I recently got a delightful little treat in my mailbox in the form of two new packs of Word. notebooks: a 3-pack of Word. dot grid books ($9.99) and a 3-pack of the new Declan Floral edition notebooks ($9.99).
The Declan Floral edition is a collaboration between Word. and Declan. Word makes the books and Declan designed the “Lang” floral print used for the covers. The floral print is taken from a retired design from Declan’s line of high-tech pocket squares that double as eyewear and digital device cleaning wipes. The Declan Floral edition features the classic 48-page Word. bullet system with lined pages and a circle/dot on the left-hand side of each page for list-making. The front cover includes tips for using the bullet system and the back cover has some tips for abbreviation.
The paper in the Declan edition stood up to most of the pens I tried including an assortment of fine nib fountain pens without any show through and no bleeding. The only exception was the Platinum Preppy with Carbon Black ink and the Karas Kustoms INK with Waterman Tender Purple which had a little show through and a tiny bit of ghosting to the reverse of the paper. The printed lines on the Declan were also pleasingly light and thin which allowed me to use a wide variety of colors without interfering with readability.
The Word. dot gid notebooks feature a light grey cover with the dot grid pattern printed in a slightly darker grey which is very subtle. The inside cover provides a place for contact information and the back cover has a 5″ ruler printed along the edge as well as the specifications of the paper and printing information. The books contains 48 pages of 5mm dot grid printed on Lynx Opaque Ultra Smooth White 60# acid-free paper which is 100% post-consumer recycled, in case you’re curious. Unfortunately, I found the dots in the Word. dot grid notebooks to be considerably darker and more distracting than the lines in the Declan notebook. I wish the dots were printed about 20% lighter or smaller and a little ligther.
Since the specifications about the paper were not included in the Declan edition, I can be sure if its excatly the same paper. I’m inclined to think it is, but for some reason, the ghosting on the dot grid bothers me more than on the Declan lined paper. Maybe its because I ended up preferring the lighter lines on the Declan so I just generally prefer it? Personal bias, clearly.
Anyway, you be the judge. Does it look the same to you? I tested the same pens at the same time in the same colors. Maybe my eyes are just playing tricks on me. Either way, I think the results on the Word.notebook paper is considerably better than other pocket notebooks and I did test several fountain pens with better-than-expected results. The built-in bullet journal system is a bonus for a lot of people who have embraced the system. Even if you don’t bullet journal, if you use a pocket notebook for lists, then the Word.notebooks definitely provide a leg up over many of its competitors. And I partuclarly like the Declan floral design for being something unique, not overly feminine, but a nice aesthetic alternative to other cover designs.
Now I think I need to invest in the Tasting Notes. Did you hear the Freakonomics podcast episode called The Cheeseburger Diet? I feel like the Tasting Notes notebook was designed to be used for one’s own personal cheeseburger tasting mission. I’d have to do the full cheeseburger triumvirate though: cheeseburger, fries and a vanilla milkshake.
DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Word. Notebooks for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
