2019 was a year of searching ... searching for the best planner with the best layout and the best paper to be used in the best way .... ha, wake up and stop dreaming!!!!!!
No, seriously, I have tried out a lot of planners and notebooks in 2019 because something was always not working out.
But, there is one good thing which I have found out through my whole searching and diving deep into the paper jungle:
I really really like paper with 4mm grid size, either dot grid or normal grid!
4mm grid size is just perfect for my writing and is even big enough when I write with broad nibs.
3.7mm is still ok, 3.5mm is getting very small, 3mm is definitely too small and 5mm.... oh, this is way too big for me.
I make one exception of this rule: The Jibun Techo Lite planner has only 2.9mm grid but it is overall so perfect and has a very nice layout and design that I use it right now with F nib fountain pens. Then my writing is smaller and the smaller grid size is still ok.
With 5mm the space on each page is less than with 4mm even on the same paper size (whatever the size is, A6, or B6, or A5 or whatever). My monthly trackers fit perfectly well onto a 4mm A5 page, but not on a 5mm A5 page!
Notebooks and planners with this smaller grid are not easy to find. The normal layout is 5mm, you can find a lot of these (like Leuchtturm, Moleskine, Archer&Olive, Dingbats, Stalogy A6 and B6 and so on).
overview of notebooks and planners with 4mm or less grid
I would therefore like to give you an overview of notebooks and planners with 4mm grid size and smaller:
4mm
notebooks:
- Cedon A6
- Paper Penguin Co (special order with 4mm) (thank you to Theresa!)
planners:
- Jiyu Style planner A5 hard cover (I think this one has been discontinued)
- Hobonichi Techo Planner (english version) A6
3.7mm
notebooks:
- Nanami Paper A6 and B6
- Hobonichi Plain Notebook A6 and A5
- Hobonichi Memo Pad for A6 and A5
- GoodINKpressions (special order in 3.7mm)
planners:
3.5mm
notebooks:
- Citrus Book Bindery (in various sizes)
- Nuuna L
- Hobonichi Weeks Memo Pad (3.55mm)
- Graphilo A5 slim (thank you to Theresa!)
planners:
- Hobonichi Weeks (3.55mm)
even smaller:
- Take A Note planner A6 (3mm)
- Jibun Techo Lite planner B6 slim (2.9mm, new Thin paper)
- Discover21 Weekend Wish planner (2.9mm)
- Nuuna S (2.5mm)
Fountain pens and these notebooks and planners
Sadly, some of these notebooks and planners are not suitable for fountain pens! Inks bleed through these papers:
- Cedon
- ITO Bindery
- Discover21 Weekend Wish
- Artebene (only some inks bleed)
- Nuuna (only some inks bleed)
but most of these planners and notebooks are made with Tomoe River Paper and are perfect for any fountain pens:
- Hobonichi
- Nanami Paper
- Take A Note (with 68gsm)
- GoodINKpressions (with 52 and 68gsm)
- Jiyu Style
- Franklin Planner Japan bound books
very good for fountain pens but not Tomoe River Paper:
- Stalogy
- Citrus Book Bindery
- Wachstuchheft
- Soumkine Universal A5 (only some inks feather)
- Jibun Techo Lite with new Thin paper (only some inks bleed)
I guess there are a lot of other notebooks out there with a 4mm grid. If you know one please let me know in the comments and I will add it to the list. If it is fountain pen friendly so much the better!
I have tried to add links to the products, some websites are in japanese, others in german, I guess a good browser can translate these pages.
Thanks a lot for reading and (planner) peace to everyone!
Andrea
StickersSwissMade
(I do not get paid to write about these products, I buy them out of my own pocket, I do not get paid when you click on any links)