Moleskin storyboard for writers
The famous Grid Method is still used by artists today. Once the basic proportions were sketched accurately with the help of the grid, the lines were either erased or painted over. His grid needed to be flexible, since it included not just horizontal and vertical lines, but diagonal lines at varying degrees.ĭürer depicted the popular method of superimposing a simple grid on both subject and canvas. The dot grid can actually prove quite handy.ĭaVinci, being the closet engineer he was, used a simple 2d grid to divide the human face into standard proportions. I’ve sort of always been a doodler, which developed pretty naturally into sketching, and eventually into an interest in multi-toned pencil portraiture. Leuchtturm's dot grid style is on-point.Ī key piece of information here is that I still prefer pen and paper over an app for gathering my thoughts and ideas. I found Rhodia's dot style to be a bit fuzzy, while Moleskine's were too dark and bold to blend into the background. Sharp and clear, but also small and light, their dot grid seems just right to me. You may notice the weight difference, you may not, but you'll more likely find a bit less ink bleed-through and pen impression on the page reverse.įinally, the style of the dots themselves seems more well-thought-out in a Leuchtturm1917. At 80 gsm, Leuchtturm1917's paper weighs in at 14% heavier than Moleskine's, which is 70 gsm. The paper weight always felt a bit more substantial to me, and after some digging, found I wasn't crazy. Leuchtturm1917s also feature numbered pages, and two bound-in ribbon bookmarks. I was already a fan of their hardcover, being a half-inch wider than a Moleskine that additional inch (when open) does make a difference to me. I was not new to Leuchtturm1917 notebooks though. I think it was its lay-flat-when-open construction combined with its thinner profile that won me over. My exclusive use of dotted pages corresponded with my discovery of Leuchtturm1917's softcover notebook. All Nuuna journals are thread-stitched and bound in fine, but durable materials. Nuuna ( ) - This Swedish journal maker melds eye-catching cover designs with rich paper stock suitable for both writing and sketching.Feeling remarkably similar to traditional paper, it is totally waterproof, tear-resistant, and so smooooth. StonIt - These innovative, tree-free notebooks are made using paper entirely from limestone and ecological resins.Leuchtturm1917 - A family business and German stationer since 1917, Leuchtturm operates under the belief that the enduring values of quality, workmanship and attention to detail make for good products.Moleskine - With a trusted name and a sterling reputation, Moleskine notebooks are legendary among writers, artists, and thinkers.Featuring extraordinary quality Clairefontaine paper in a variety of pad and notebook formats, our Rhodia collection will raise your standard for paper excellence. Rhodia( ) - These iconic black and orange pads have been a favorite of students, writers, professionals, and designers since 1930.In any case, thank you, Anonymous Genius. Perhaps said Anonymous Genius finally got tired of hauling several notebooks around, one for written notes (ruled), one for sketches/doodles (blank), and one for more structured designs (squared). As far as I can tell, some genius in the late 20th century, probably fed up with the rigidity of squared pages, while appreciating the structure, also desired some freehand freedom from time to time. No one really knows how the dot grid came about (okay, someone probably does). That means no unnecessary lines crossing every square centimeter of every page, i.e. there when I need it, but not really in my way when I don't. Unlike squared pages though, the dot grid is subtle and feels more 'suggested' to me. 5 cm apart, or 5 dots per inch (like common engineering graph paper), creating both horizontal and vertical structure. I like how dotted pages provide me with more structure than blank (plain) or ruled (lined) pages, while being less obtrusive than squared (graph) pages. Now remove the original grid lines, and there you have it, dotted pages! Now put a dot where the grid lines cross. Imagine graph (squared) paper, with its horizontal and vertical grid lines. Here is the skinny on how I use dotted pages, why I prefer them, and how the major brands compare. As a graphic designer and team leader here at Jenni Bick, I've been using dotted page notebooks for a couple of years now, exclusively for the past year.