Notobooks Neo Dot
Bullet Journal Notebook Review
Key Features:
- Size:Â 8″ x 5.5″ (slightly smaller than true A5)
- Cover:Â PU leather, only available in black with blue accents
- Binding: sewn
- Pages:Â 192
- Additional features: Â pen loop, back pocket, killer endpage design
- Page styles available:Â dotted
- Paper Quality:Â 100gsm, bright white
- Ghosting? virtually no ghosting
- Bleeding? no bleed through
- Feathering? slight bleeding with wet inks
My Review:
I still have 5 weeks before my Tekukor Journal is out of pages, but I’ve already started to think about which journal will be my next. Right now, this one is the top contender.
This journal is brand new on the market (launched in October 2017) and I was lucky enough to get a copy of the company’s first run of copies. As of this writing (January 2018), they are out of stock but a new batch is in production and should be stocked again soon. (I’ll stalk them for you and let you know when they’re back online – but you can also follow them on Instagram @notobooks.) The branding on the cover is subtle, but as a designer, I appreciate that the logo is placed exactly in line with the pen loop – tiny details like this speak to my creative soul.
There’s really nothing different about this book than any other dotted journal, but a few things attract me to it. First I love that there’s a website for the brand (www.notobooks.com) and they explain the story behind the journal. This helps me see myself in their brand and identify with the journal itself. The tagline for the brand is that it’s a notebook for creators — I just happen to be a creative professional (my day job is a graphic designer), so this also attracts me. And lastly, on their website (and social media), you can tell that this journal is the result of a guy who needed a good notebook for the work he did every day.
I wanted a notebook that was built to handle being tossed in a bag thousands of times and a place to keep my pen so I would not have to search for one when an idea struck all while looking good. ~David Myers, Notobooks, Founder & CEO
Yes! So much yes! I also need a notebook that I can beat up, toss around, open a thousand times and still hold up to my every need. Plus, pen loops are essential (if I get a notebook that doesn’t already have one, I add it myself) because who has time to hunt down a pen when you have a brilliant idea brewing?!
This notebook lays flat. When I open it, it stays put. Pages don’t flutter or want to spring back up toward the spine. I never knew how important this was to me until I started using a notebook that didn’t do that. The paper is listed at 100gsm, but this paper actually acts more like 110gsm because the ghosting is so minimal. The dots are light and go all the way to the edge of the page (no wasted margins) – spaced 5mm apart with 40 dots down, 27 dots across. The elastic band is solid and firm and will securly hold the book closed even after fatten it up with my bullet journal magic over time.
Tiny Improvement Requests: The only thing I’d change on this book is the size. True A5 is 210mm x 148mm — the Neo•Dot is just 8mm off by being slight narrower. While I’m making requests, could we add page numbers too?
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