You like:

Quality paper, a reliable notebook with a simple design.

Choose:

Leuchtturm & Rhodia

Both Leuchtturm and Rhodia notebooks are fountain-pen friendly and super-stylish. Leuchtturm, as you may well know from reading this blog, is new on the scene here in the UK, and is proving incredibly popular with notebook-lovers around the country. As well as the traditional black, you can buy your Leuchtturm in an array of different colours and paper styles, so if you’re after great paper in a colourful cover, then Leuchtturm is the one for you.

Rhodia is instantly recognisable with its orange and black covers. Designed and created in France, the Rhodia range of notebooks are a good choice if you’re looking for a notebook with quality paper. Many of the Rhodia notebooks also have an inside pocket to store receipts, scrap paper and anything else you fancy in them.

You like:

Spiral bound notebooks

Choose:

Rhodia, Notes for my Daily Life, Whitelines or the Idea Log

Sometimes spiral bound notebooks are particularly useful, especially when it comes to list making or for me, using a notebook in the office. I have to have a spiral bound notebook in order to flick through the pages of work notes and lists more easily.

Marks Inc., from Japan, have designed a range of quirky and highly functional notebooks. In a variety of colours, the ‘Notes from my Daily Life’ notebooks contain 300 pages with a space at the top of each page to note the date and title.

Rhodia have a great range of spiral bound pads and notebooks in the classic orange and black colours. The collection also includes spiral bound notebooks with the spiral at the top. Again, perfectly functional and stylish.

Whitelines are probably the most “revolutionary” notebooks we stock, due to the amazing white lines (ha!). Designed by a Swedish designer (of course! Who else?!) , Whitelines notebooks have basically turned all the dark lines and squares in what would be a standard notebook, and turned them white, making writing, drawing and diagrams just pop out of the page. I do love them, and a Whitelines notebook is next on my wish list.

The Idea Log is a nifty notebook for all your ideas, with pages to jot down inspirations and the sources of those inspirations.  Then move on to the brainstorm pages.  And finally, the project pages, where your good ideas take shape.

You like:

Pretty, flowery notebooks

Choose:

Orla Kiely, Rosehip, Jill Bliss or Cavallini Butterfly Notebooks

Orla Kiely’s iconic and instantly recognisable designs have long been loved by the fashion world, and not long ago she launched her stationery line to include notebooks, magazine racks and storage boxes. The colours she uses are just lovely, and if you’re after a pretty looking notebook then I’m sure Orla will do it for you

The Rosehip notebooks are all made from recycled paper, and are all very pretty – they are soft backed and could fit in your handbag quite easily.

Jill Bliss is an Oregon-based illustrator and designer and her drawings are pretty, whimsical and really individual. The Succulent Eco Journal is also printed on 100% recycled paper with soy-based ink, so not only is it pretty, but eco-friendly too!

The Cavallini designs are collages taken from the Cavallini archive – they make lovely covers for the notebooks and this one in particular is perfect for flora and fauna enthusiats out there.

You like:

Animal designs on notebooks

Choose:

Woodland Bunny, Clear Skies Eco Journal, Matte Stephens Summer City & L’apres-midi Notebooks

All 4 of these notebooks feature animal themes, and there are many more on our site. Most of them are quite new in, and are great as everyday notebooks as well as for writing and doodling. The ones shown above are all lined, except for the Woodland Bunny journal which has decorated, plain pages.

Susie Ghahremani, the designer of the Clear Skies Eco Journal, is a US-based illustrator and her designs have been incredibly popular. It must be the cute squirrels and owls that she illustrates! Look out for a feature on Susie in the near future

Matte Stephens is another US-based designer, and his illustrations and designs often feature cityscapes and animals – especially cats!

You like:

Pocket notebooks

Choose:

Bamboo Pocket, Cavallini Typewriter, Orla Kiely and teNeues

Most of our main notebook ranges come in pocket sizes (think Leuchtturm, Moleskine, Whitelines, and Rhodia etc.) but here are some others just to get you going

The Bamboo Pocket Notebooks are a set of 4 soft back notebooks with plain paper – perfect for carrying around for those impromptu moments of inspiration!

The teNeues collection of notebooks are unique in that they have both plain and lined pages – doodles on one side, lists on the other!

If you’re still struggling with what to go with, the notebook section on our site is divided into sections for ‘ruled notebooks’, ‘blank notebooks’, ‘pocket notebooks’ and many more subcategories.

