Conceptually, I love the idea behind the Whitelines series of notebooks. The idea was to create gray paper with light white lines that would be unobtrusive but visible enough to keep your writing and notes neat.
I got the lined A5 hardcover over a year ago but it got lost in the shuffle or products to review. The cover of my volume is a smooth, matte finish paper with an orange stripe across and around the book. Looking on the official Whitelines shop, I don’t think they are even carrying this particular model any longer though its still available in the A4 size.
The inside cover and front page are bright orange with the words “Supporting Your Ideas” in white.
This particular model does not include the ubiquitous elastic but does have a bright orange ribbon bookmark to help keep your place. The paper is a pleasing neutral gray with white lines as advertised and is a decent 80gsm.
Once I started writing on it the paper seemed a bit absorbent. Fountain pen ink was particularly soaked up. The TWSBI Mini EF writing sample had the most show-through after the Pentel B100 (which is more of a marker pen) as was wider nib tools like the Pentel Hybrid Technica 05. When I switched to fine point gel pens like the Uniball Signo DX, Pentel Slicci and Pilot Hi-Tec C the show through on the back of the page was less evident but the razor fine points left some visible indents in the paper. At a distance and with a less critical eye, the paper quality issues are relatively minor. Compared to an average Moleskine, this paper is great. And the eye-easing gray paper is very appealing.
Many sizes and configurations of the Whitelines paper are available including a grid paper, pocket notebooks and wire-bound books via Amazon as well as directly from the official Swedish shop.
They are also offering an app called Whitelines Link that works with newer volumes of their notebooks that include a series of symbols at the bottom of each page. Take a photo of your note with your iPhone and then the Whitelines Link app will help you file it into either an email, Evernote or Dropbox.
FOLLOW-UP: Whitelines can be purchased in the US. Check the Whitelines US site for a location near you. Online retailers are listed at the bottom of the page.
I saw these in Dick Blick when I went a few weeks ago for some office supplies. I bought one of the spiral notebooks for work and a week later I was back getting another one for personal use! I LOVE them. Studies prove that writing things down is better for comprehension and memory, and I need all the help I can get in that area. I also enjoy how I can organize all of my notes in folders- I use both Dropbox and Evernote depending on the material.
That’s disappointing that they discontinued that version; I really liked it. It proved to be WAY more durable than I thought, too.
The Link is pretty nifty. I reviewed it recently. It’s like having a scanner in your pocket!! Pretty cool!