Hello and welcome to the Planner Pals Podcast, a podcast hosted
by two true planner pals. My name is Mark and I go by Mark
Your pages. And I'm Jess or Jessica, and in
today's episode, we're gonna be looking at the notebooks that we
love. They're our ride or dies or
where they're ride or dies. I'm still not sure about how
that works. I'm not good with the idiom.
I also don't know if it's an idiom.
We're gonna be talking about that.
And I feel like some people can already guess what number one
is, but don't spoil it for other people.
We're gonna get into this. Yeah, it's gonna be a fantastic
episode talking about our favorite journals, not just for
bullet journaling, but just all together.
You know, we know that our planner pals don't just bullet
journal. While we love that, we also like
to have fun with other notebooks too.
But before we get into our episode with the thank you all
again, it is the biggest place for all of the coolest things
you could ever collect ever. The comments section.
Thank you all so much for your feedback on all the things that
you can't say no to as well. It makes us feel a lot less
worse about not saying no to our favorite things.
Yeah, I'm just glad there are other people out there who also
have a hard time with like, being a completionist when it
comes to their pen sets or whatever else, hoarding stickers
like a dragon and then not wanting to put them down because
you're as worried it's not going to be perfect.
I said I'm trying to get out of that mindset but I am
struggling. It's definitely not a easy thing
to do, but I think the best thing that you can kind of do is
really take on the task of declutter.
And I know you've been doing that.
I've been doing that as well as we've gone through, which was a
perfect setup for today's episode as we talk about our
favorite types of notebooks Because you and I both have been
really editing through our notebooks, which I think at
least for me, I'm sure it's same for you as well.
Well, it does make you like think about them for a second,
like what did I like about this notebook or I didn't like about
this notebook? And I'm going to put it into a
new home. So just as we get into it, first
you want to start with one of your favorite notebooks that you
just love so much and want to share with the planner files.
So my first favorite notebook was actually an interesting one
because you think that as a bullet journaler and you know,
with the rainbow and all of that kind of thing, it would be one
of those like 160 GSM white dot grid, like ultra thick paper
kind of brands. But it's actually like one of
the cheapest notebooks I own and I love it so much just because
it really takes the pressure off.
It makes it feel like I could really put anything there.
I can be messy. I can be scribbly to the extent
where anytime I use this notebook, I do just call it my
scribble book. And that one is the Kokuyo ring
bound notebook. But the rings are really soft
and flexible. So they're actually really good
for left-handed people too. Like I'm not left-handed.
If I tried to write with my left hand, it would turn out just
like a heinous mess. We're not gonna, we're not gonna
try it. But I know that that's a
notebook that a lot of people who are left-handed, who like
ring bound but don't like the rings like getting in their way,
actually do enjoy using as well. Yeah, it's definitely something
as a lefty that I am a lefty you do think about.
I mean, growing up I didn't know there was a choice.
I think especially in school, it's like it's the three rig
binder. It's the big huge ones.
You're constantly fighting against that son of a bitch as
you're trying to just takedown your elementary and middle
school notes. It wasn't until later on where
like, oh, there are other options.
I feel like more and more stuff came out.
I mean, I wish honestly that I had my knowledge of stationary
like now as back then I feel like I would have just enjoyed
school so much more because I just felt like I was constantly
fighting the clips or getting your finger stuck in those clips
too. Like when you're closing.
It was a it was an absolute nightmare.
So I definitely appreciate a good lefty friendly ring
notebook. Yeah, very that I find that this
one in particular, you don't have necessarily the flexibility
of being able to or reorganize or rearrange the pages because
the ring itself is kind of like inbuilt in there.
But the fact that it's soft and squishy also kind of acts as
like a fidget tool almost. It's just me kind of like
pressing on the squishy rings and avoiding what I'm supposed
to be doing. Still fun though, still makes it
for an enjoyable use. Also the fact that it isn't
actually a dot grid, it's a regular grid.
And I definitely think that we need to have more regular grid
notebooks, especially in the 160 GSM bright white paper space,
just because that's usually the preference when it comes to a
bullet journal at least. But I find that doing things
like graphs or like being able to plot things out and stuff,
having those guidelines, they're quite faint, but having them
there makes it really enjoyable to use.
Yeah, I think that the grid notebooks are ones that I also
pull a few of them out every now and again and like do a spread
or whatever just to kind of mix it up.
