Word. Notebooks
Standard Memorandum

-Handwritten Review-

Specs: 

• Daily record book for 2014
• 100% Post-Consumer Recycled Cover
• Lynx Opaque Ultra Smooth White #60 Paper
• Designed by Jon Contino
• Made in the USA
• 2.35” x 5.25”
• 64 pages
• $11.00 USD

Notes:

I didn’t do a full-on handwritten review for this notebook, because if I did, it would completely defeat the purpose. The Word. Notebooks Standard Memorandum is an awesome little journal. The notebook is about half the size of your standard Field Notes and goes unnoticed in my front pocket until it’s time to write down a super condensed summary of my day. I really like the typographic design and gold foil text on the cover and the layout inside is just as cool. Huge thanks to Brenda over at Word. Notebooks for reaching out and sending the notebook over for review!

Appearance and Construction:

The Standard Memorandum is small. Quite small. At only 2.35″ wide, there’s not a whole lot of room to chronicle your entire day. There’s really only enough room for pertinent details, and sometimes not even. It’s definitely a challenge to fit what you want to fit in such a small box. Since the Memorandum is 64 pages and only 2.35″ wide, it has a hard time staying closed on its own. Most of the time, this is living in my pocket and the notebook’s tendency to not close isn’t an issue. I do have to say that I am a bit worried about the durability of the Memorandum. The purpose is to use it for an entire year, and just by looking at what happens to my other pocket notebooks in a month, I’m a bit worried. Word. does offer a leather cover for an additional fee which will certainly help keep yours safe.

Performance and Feel:

The Lynx Opaque Ultra Smooth White #60 Paper that makes up the internals of the Standard Memorandum is the same paper that Word. uses in their regular line of notebooks. It’s smooth and absorbent, but not always friendly to fountain pens. For the Standard Memorandum, I’m using a 0.38mm Pilot G2 refill. It makes it easier to squeeze as much info as I can into the tiny boxes for each day.

I do believe that an EF nib with something like Sailor’s Kiwa Guro Nano Black ink would work well though. I would just hate to use a broad nib and an unruly ink and risk the legibility of the previous week’s memories. The pictures above are of a bunch of different pens and inks in one of the regular Word. Notebooks.

Color and Ruling:

The paper is as white as it gets. No complaints there! The ruling is very interesting. There are 7 sets of 4 lines on each page. When you open the book up, you’re looking at two weeks worth of records. The lines that you write on are dotted, presumably to keep down the clutter and improve readability. Each day is separated by a solid red line –  there’s also the date and the day of the week in the corner of each box. The first few pages of the notebook have well thought out pages for personal information, a grid for dates of important entries, and a ruler.

After that, we jump into the days of the year. At the end of the Standard Memorandum, there’s a few pages for notes, a list of holidays, a full monthly calendar, and information about the book itself. There’s a TON of information in this little guy, and it all has a purpose.

Conclusion:

It’s almost like someone over at Word. Notebooks read my mind. I saw the Standard Memorandum and thought how cool it was, and that I wanted one. Shortly after Word. emailed me asking if I’d like to check out some notebooks – and of course I asked about the Memorandum. It’s an awesome idea and I look forward to filling the whole thing up. My only concerns are about how thrashed this thing is going to get over the course of a year, so I may look into getting a cover for it (or making one myself, I don’t know yet). Be careful when using fountain pen ink, the paper is quite nice but I’d hate to see ruined entries. Get over to Word. Notebooks and pick up a Standard Memorandum – it’s not too late!

Gallery:

Disclaimer: This item was provided to me as a review unit, free of charge, by Word. Notebooks. I was not compensated for this review, and this did not have any effect on my thoughts and opinions about the pen. Thank you for reading!