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A week or so ago I predicted that I wouldn't be able to resist trying out Myndology notebooks. Turns out that this was an accurate forecast. I have several that I've put through the papercasting paces, starting with the Bare Journal (which you can read about on the Myndology site). This product has been reviewed before, so there's no sense in my repeating some of the basics about the product (to wit, it has some earth-friendly specs, a bonus here in the hypergreen Northwest). What I want to cover here is, how does it work for papercasting?
My original interest in this product came from the thought that I could store all manner of papercasted screeds in the same notebook, no matter their writing instrument of origin. You can't say that about other kinds of notebooks (unless you're a fan of the bulky three-ring binder, which gives me flashbacks to undergraduate survey courses rife with mimeographed textbook handouts). As I mentioned in my original post, Myndology products are disc-bound, which allows you to remove and rearrange pages within a single notebook.
I'm told there are several other products out there that fit this description, but I'm going to pull this review over to the side of the road right here and admit it: I like cool-looking stuff. Myndology notebooks have a distinct design aesthetic. (Unfortunately for my wardrobe, my taste for cool stops at paper products.) Also, people, please jump in and correct me if I am entirely off in my assumption that some of the other disc bound products are a little on the "GTD" side of things, GTD being, if you are not already familiar, a curious cult of personal productivity that I, as a disorganized and spontaneous person, have a hard time relating to. I am possibly being completely unfair.
On to our review. But wait? Why not papercast it? (Oops, edited to add, I refer to ring-bound notebooks in the papercasts that follow, but the term s/b disc-bound.) 
In conclusion, this is a fun notebook with some environmental cache. I really like the look of a typewritten page in a regular notebook. Who'd have thunk? Paper quality does not suck and holds up well to liquid fountain pen ink without bleeding or skipping. I also definitely approve of the fact that refills are available.
Cons are, the tabs are delicate, and you've got to choose your typewriter well, or you're going to mangle the pages. Also, if you're thinking of fitting some off-brand pages into your notebook, better start saving now for the punch.
I believe I forgot to mention that, regarding the refills, you can get different types of paper (lined, plain, graph) which works nicely to mix and match pen and typewriter papercasts.
reflections on Bond Day
13 hours ago
13 comments:
I agree. Typewritten pages in a bound notebook is very cool. It definitely beats my own document-storage method, which is to take typecasts that have been scanned already, fold them in half and cram them into a manila envelope.
OK, well I'm going to have to do a supporting/retaliatory papercast on the Rolla/Circa disc-binding system, the main competition to the Myndology/Atoma system. Since you didn't ask, I'm going to supply you with the Sacred Scrolls of the Disc Binders:
* The holes along the edge of the paper are properly called "Smurfs" after the little mushrooms they resemble. Punching paper for binding is the act of "smurfing" and the punched edge is "smurfed." So, you don't want to run smurfed paper backwards through your typewriter, for fear that the smurfs will snag.
* The DIY community has found that smurf snag is a chronic problem when printing your own planner pages. The solution is either to run the paper through so the smurfed edge goes in parallel to your roller (printer or platen), or smurf it after printing/typing. I prefer the latter, which leads us to:
* Paper punches. They are expensive, and the Myndology one doubly so. If you are serious about "investing" in a disc system, you'll save gobs of money in the long run by laying out for a punch at the beginning. Pre-smurfed refills are much more expensive than the equivalent number of plain sheets of paper. BUT...
* Paper quality matters. I don't have any Myndology notebooks, but I'm going to assume that their paper is at least 24# or maybe even 32# stuff. Cheapo office paper doesn't hold up well to a lot of page turning, and the edges of the smurfs bend and warp over time. What many DIY-ers have done is pony up for a ream of nice 32# HP inkjet paper (~$12) and had a print shop/copy shop employee to cut the ream in half, giving you a thousand half-sheets to use in DIY books. Being forced to use nice paper is not an entirely unpleasant thing.
Hmmm... perhaps I should stop now... I'm using up all my blog material...
"you don't want to run smurfed paper backwards through your typewriter, for fear that the smurfs will snag."
And then you'll be smurfed.
I like the idea of storing my typecasts in a notebook or binder. As I am inherently incapable of throwing away any written scrap of paper, all of my typecasts thus far are lying loose in a desk drawer. Organization is demanded. I'm not sure, however, that I like constraining myself to any particular paper size. I like even less the idea of paying a silly amount of money for a proprietary paper punch system. I'm a cheap [bleep]ard who used to get all his typing paper by recycling lightly-used sheets of fanfold printer paper from the college library garbage cans.
Disc-binding is nice for papers you want to move around a lot, for the DIY-er who dislikes comb binding, or for anyone who likes being able to fold-over notebooks like something that's spiral-bound, without the fear of snagging it on something.
I fell into disc-binding because I was tired of shelling out $30 every year to buy refills for my planner, which in turn went half-unused. The punch cost about $60 and I'm still not disappointed.
If you want to play with a very low-budget system, use 3-ring punched paper (or 2-ring cards, or whatever) and snip the space between the hole and the nearest edge of the paper. You can push the paper on and off the rings, but it's still sturdy enough to stay on for turning.
All my typecasts go in a "Typecasts" folder in my desk file, by the way.
Myndology definitely wins in the "yummy colors" category (and I am jealous of the aluminum discs that fit Myndology books), but I'm a Circa/Rolla fan like mpclemens. In part because I discovered them first, but also because there seems to be a wider variety of related products (covers, ring sizes, paper). I don't practice GTD but disc notebooks certainly help you get and stay organized regardless of your method!
If anyone's interested, my business blog Active Voice has a number of posts about my experiences using Circa/Rolla to manage my freelance business files.
Fascinating to see this after coming across so many early-mid last-century binder variations in my work.
Mpc, looking forward to your papercast.
SV, I will also take a look at the Active Voice posts.
I strive to be fair and balanced, like Fox News. (cough cough)
Just to totally geek out on this:
The product line that Myndology is selling is actually a Belgian brand known as "Atoma" that's been around since the late 1940's: here's a photo from their site showing an address book from the 1950s which I happen to find very stylish. How sensible: an address book you can update!
Wow, that Atoma design is too cool. I love rotaty phones. I still miss the meditative pauses between numbers when dialing as the rotary dial returned to zero.
I still kick myself for not grabbing the avocado green rotary phone I saw at the same thrift store as Norma Jean. It had about 25 feet of cord on it, and looked like it had just come out of someone's home. Seriously heavy, too.
I also discovered Circa first, though on Levenger.com, which I find both alluring and repulsive: some cool products, a lot of overpriced junk.
I have to say to MPC that I'd have trouble using the word "smurf/ing" in any context.
Also, as re: rotary dial phones, I found this...
Rotary Dial Telephones
Myndology Notebook- VERY cool.
Love this post. I own an Olympia Traveller Deluxe myself and my first Myndology arrived today. Will test soon!
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