Notebooks. I’ve always been a bit of a notebook fiend, buying whatever spangly and multi-colour leafed design caught my eye in the hope that it would give my creativity a much needed kick up the arse and prompted me to come up with my best work yet, only to be consigned to a heap when the story I’d be working on fizzled out.

Moleskine comes with its own folklore, cultural legends such as Ernest Hemingway, Henri Matisse and Bruce Chatwin swore by their Moleskine books, Chatwin himself is quoted as saying “Losing my passport was the least of my worries; losing a notebook was a catastrophe.” It is to scribbling what the Mac is to graphic design, the must-have for any person wishing to describe themselves as ‘creative’.

What makes Moleskine notebooks so great?

Quality

A Moleskine notebook is a beautiful object. Sleek, simple and cool. Even when it’s been half-soaked in tea! I spilled tea on the book I drafted this article in, and if anything it looks even cooler. It has that ‘long afternoons scribbling away in coffee shops’ look about it. It’s also well-built, hardwearing, can handle a working week bouncing around in my handbag, and can handle being absent-mindedly used as a coaster on the weekends. The paper, although the weight varies across the different types of book (more on that in a moment), is smooth and pleasing to the touch of a pen.

Variety

For every job, there’s a Moleskine. I currently have:

• Memo Pockets – a portable filing system, and a handy PDA case if you have something like a Zire.
• Graph Paper – originally intended for guitar tab, the versatile graph pad has now become my journal.
• Plain Notebook – my first Moleskine. I first bought the large one because I didn’t think I’d take to the ‘pocket’, but now have the large books at home and the small ones on the move.
• Sketchbook – in pocket and large sizes, with a heavier weight of paper to handle watercolours as well as sketchings.
• Infobook – Originally intended for travellers, but just as useful for the land-locked geek, this is a lined notebook divided into sections. It’s crying out for a hack, so watch this space. Or watch Merlin’s space – he’s more likely to come up with something first.
• Japanese Storybook – this is one length of paper folded into a concertina of 60 pages. Good for sketching.
• Storyboard Notebook – sketchbook-weight paper with small and large frames, ideal for cartoonists or film makers or anyone after a novel way of practicing drawing.
• Cahier Journals – I currently have the large journal, which is reminiscent of school exercise books, except this time the handwriting can be as untidy as you like and you can even use rude words if you want to.

• Reporter Notebook – top instead of side bound. Easy to use hand-held for a quick drawing or note. The pocket holds 3×5 index cards quite nicely. Quite a few pages at the back are perforated so they can be easily removed – good for handing people notes, or scribbling tests that you want rid of.

All books come with the handy pocket, bookmark (not in the Reporter) and elastic clasp.

Portability

I’ve found other notebooks to be either too small to be of any use or too big to take anywhere. The pocket Moleskine is the perfect size.

What Mediums to Use With Them

Pencil

Any Moleskine should work fine with Pencils, but if you press on hard, the next sheet will be dented in the ordinary notebooks – the sketchbooks have thicker paper which work better. Coloured pencil works fine, though all but the sketchbooks have a slightly creamy coloured paper that may skew the colours a tiny bit – probably not enough to worry about.

Pen and Ink

Ballpoint and gel ink pens work fine in any Moleskine, liquid ink pens like the Rotring Isograph may bleed through a bit to the other side in the thin papered notebooks, but not too bad.

Watercolour

The paper in the notebooks is very thin, and tends to get misshaped quite easily with Watercolour. Although the sketchbooks have heavier paper that should be better suited (and are actually labelled as being suited to water-based media), the paper seems to repel water, and won’t take colour well. If you want good watercolour paper, look elsewhere, but if you value the portability and just want to do watercolour occasionally, you can get away with it. The notebooks work slightly better, but the sketchbooks can do the job if you break the surface slightly by either washing over fairly hard with the brush, or using Watercolour Pencils like Derwent Graphitint or crayons like Derwent Aquatone to apply the colour in the first place.

Fans

The Moleskine has a fair few fans, and most of them assemble at the Moleskinerie, to exchange tips, art and stories. Merlin at 43 Folders did a fantastic article on Moleskine hacks earlier in the year – and that article was the one that prompted me to order a couple and give them a whirl — thanks, Merlin!

Have I tempted you into trying one?

If you want to find out more about Moleskines, check out these sites:

• Modo E Modo – the manufacturers of the Moleskine.
• Moleskine – UK Moleskine site with links to buy books online.
• Moleskine – US Moleskine site with links to buy online.

External Resources

• Omar’s excellent overview of how he integrates Moleskines with electronic stuff and GTD (What? See Productivity)

Update From Sam

Since becoming more interested in sketching and using watercolours, pastels and other media, I’ve become less keen on the Moleskine. For writing, for use as a notebook, it’s still head and shoulders above the rest, but as a sketchbook, something to practice art techniques in, I haven’t felt happy with any of the Moleskines I have.

Look at all the Moleskine sites out there, like the previously mentioned Moleskinerie, and you’ll see many, many people creating beautiful sketches and works of art in theirs. I find that the smooth paper that is so nice to use when I’m writing isn’t so nice for drawing. So as far as the art side goes, I’m on the lookout for another book to fall in love with. Any suggestions? Let me know.