Ninth Wave Designs

Moleskines in China

A NWD blog reader named Annie submitted this comment over the weekend:

"Hi Lisa, this comment is not related to your post, but is about moleskines.

I was just on moleskinerie's web page & read some posts about differences in the quality of the notebooks since manufacturing has been outsourced or moved to China. I haven't bought any new notebooks in the last few months and wondered if you noticed any differences.

Any idea how to tell the difference between the older & newer (china made) books?"

I haven't noticed any negative effects due to the outsourcing of part of the production of Moleskines to China.  The items I have received made under the new production all appear to be up to the usual high standard set by Modo & Modo, and since quality is their number one selling point it would frankly be stupid for them to mess with that success.  I have not received any feedback from any of my Moleskine customers that address a decline in quality in the products I am selling.  At this point it has not been my experience that the quality of Moleskine notebooks and planners has deteriorated in any noticeable way due to recent production changes.

To further answer Annie's question, the way to tell if your Moleskine is made in China is by the presence of this statement on the back of the notebook belly band:

"Printed and bound in China - Designed and assembled in Italy."

I am in the process of trying to get to the bottom of this issue, and will be updating the NWD blog with any new information as it develops.  In the mean time, if you are still concerned with the possibility of lessening quality due to the production of Moleskines in China, the following is a list of Moleskines that I currently have on hand in the Ninth Wave Designs Online Store that were produced entirely in Italy:

• Moleskine Pocket Reporter Notebooks with ruled and plain pages.
• Moleskine Large Reporter Notebooks with ruled and plain pages.
• Moleskine Pocket Info Notebook.
• Moleskine Pocket Storyboard Notebook.
• Moleskine Pocket Japanese Notebook.
• Moleskine Pocket Music Notebook.
• Moleskine Pocket Address Book.
• Moleskine Large Address Book.
• Moleskine Small Memo-Pockets
• Moleskine Large Memo-Pockets.
• Moleskine Large Plain Notebook.
• Moleskine Large Ruled Notebook.
• Moleskine Extra Large Cahier - all styles on hand.
• Moleskine Large Cahier - all styles on hand.
• Moleskine Pocket Cahier - Squared Black & Kraft, Plain Kraft, and Ruled Kraft.

Quantities are limited, so email before placing any large orders.

Stay tuned for more information.

Love Triangle

Pencils have changed very little over the years, at least in their outward appearance.  They are still the same length as they have always been, give or take the presence of an eraser, and a pencil made 100 years ago could easily be mistaken for one made yesterday.  Triangular pencils are a big innovation then compared with all the years of stability in outward design, and rather than being just a novelty item they seem to be growing in popularity.   I am excited by these new triangular pencils - as excited as one can get about pencils anyway.  The shift from hexagonal shape to triangular shape is a wonderful functional improvement, a major jump forward in the slow evolution of pencil design, and it has me trying out a bunch of new pencils.

I love the feel of a triangular pencil in my hand; it just fits so much better.  I also have issues with tendonitis from years of drawing, so the improved ergonomics of the triangular shaped barrel is something I really appreciate as well.  From a geometric perspective the new barrel shape, which I recently learned is not actually a triangle but a curve of constant width known as a Reuleaux  Triangle.  The fact that this shape does not have a fixed center of rotation means that triangular pencils don't roll off your desk as easily as a hexagonal pencil, which is another nice feature of the design.

I have been using a variety of triangular pencils lately to find the best one in the lot for my own use. They include:

• Dixon Tri-Conderoga 2/HB with eraser.
• Mongol Trio with eraser.
• Faber-Castell Jumbo Grip.
• Faber-Castell Grip 2001 2=B (available in other grades).
• Staedtler Mars Ergosoft HB (available in other grades).
• Staedtler Noris Ergosoft HB 2.
• California Republic Golden Bear HB.
• Ticonderoga Tri-Write 2/HB with eraser.

The first three pencils on the list are large diameter pencils designed for small children.  I was unable to track down the Staedtler Noris Learner's pencil which is another larger diameter triangular pencil that I wanted to try, but they don't seem to be available in the US any longer.  I like the large diameter pencils for sketching, since they are even more comfortable to hold than the smaller versions, but they may be too large for most people, and they require a special size pencil sharpener (the Tri-Conderoga comes with a sharpener for that purpose).