But you're right. But it has to be like a light
line. Like the ones that I have I feel
like are really dark and I like it aesthetically.
It looks really cool. I can still read what I'm
writing on. It's not like the worst thing in
the world, but at the same time it's like you're, you got a
totally different look going on and you're right, like graphs
and trackers and stuff. It just makes it a bazillion
times easier than trying to find the dots and the lines,
especially when you're right over them.
Like it's all just, they're really nice indeed.
And I think it's also just fun to play with different types of
papers too. So I'm all about that.
Yeah. And talking about the different
types of papers, given the fact that pretty much every other
notebook I use is that kind of like ultra thick type of paper
and usually doesn't have a coating.
This one I believe does have a coating which also makes it my
favorite to use my fountain pen in, which is kind of funny.
It's like my nicest pen in my cheapest notebook.
Well, sometimes I think you need to have that freedom of it where
you're not being so protective over your paper and what you put
in it and you can kind of just make a mess.
I do that a lot in a lot of my journals that aren't my bullet
journal. If I'm just scratching down
notes or doing whatever or just having fun.
I mean, sometimes I'll do the same thing.
I'll be like I'm just gonna play test with some ink today and use
it in a notebook that I know is just it's not for fountain and
it will bleed through the paper like I know it's going to, but I
just not worried about it. And they usually are the least
expensive ones too, because then you're like you don't feel so
bad about kind of like wasting the paper or just playing inside
of it. It does definitely take it down.
A lot of that stress and anxiety about trying to be perfect.
So I'm right there with you. I think a lot of the times those
are great for like thinking about like ideas for spread.
So a lot of those like R&D notebooks that we talk about.
It's almost like a pre R&D notebook where you can be super
messy and figure it out and then maybe put like a little bit more
refined idea into one of these other notebooks for like
ideation and trying stuff out. Yeah, no, I would agree with
that. I think that also the fact that
I just call it the scribble book also just takes the pressure
off. It's like, no, the intention
here is to be a mess, to be messy, and that's why it's
definitely one of my kind of like staples in my collection.
I will continue to keep accumulating those ones because
I really do love them, but what would be one of your favorites?
Yeah. So as I've been going through my
notebooks, you know, I've played around a lot of notebooks.
I think one of my favorite things to do is find different
types of notebooks notebooks and I especially love it when they
find me. So Anto design is the one I've
actually worked with. I've done videos for before.
And what I really liked about them is their note to work
series. Like it's a beautiful notebook.
It's found, But my favorite part of this jest is that it is
magnetic binding. So you just pop them out and you
can use them and do whatever you want and you pop them back in
and there's so many different accessories and things that you
can do with it. And the other really cool thing
about it is you can put any type of paper that you want into
these notebooks. So if you do want that
scratchpad type thing, you can just fold over some paper.
It comes with a really cool punch that you can punch in and
kind of put them in. So it's a little bit of like a
DIY kind of approach, but you can also take the paper out and
easily slide it back in because there's a rubber band around
that binding that helps you do that.
Now I will say I don't do that a lot because for me, I don't have
to worry about taking paper out. I think in a lot of their
marketing, they're like, oh, if you're sharing notes around the
table and I'm like, I'm not sharing my notes with anybody.
You're not my flow. It's exactly that though.
Like keep your nasty bicks away from my beautiful paper.
Nobody wants an unsolicited BIC in their notebook and just, you
know, keep those things away from us.
We don't want to see it. Yeah, I love that idea of like a
magnetic system. I think that like things like
traveler systems and ring bound systems and stuff where you can
really chop and change things and switch things out so you can
effectively make your perfect planner or notebook system or
whatever. They're very interesting.
But the magnetic one in particular, I haven't seen that
anywhere else. I'm curious about it and now I'm
like, oh gosh, do I need to go and get this notebook and then
bring that into my stash as well?
No, you just decluttered 129 notebooks.
We do not need more unless they're some of your favorites,
then like we'll call an exception for that.
But in terms of like the being able to change it out and being
able to switch out the papers and such, do you think that you
could use it with like only particular like weights of paper
or would it be fine to use with like 160 really, really thick
cardstock type thing? What do you reckon?
You can do whatever you want with it.
So I've actually used everything from like very thin graph paper.
