It's getting kind of old skool over here in the home office. I haven't yet gotten around to talking about why I'm spending time on notepads and notebooks, and just how I use these things. But I'm going to post an article describing just that. This photo is just a teaser to let you know that I'm still working away at this sketch paper stuff because it's an itch that just won't go away.
That big old looking machine you see is a wire ring binder. I've been going through various needs I have for notebooks. I can't live without my Moleskine or Rhodia. One of them goes with me everywhere. Lately it's a Moleskine softcover plain notebook for my sketches, and a small cahier for my todo lists. These are great, but I still want a better notebook just for sketching user interfaces and interaction.
There are a few things I look for:
1) It lays flat and cover can fold over
2) Is small and portable
3) Has some tooth
4) Has a sturdy cover
5) Has perforations for removable pages
6) Has a good graph paper design
I'd be interested in hearing what other people look for.
Right now, I'm mainly concerned with creating the tool that's most useful for the type of work I do. Sometimes a blank canvas is better. Sometimes a grid is better. Some people will always only want blank paper. But maybe there are others out there, like me, who are looking for something a little better. I spent some days trying and being frustrated with what's out there. Most of the time I'm happy with what I have, but other days I just want nicer grids.
I'm just working on finding the right tools to make my life easier. But I'd love to hear if there are things you look for in a designer's sketch book that you just can find right now. I've been thinking that what might come out of this process for me are a small collection of customizable notebooks that I'll produce for fellow designers with various papers that they select and configure. I don't foresee producing a lot of these now.
Comments
10/23/08 @ 18:10
This is out of left field, but also maybe something that could differentiate your works from others.
I use my notebooks to record ideas, or to work through a problem. What if you included something to spark our creativity? One idea came to me from this interview with John Chris Jones:
"In William Gordon’s original 1961 text, Synectics: The Development of Creative Capacity, [he describes] the use of Dada-like irrelevancies, accidental conjunctions, play, metaphoric thinking and the quest to “operationalize intuition”.."
Jones himself inserts this into the interview:
"The bluebird carries the sky on his back. -- Henry David Thoreau"
One way to use this is to randomly insert these playful bits of text throughout in a non-intrusive way, in light gray text at the bottom of some pages.
10/23/08 @ 18:24
Brilliant idea, Victor. Almost like a daily affirmation for designers. Or like the Far Side calendar I used to keep on my desk. I've been keeping a private blog of design quotations actually, so this might be interesting. Love it.
10/24/08 @ 07:49
I'd like:
* opaque paper on wich you can work with markers without see-through effect ( this is called "layout paper " and is used by industrial designers to make roughs )
* 1 page of paper / 1 page of tracingpaper / 1paper / etc.
10/24/08 @ 23:20
@Anonymous: Interesting. I occasionally use bleed proof paper, and used to use it more frequently with my Prismacolor markers. I actually used Borden & Riley opaque papers in that case bound book I posted a little while ago. The opaque/trace vellum idea is interesting. Reminds me of doing layout the old fashioned way.
But this paper is very heavy, thick, and expensive compared to other text papers in the 60-70# weight range, which does a pretty good job of preventing ink from bleeding/showing through. Not as good as that heavier opaque paper though.
10/27/08 @ 13:08
The only two things that are super important to me are that it opens to be fully flat, and depending on whether I will use watercolours/inks, that it doesn't fall apart when wet.
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