These three pencils all have a very similar feel to the graphite, so none of them exceed the others on that front.  The Tri-Conderoga has a  black "grippy" finish to it that makes it easy to hold without feeling sticky and the Grip 2001 which features raised textured dots.  The Mongol Trio has a nice semi-gloss natural finish that isn't slick at all.  Each of these finishes works well with the large format triangular barrel, adding to the ergonomic comfort of using these pencils.  When it comes down to choosing one over the other for these three pencils it will be a matter of subtle preference; do you want an eraser - do you like the color - do you prefer the finish.  My choice is the Dixon Tri-Conderoga because of the construction of the pencil.  Even though I prefer the little dots on the Jumbo Grip, the wood used by Faber-Castell to make these pencils is not cedar, but some other very light-weight wood that makes it feel insubstantial to me.  The cedar of the Tri-Conderoga sharpens very well compared to the Jumbo Grip, and gives a better overall feeling to the pencil. The Dixon and the Mongol pencil are very similar but I prefer the style of the Dixon over the Mongol.  Additionally, the Dixon Tri-Conderoga is much easier to find in stores in America.

The five other pencils on the list are all regular sized and of similar grades of graphite.  The Mars Ergosoft and the Staedtler Ergosoft pencils have the best graphite in my experience; with the other pencils having good but not excellent writing qualities.  The Golden Bear HB doesn't match my hexagonal Golden Bears for graphite quality, lacking the smoothness I have come to expect from California Republic. It's not bad graphite, just not as smooth as it should be.

The finish on these pencils is varried, with the two Staedtler pencils have the same "grippy" rubberized finish, the Grip 2001 having the same dot grips as its larger version, and the Tri-Write and the Golden Bear having a traditional lacquer finish.  Of the last two the Golden Bear has the best finish, with a nice thick orange lacquer with a blue endcap.  I like the rubberized finish of the Staedtlers and the dots of the Grip 2001 over the lacquer, but if you have a tendency for sweaty hands these may not work as well for you.

The wood of the Grip 2001 and the Mars Ergosoft are lighter than I like, as I mentioned above, with the Mars pencil being so light that it seems to be made from Balsa wood.  The Mars Ergosoft is nearly impossible to find, but it would be nice to have the choice of graphite grades that it offers available with the Noris as well.  The Noris Ergosoft, Tri-Write and Golden Bear are all made from more substantial wood, and fit my liking better.  As with the larger pencils, your choice among these may depend on subtle preferences, but based on graphite and quality I prefer the Staedtler Noris Ergosoft over the others.  I like the look of the design as well, with the black and yellow stripes and the distinct red end cap.

Let me know if there are any good triangular pencils I missed or if you have anything to add on the pencils discussed in this post.

UPDATE: 7/14/06 You can read part two to this post HERE.

NEW: Moleskine Reporter Watercolor Sketchbooks

I finally have the new Moleskine Reporter Watercolor Notebook samples in my hot little hands.  They arrived last night via UPS and I tore right into them.  I had imagined that these new watercolor notebooks would be more or less just a change of paper quality over the Moleskine Classic Sketchbook.  I also wondered if the new watercolor sketchbooks would eclipse the use of the old classic ones.  Now that I have these here I can see that this is an entirely new animal altogether.  Modo & Modo hasn't redesigned the Moleskine sketchbook as much as they have reinvented it.

The Watercolor Sketchbook is being made in the Reporter format, with the binding on the short end of the pages, the elastic running the short way, and the inside back pocket that opens on the short end.  In all ways of construction these are the same as the Reporter notebooks.  The pages are made of 200 gsm cold pressed watercolor paper with 25% cotton fiber content.  They come with 60 pages in the pocket size, 72 pages in the large size.  Here's where the big difference comes in: All the pages are perforated at the spine and are removable.  This design aspect challenges the basic concept of the Moleskine sketchbook - a bound book of personal artwork - by adding this option that all the pages can be removed, and will seem to many to be an unwanted element.  I was skeptical about this feature myself until I actually saw these, and now understand why this is such an important innovation.  Modo & Modo has designed a sketchbook with the needs of a professional artist in mind.  This is a painter's sketchbook.  This makes me very happy, and I know it will make many other people happy as well.

Here's why: I can see artists filling these notebooks full of paintings, and as with most artists some pages will turn out better than others. These good paintings can be removed, matted, framed and exhibited, without destroying the integrity of the binding in the process.  I have often thought about taking out pages from my classic sketchbook to matt and frame, but doing so would undermine the structure of the binding.  A friend of mine is planning on taking her whole pocket classic sketchbook apart to mine the good artwork from the bad, but if you don't want to do that you now have the option of removable pages with the watercolor sketchbook.  The flip side is that if you have painted a page that you feel is just pure crap you can remove that too.

