A great notebook for U and I…
The notebook market is full of excellent options these days, and it’s not often I see a new product that addresses a specific use in a really well thought out way. The Panobook from Studio Neat has gone beyond the normal dot pad notebook with a few simple but well designed additions that fit my role as a User Interface and Web Designer perfectly.
Simple extended marks on the dot pad allow quick addition of properly sized 16×9 boxes that are divided into a 12-column grid – perfect for those of us working on a Bootstrap or similar column-based design system. What Dan and Tom have added allows for 3 of these boxes to be placed on a page for quick layout designs. Further marks on the outer edges allow for the page to easily be divided into 4 quadrants without needing to count out where the center lines are (useful when working on a full page layout in a portrait format).
The paper selection was well chosen, with 50 sheets of 160 mm x 288 mm (6.3 in by 11.34 in) Finch 70lb. soft white text stock. On this a light dot grid is spaced every 5mm with the aforementioned additional corner and center marks added to both sides. What makes the grid really useful is how the marks were not overdone, and allow foe easy identification without standing out like a sore thumb when you don’t need them.
The mint colored cover page includes a spot for you to add any notes or details on the book contents as well as some common reference information and both a metric and imperial ruler. The cover itself is a fantastic sueded charcoal stock – and a thick stock was chosen such that it provides excellent support when no writing surface is available. The “double” wire-o style binding allows the book to lay flat and binds up a lot less than a traditional single coil wire binding.
To top it off the book includes a slipcase with room for book identification on the spine. My only real minor gripe is that I would have liked a slightly heavier stock here closer to the cover material – but it’s a very minor issue for me as I tend to hold on to my design references for extended periods.
The books can be purchased from Studio Neat for $20/ea with a discount for bulk purchases available.