I hope you’ve found this post useful and it helps in some way to get the right notebook for you!

The New Rubber Stamps now available online

The set of 3 pocket Notebooks are also available.  These very pretty, and beautifully designed notebooks (featuring one lined, one plain and one with squared paper) are great to carry around with you (even if you have a tiny handbag!).  Or, if you like the pictures too much to use them (as happens with me a lot!) then just leave them on your desk or office space to look at…It’s still a notebook if you just want to look at it, right?!

We think the London one might take off in a big way, but the Paris, New York, Maps and Flora & Fauna designs are just as eye-catching.

The front of one of the London notebooks, and the sleeves of some of the others.  See, even the sleeves are pretty!

The Paris, London and World Map Set of 3 Notebooks

My favourite though has to be the Flora and Fauna range – I love the animal and flower stamps that you get in the Rubber Stamps as they are amazingly detailed.  The notebooks are also very pretty, and are obviously a perfect match for the rubber stamps.  If you’re less a fan of the bold, graphic images that come with the city notebooks then these are perfect for you.  The muted colours, soft lines and drawings certainly give them a whimsical element, but that is what makes them so unique.

The Set of 3 Flora & Fauna Notebooks, and the Rubber Stamps

Cat reading letters

Letter-loving Cat

Cat & Pen

Cat & Moleskine

Working is Prohibited

Cat does Maths

Cat on Notebook

Cat on Post-it Notes

Cat on Paper Bed

Office Assistant

Letter Approval

A selection of some of the Orla Kiely Stationery.  Find the rest of the collection here.

The address book and a pocket notebook with the ballpoint pen, all in the signature Orla Kiely Multi Stem print.

A set of 6 pencils.  So cute!!

The Orla Kiely stationery collection is designed to be fun, colourful and yet perfectly functional.  The stationery is made to a high standard, and the canvas address book and notebooks make them lovely and tactile.  Her Multi Stem pattern features in a variety of colours, as does the iconic Abacus Flowers pattern as well.  All in all, the collection already has us hooked here in the office!  We love the colours Orla Kiely uses in her patterns, and as I have already said, the simplicity of the styles make them instant classics.

You can shop the full range on our website.

Leuchtturm, also known as Leuchtturm1917 from the year it was founded (Leuchtturm, incidentally, means ‘lighthouse’ in German), are a Hamburg based company specialising in the production of high quality stationery.  What really makes these notebooks stand out is the attention to detail in each product, their motto is ‘details make all the difference’, so they’ve really thought about how each person is going to use the notebook, and what is needed to make the experience that much better.  The numbered pages is one thing which stands out as one of the best details, as is the contents page at the start of the book (perfect for budding authors and writers!).  You can therefore index your pages and keep track of what you write, and where you write it.

The pen loop is an additional product which is unique to Leuchtturm, and in our opinion absolutely genius!  One of us here in the Papernation office already uses one of the pen loops, and says that it is very sturdy, with no chance of it peeling off at all.  Useful for those of us with Mary Poppins bags that seem to swallow up pens…I know I could do with one!

So who here has already got a Leuchtturm?  What do you think of the paper quality, and do you find the page numbering useful?  Would be great to hear some feedback from you as to how you use yours, whether you use fountain pens and any other general love for the Leuchtturms!

We’re really pleased to announce that we now stock the entire range of Whitelines notebooks and pads.  This ingenious paper is VERY eco-friendly, and pretty clever into the bargain!

The clever part is the idea for the paper to have white lines on a very light grey background, as opposed to traditional dark lines on white paper. This reduces glare and interference and makes an amazing difference that literally has to be seen to be believed.

Whitelines paper is rapidly gaining a loyal following wordlwide…with artists, designers and writers all loving the way the paper steps back to allow the content to stand out. 

Whitelines paper is also been looked at seriously by educationalists and those involved in helping people with dyslexia – the reduced glare and interference really helps with reading and writing.

Whitelines eco credentials are second to none.  The paper itself is produced in a carbon neutral paper mill in Sweden. The paper mill reuses all carbon dioxide in a closed-loop system. All Whitelines products have their carbon footprint printed on them.  Whitelines are committed to producing a zero carbon product range, and so are offsetting the carbon footprint that comes from transportation via a range of tree-planting schemes in Africa.

Most Whitelines products are being added to our store today, and very soon we’ll be offering the entire range of Whitelines products online – click here to check them out.

Some of these items are currently only available in the UK via Papernation.