The other scenario that I can imagine with these watercolor sketchbooks, especially the pocket sized ones, is taking it on vacation with a traveling watercolor set.  You could then paint your own post cards from your vacation, remove the pages and mail them off.  The same function can be accomplished close to home too, say, in your local cafe, or hiking in the woods.  Whatever the use, the perforated pages allow for sharing your artwork in different ways than are possible with the classic sketchbook.  If you are concerned that pages will fall out unwanted because of the perforation, it does appear to be a sturdy connection that will take some working to remove the pages.

Ready to try out the new Moleskine Watercolor Sketchbook. Click images for larger versions.

I have tested out the paper briefly and the results are good.  I will need to spend some time working on these pages to see how the results are, but everything about the surface of the watercolor pages looks to be very nice to paint on.  I will post the results as soon as I have something.

The Moleskine Reporter Watercolor Sketchbook will be shipping from the distributor some time in February.  I will let you know on the NWD blog as soon as I have these available for sale.

The Moleskine line also has some new Planner formats for 2007, including that little red beauty that was only available in Italy last year, as well as some 18 month versions that start in June 2006.  I have samples in hand and will write those up in my next post, so stay tuned!

Moleskine Pens: Pigma Micron

One of my original favorite pens to use in my Moleskine notebooks are the Pigma Micron made by Sakura, which also makes the Gelly Roll pens.  I like pens with very fine points, and use the 01 point size (.25mm) for general writing, but the great thing about these is that they come in a wide assortment of point sizes from 005 (.20mm) up to 08 (.50mm).  They are also made in a range of colors, so it is easy to find a favorite among all the possible choices.

The points on these pens remind me of rapidograph pens but without any of the fuss.  You get a nice even, crisp line, with no skipping, and there is something very mechanical engineer about the style and function of these pens.  The ink is waterproof and fadeproof, and the website says that the ink is archival although it isn't listed on all the pens I have. I use them for general writing and note-taking, but they are also excellent for sketching and detailed drawings. They seem to have a good ink supply, and if you remember to recap them will last a good while.  This is good because they cost a little bit more than your average disposable pen, with a suggested retail of $2.69 each.  The very fine points (005 & 01) can get crushed if you drop them, or if you write with too heavy a hand.

I have been using Micron pens longer than any other brand in my Moleskine notebooks and I have always been happy with the results.  I do use a blotter sheet between the pages when I turn the notebook page, to avoid getting the little dots that transfer from the highpoints onto the opposite page.  I use a sheet of Moleskine paper as a blotter, a perforated and removable page from the back section of either a Cahier or Reporter notebook, and store it between the pages when not in use.  The ink does not bleed through the Moleskine paper, but like a lot of other pens it does show a little ghosting from the previous page.  You can see a good example in this Flickr photo HERE by Fracking.  I have never been bothered by the light ghosting from these pens, or from the Pilot G2 either; I think it adds to the feeling of having a notebook that is being written in. I have also found that if I use the finer point sizes, 005, 01, 02, there is less ghosting than with the 05 and 08 sizes since less ink is put down on the paper.

One thing to think about with Pigma Micron pens, especially if you have a tendency toward pen fanaticism, is that they do come in so many combinations of sizes and colors that you could end up with a lot of pens.  I have a few favorite colors (sepia, burgundy, hunter, and black), so I don't have one of everything, but I have managed to acquire quite a few of them.  I get Micron pens in art supply stores, where they tend to have them as open stock with a wide range of choices, and I have also seen them in crafty scrapbookish places like Michael's.  You may also be able to find Microns in office supply stores in packaged sets, but my local Staples doesn't carry them.

The archival Pigma ink in the Micron pens make them a good match for the acid-free pages of Moleskine notebooks, and may be a pen worth considering if you are keeping a diary or notebook for posterity, especially if you like to write with a precise pen.  The waterproof quality of the ink also means that your Moleskine pages can take a beating like spilled water or being dropped in a puddle without your writing running away. 

Give them a try and let me know what you think.