That's what's great. You can put as much as that
paper that'll fit inside of that metal binding.
So it limits itself. So if you're using thicker
paper, which I did, I ended up buying like 160 GSM dot grid
just off of like Amazon for instance, and was able to cut it
a little bit. That's the only thing I didn't
love about it though, is like you had to like cut your paper a
certain size to fit it in there. But you could get the paper you
wanted and you can kind of add it right in there and you can
use it however you want. Yeah, no, I'm all about trying
different things. Like I had two years there in
particular that I cycled through a bunch of of different size
notebooks to trial those out. So I went from like A5 to B5 to
Travelers, then went back to A5 because I was like, Oh my God,
no, I just need something that's familiar.
And then tried out the B6, tried out the square.
Like it was really interesting getting to see like how our
regular planning kind of style would work in a different size
because there's a lot of things that we kind of just take for
granted almost in working with the same size on repeat.
Like for instance the fact that a vertical log looks weird in
AB5I personally feel it looks weird in AB because there's just
so much extra space and people like oh you can fill it with
decoration. I'm like no it's too hard I
don't want to do it. This is the worst.
That's what I really got into squares for myself because the
B5 had that weird kind of thing. I always say what I love about a
square notebook. It's like the comfortability
size of an A5 with the width of AB 5, right?
You kind of have this perfect dimension inside of there.
But again, that's what I like about these two.
And also the thing I didn't mention is that you can also
print out templates yourself too.
They sell them, but if you're the type of person that doesn't
want to at the buy your own paper or try something
different, they have this whole template gallery that's really
cool. So I used to use it for project
planning. Like I used to be like a few
months at a time. I did it for content planning.
You can do it for all kinds of really cool stuff.
So I'm a really big fan of it. I think it's been really cool.
And because I get the kind of mix and match and that just that
makes a little dopamine hit for me.
And I'm just like, yeah, I'm going to try this out and I do
it for a few months, then I'm over it.
I want to print out anymore. Now that's very fair.
I do think that there is like definitely a benefit with those
kind of systems where you can bring in those types of
elements. Like you can bring in what I'm
going to call like external paper.
So whether that's like templates or just regular paper or
whatever. And just get to try all these
things out without committing to like a full notebook of that
thing or a full planner of that thing as well.
Because like if you buy a planner for the year, usually
they're kind of they're kind of spinning kind of a thing.
So you kind of have that, I don't know, sunk cost policy.
Like I have to finish using this because I put all this money
into it and maybe time setting it up and whatever, but being
able to give yourself like a test run in that kind of system
is pretty cool. Also in thinking about that,
it's kind of to me like the Neapolitan, almost like the
Neapolitan journal that they had from Archer and Olive.
It's like you get your black and your white and your craft paper
and you can kind of try and change them up.
The problem with that one I found was that there's only
like, you know, so many pages of 1 and I wouldn't get a full
month in that. So it's like in the middle of a
month you're switching from white paper to black paper, but
the theme doesn't really work for that.
So I was then going to like the next white paper section to keep
on with. The white paper made for a very
interestingly organised notebook.
And I feel like the system you're talking about could kind
of solve that a little bit because you could just shove
more pages in. Yeah, it's definitely a very
cool one. But all right, Jess, let's go
into your next one. What's your #2 or yeah, I guess
#2 because we're going up to #1. Going up to #1 alrighty #2 so
this one in particular I really love because they are constantly
coming out with new designs. So their range in terms of
designs just for the covers is really great.
I appreciate having a lot of like eye candy to pick from
makes makes my heart happy. But also I found that this brand
in particular had a really good range of different types of
paper and like, you know, doc grid versus lines versus blank,
yadda, yadda. They also have started to bring
more sizes into their lineup, which is really cool.
In particular, the one that's quite exciting is that they have
bought square notebooks into their lineup, which is not
something that's all that common.
And in particular, given that my favorite square brand, which
we'll talk about later and you all know what it is, but it's
fine. No spoilers, right?
My favorite square brand, they they sell at quickly.
They do sell out quickly, but so having another brand that I can
rely on Foursquare notebooks is kind of exciting.
This one is Tifosi. I have, you know, quite a few
notebooks from them and some very lovely colors, very lovely
designs. At the moment, they seem to be
like really into birds, which like birds isn't really my
thing, but some of their designs with birds look very like fairy
tale kind of thing. It feels like a fairy tale book
that like you're going to put all of your beautiful Once Upon
a time stories in gorgeous colors, very pretty designs and
that's why I like them. They're definitely cool.
