It takes a lot to convince me to review a new pocket memo book. To be honest, many of them are just variations on a theme and theme is “another Field Notes”. However, when I saw the new designs from Newton Design Co., I knew these were something a little different.
The Newton Design Co. Memo Books ($10 for set of 3 books) are hand screenprinted with Zach’s stellar sense of humor and superior design chops. Printed in yellow on black cardstock covers, the books are classic in looks but modern in sensibility.
The books measure 4.5×6″ and feature 60 pages of paper in either blank or dot grid.
I was tickled to discover that the paper was more resilient to fountain pens than most Field Notes. None of the pens I tested feathered or created wider-than-expected results.
The dots visible on the reverse side of the paper are due to ink that wasn’t dry on the facing page. There was no actual bleed-through or show-through.
When adding in some brush pens, I still had no real issues… other than my green fountain pen ink was not drying in a timely manner and I kept sticking my hand in it. I do not blame the paper as all the other inks dried at a consistent and fast rate.
Even from the back of the page, there was no bleed-through and only some show-through.
These memo books are witty and well-designed and stand up to most day-to-day pen carries. While this particular edition is currently sold out, a new limited edition of black-on-black “Crook Looks” is available. Get them while you can!
DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Newton Design Co. for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