Exacompta Index Card Update

The new shipment of Exacompta index cards have arrived (see this previous post HERE).  Since it may take me a while to add them to the NWD online store I have posted a PayPal button here for those of you who may be waiting to get some of these.  I have them in two sizes now, the large are 4" x 5 7/8", and the extra-large are 4 7/8 x 7 7/8.  They come 100 cards per pack in 5 assorted colors. The extra-large are great, they are almost the same size as the pages of a large Moleskine notebook, providing a good expanse of index card for those bigger organizational projects. 

Index cards are out of stock for now. Thanks!

HTB² Too: Exacompta Index Cards

In my continued quest for the ultimate in graph paper notebooks, I have also discovered some fabulous index cards with squares instead of lines made by Exacompta.  I have been using the standard issue Oxford ¼" Grid Design Index Cards from Staples for some time, and although I prefer using these over the lined versions, they could be better.  My primary complaint is that I find the squares are printed too prominently, so when I am sketching out a plan along the grid or taking notes on the index card the grid dominates the image.  I was happy enough with these until I picked up a package of Exacompta index cards which are without a doubt my new favorites.

Exacompta is a French company that makes a selection of filing and indexing products.  Is it just me that thinks this or does it seem like European manufacturers make the neatest office supplies? At the very least Exacompta makes the most interesting line of index cards I have seen.  Wait, did I just use "most interesting" and "index cards" in the same sentence?  I know I am not alone in feeling a sense of gratitude toward these simple objects, but frankly, index cards make life a little easier and more bearable, and the Exacompta index cards do it with finesse.  So yes, anything that strays from the standard white lined 3" by 5" index card can be called "most interesting" in my world.  These Exacompta index cards come in five subtle colors with equally subtle squares printed on them in light violet colored ink.  The squares don't dominate the card, but function wonderfully as an underlining structure for all sorts of note taking, idea recording, and design making needs.

For anyone who has a warm spot in their heart for index cards, or likewise a vital life organizing strategy that relies on index cards, you owe it to yourself to try some of these out.  They are just a touch smaller than the US standard 4" x 6" inch index cards (10 x 15 cm), and the squares are smaller than the Oxford grid version at 3/16" (5mm), so if you want to draw things to scale it will be 5 squares to the inch not 4. But aside from these metric particulars, these neutral pH bristol weight cards are a delight.  The five colors (white yellow, pink, blue, and green) provide for all sorts of color coding fun for self-organization schemes.  If you are a follower of the Hipster PDA, then try out these cards for an added level of organization.  Likewise for the Getting Things Done crowd.  I am not a practitioner of either of those organizational methods; my life and work routine just don't demand that level of organization. Still, I can imagine that a pack of these Exacompta index cards would be just the thing to jazz up your productivity organizational plan, whatever the method.

The only thing that I can think of to enhance the organizational beauty of these index cards is the addition of a Moleskine Large Memo-Pockets to house them.  The combination of index cards and Memo-Pockets creates a great storage and indexing system, one that can be creatively adjusted to suit your specific needs. The Memo-Pockets offer 6 files to keep your cards in, so the combination of 6 files and 5 card colors gives plenty of options for even the most involved organizational scheme.  Although I don't have one of those high powered business jobs that seem to benefit the most from a GTD or Hipster system, my Memo-Pockets organizer has really helped to reduced the clutter on my desk.  That these index cards are gridded just adds to the Geek-Mystique: pocket protectors are optional.

I suppose I should come up with some catchy name for this system, something destined to become a Technorati tag, but all I can come up with is Hip to Be Squared (HTB² for short) from my previous post.  Never mind then, it doesn't need a name, it's rewarding enough to take notes on index cards and keep them in a  neat looking accordion file without having a cool name.  Just get organized and have fun doing it!

Purchase a Moleskine Memo-Pockets Organizer Set on eBay HERE.

It's Hip To Be Squared: Moleskine + Graph Paper

Graph paper has been a small obsession for me from an early age.  I can still remember a binder my uncle gave me when I was around 6 years old that I filled with quad-ruled paper from the five & dime.  I would cut out the daily Peanut's comic strip from the newspaper and glue them onto the gridded paper to create my own comic book.  I loved the order of it, being able to line up the strips along the grid lines, one week's worth of strips per page.