I've only had one. I think it's probably when they
first were starting to come out. I know they were sending out
some notebooks to different people.
Don't think we love that paper necessarily.
I know that they've fixed it because you've done some work
with them and have a number of the notebooks.
But I will agree, their covers are gorgeous.
Like seriously like nothing else that I've seen out there.
And you and I have talked a lot recently too about a lot of the
full cover designs. And they're just, they're,
they're just amazing. They're foiled and they're very
intricate and detailed and they are very, very pretty.
I haven't tried any of them since that original one just
because I have a ton of other notebooks.
And I was kind of bummed out about the paper in that very
first one since it was, I forget what it was like stone washed
or. I have no idea what it was but
it was slippy. I am very glad that they changed
their paper since that one. In particular that one had like
the sharp corners as well which makes for my personal thinking.
Like that's an aggressive notebook.
That notebook's trying to get me type of a thing.
But since then, the ones that I've been getting from them,
they do have a paper that's more kind of typical with what I
like, not so slippy, not so like, you know, long drying
times or anything like that. I think that you would like
them. It's more so just like akin to
our number one kind of paper. Yeah, well, it's good that they
changed that. I mean, I'm sure they got a lot
of feedback because the paper really does make such a big
difference and notebooks and know all of the planter pals
know that that's probably one of the most important things aside
from the designs that are on the cover of these notebooks is how
well that paper performs and especially if you're using
different type of materials. I remember when I used that
original paper again, I'm sorry to keep going back in there, but
I just remember it so very vividly because I was using like
very inky pens and everything else.
And I was like, okay, and I remember putting ink in there
and like waiting and waiting and waiting.
I think it was almost over a minute for some of this ink to
dry. And I was like, this is just not
going to work for me. And so I don't know a whole lot
about paper necessarily like on the back end of things like what
it's made out of all the qualities or the makers or
things like that. But I definitely appreciate like
when people do know. But when before I buy a
notebook, I can see someone really using it to know if it's
right, because it does make a really big difference.
No, I would very much agree with that.
And I think that because they do have a varied kind of range in
terms of their paper, like both type and also just styling, it
can be a little bit tricky to know upfront which one you're
going to get. I've only found that has been
that one notebook, that one design that has the Super slippy
paper. And every other one that I've
had with them since has been the nice regular, not slippy, actual
good drying time papers, which makes them really great for R&D
notebooks, especially because they have a lower price point
and they have free shipping to like 30-4 different places or
something. One of those places is where I'm
based, which is definitely saying something because living
at the ass end of the world, shipping is heinous.
Shipping is killer. So it's really nice to have
somewhere that I can get notebooks from where it's not
going to cost me like double or like edging towards triple the
price because I need to pay the shipping on top of the notebook
cost. Yeah, it makes a really big
difference for you. I feel bad every time you buy a
notebook. It's just, you know, shipping it
to the ass end of the world, as you like to say.
It costs so much money to do that and I feel like over the
years it's just getting like more and more and more.
So that's fantastic if you have a opportunity with a lot of them
to do that. And to me, from something we
haven't really talked about so far, but is a really important
part of why we also like certain notebook brands like that shows
that they are trying to have a larger international audience.
When they make those things more easily available, they can get
to you. It's not a, you know, costing
you a crap ton of money, maybe a little bit more, but that makes
a big difference. Yeah, I know that like it's not
just New Zealand that suffers from this, depending on like
where certain brands are based and such people in the UK and
Europe and stuff who are also paying out the notice for
different brands and notebooks that they want to bring into
their stashes. But what would be your number 2?
So my number 2 is one that is very cool.
I like it a lot. It's the Night Owl Journal from
Al Paper. So Marissa owns this.
She's a very small business. She's doing this all on her own.
I actually was just chatting with her today because she's
starting to maybe experiment with some other sizes, which I'm
really excited about. But she sells her planners,
which are really neat. She actually built these with a
bullet journaler in mind, but it is predated.
And then a lot of the pages are pre filled out.
It's also a great paper, but a lot of them are not.
So like the whole idea behind hers is she's like, OK, here's
the things that you need in your normal journal, right?