I have acquired quite a collection of graph paper over the years, in many forms.  I have large rolls of graph paper, blotters of graph paper, mouse pads of graph paper, pads of all sizes and paper types - all with various grids. I once came home with 54 pads of Levenger letter size graph paper from the local discount mart, having purchased them for a measly 50 cents a pad (Levenger sells these at $4.00 a pad).  I was giddy for days!  I probably have enough graph paper to last several life times, but it hasn't stopped me from getting more.  I can't go to Staples without picking up another pack of gridded index cards (you never know when they might stop carrying them!). I can imagine the look on my nephew's face (when it comes time to clean out my house once I am gone) when he opens my supply closet and finds my graph paper stash.  I'm not obsessive-compulsive, honestly I'm not.

It is graph paper that is responsible for starting my Moleskine obsession.  Of course with Moleskine it is no longer graph paper, the pages are squared.   I have been searching for the ultimate graph paper notebook for years, but when I got my first Moleskine pocket notebook with squared pages I knew the search was over.  I have found nerd notebook Nirvana - it is sublime bliss.  Okay, perhaps it isn't that much like ultimate spiritual attainment, but let's just say that the little squared Moleskine makes me very happy.

Here's the thing: graph paper is underappreciated.  I sell Moleskine notebooks in ruled, plain, and squared pages, and guess which page style sell the least often?  Myself, I can't imagine why anyone would want to buy a ruled or plain notebook when squared pages are an option.  Squared pages are just lined pages that go in two directions at the same time.  With a squared notebook you can easily write in it the normal way, or if the mood strikes, give the notebook a quarter turn and write in it in the perpendicular direction.  Now that's flexibility.  I know You-Who-Prefer-Plain-Pages, the "don't fence me in" types, are saying, "You can write in ANY direction on plain pages", and you are right.  But for those of us who like a little structure in our lives, squared pages offer both limitation and choice at the same time.

Part of the lack of appreciation for graph paper likely comes from its nerd reputation.  You would think every pad of graph paper came with a free pocket protector the way people avoid it.  This contributes to my insecurity and subsequent hording behavior when it comes to graph paper.  It seems that just when I find a pad, notebook, or a roll that I love, it is discontinued for lack of adequate sales.  I have learned that if I love it and it is gridded I need to buy as many as I reasonably can because next time it will be gone.  The makers of Moleskine do seem dedicated to offering all their notebook styles with squared pages though, so I don't expect those will disappear anytime soon.

If using graph paper makes me a nerd, then so be it. The truth is, I really am a nerd already, even without the penchant for graph paper.  With Moleskine notebooks the opportunity finally exists for me to be "hip" while being squared.  As notebooks go, nothing could be cooler than a Moleskine, even one with squared pages: think of them as the embodiment of Geek-Chic.  Next time you get a new Moleskine notebook why not try a squared version?  Give your inner nerd a chance to come to the surface and breathe.  You may find you like that part of yourself more than you thought, especially now that you are out of Junior High and don't have to worry about someone giving you a wedgie.

For the likewise graph paper obsessed here are a few helpful links:

Print your own graph paper from PDF files HERE.

Purchase luxury graph paper HERE from author Edward  R. Tufte (Envisioning Information - see side bar).

Thanks to Edward Vielmetti for the graph paper links.  See his great intereactive photo of his  Moleskine squared notebook with polar graph paper on Flickr HERE.

See the full line of Moleskine notebooks with squared pages HERE.

MOLESKINE Page Styles

One of the most important qualities of the Moleskine notebooks is the paper. The spacing of the lines and squares in relationship to the page size are a large part of the aesthetic appeal  experienced while writing in these notebooks. The color of the paper is off-white, not quite cream, but just warm enough to make approaching the blank page not seem so cold and daunting. The paper has a very light knap to it, not enough that the ink bleeds, but just enough to make running a pen or pencil across the surface a more pleasing experience. You can feel what you are writing through the pen without simply slipping across the page. Sure the notebook looks great from the outside, but it is the quality of the paper that will keep you coming back for more.

These are direct scans of the pages from Moleskine pocket size (3 5/8" x 5 5/8"; 9 x 14 cm) notebooks. 

The ruled page notebook has 22 full line spaces to write in, with 1 partial line space at the top and the bottom of the page.  The distance between lines measures just under ¼" (6 mm). For the extremely precise I measure 15/64" between lines. The lines on the page are printed with a light grey ink, which prevents the lines from dominating the page.

The squared page notebook has 27 full squares the length of the page and 17 full squares the width of a single page.  These are approximate and depend on how the pages are cut.   The squares measure 3/8" (4mm). The squares are also printed with the same grey ink as the ruled pages.

The paper is acid-free.