You have space for index, you have your monthlies, right?
She also knows that people like a weekly view, but also want
room to be able to write beyond just like what's on those weeks.
And I really liked it a lot. Now I always know me in this
paper. Tomorrow.
No tomorrow. I love.
It Why can't I say it the right way, Jess?
I don't know Tamoi. Tamoi River paper so there's
been like a change in that paper supposedly and like so she
actually stole like the good paper she was just talking about
it the other day, but like this whole idea is that like you've
got good paper, you've got a really good layout and it was
something that I actually never thought that I was going to try,
but she had sent me one now the one that she sent me was bright
pink. So I got to customize it with
all of these cool stickers, which turned out very cool, but
I actually really loved using this notebook because it like
gave be the opportunity to like play around with different
things I wouldn't normally do. There's also like a calendar
inside of here so I could do time blocking and all kinds of
cool things inside of it. And you can either buy the next
of the year if you want, buy them at the same time.
She's been playing around with more colors and stuff like that
too. So I'm just like totally like
ooey and oolly over this because I really love the idea of these
and like everything that she puts into it.
So it's why it's one of my favorites.
I'm actually starting to use these for ink swatches in the
near future, like the older ones that I have that I didn't use
the full notebook because I switched out of it.
So, you know, it's just, you know, fun.
Several points because. Sorry that.
Was a lot, but no, I think that's a good point though.
Like you kind of mentioned this idea of like being able to trial
things love that also kind of knowing that there are going to
be specific notebooks that are going to be good for particular
functions. Like you mentioned, you didn't
really mind that this had the thinner paper because you were
using it in conjunction with something else that was your
kind of preferred paper type. Or like for for me with the
Kokuyo, it's like that's a scribble book.
It doesn't need the ultra deluxe paper or anything.
And I'm just going to be really messy in there.
So it's totally cool that it's dinner.
But even just slipping through the scribble book and having
notes that are just, you know, random and maybe a mind map and
then some doodles and then whatever else, it's very
satisfying to have a completed notebook, even if it isn't
completed with things that are in the moment aesthetic or
beautiful or anything like that. A used notebook is the best
notebook. That's what I'm going to say
because it's just very satisfying.
It feels good. It feels like an accomplishment,
especially if you're the kind of person who picks up a notebook
being like, this is going to be the notebook that changes my
life. And then you use 2 pages and
then you put it on the back of the shelf and never look at it
again. Wah wah.
Well. That's why you have to find like
new homes for, like I said, even though I only used like the
first few pages of this one. You know, I started using it for
ink swatches, right? And it's kind of finding new
uses for notebook is. I actually were just saying
finished a notebook. When I was going through my
notebooks, I realized that I actually finished this whole
like R&D sketch journal that I have.
I need to do a flip through of it on YouTube because I've done
a video in a minute, but just, you know, the idea of finishing
that. And then I'm thinking, what do I
do with it though? Like it's just a sketchbook.
I don't really need a lot that's inside of there.
Like am I going to throw this away after I do this flip
through? Because I really don't have a
need for it anymore. It served its purpose.
I'm going to put that down as a personal preference type thing
because I will not throw away my ones that I've used.
It is very rare for me to actually part with one that I
have completed, mainly because I use it as reference material for
the channel or anything like that.
But anything that's like a genuine scribble book I have
parted with. It was paying in the moment, but
it's one of those things that, like, parting with anything in
the moment is painful. Like if you're in a decluttering
kind of state of mind or whatever, it's like, oh gosh,
you know, tension. What if I need this rah, rah?
And then the week passes and then you don't even remember.
Like I was sitting here thinking, did I throw out that
Scrabble book? Is, is it still here?
Is it in the room with us? No, it's gone.
It's been gone for like a month and a half now.
And I just forgot that I got rid of it.
Yeah, I don't. I would never get rid of a used
like bullet journal, something like that.
But this is just a sketch one where I'm just like, yeah, had
some idea is I think I was probably using it for some like
affiliate stuff or paid content or whatever.
It's like that had a purpose. But it is one of those things
though, where I was just like flipping through and I was like,
wait, like there's still some good pages.
I was like, no, there's not this.
This feels really good. I like it.
The one down to 100 to go, you know.
Yeah, progress is progress, so we can still be proud of that.
But knowing that our number one is the same, what would be the
first reason that you love them so much?
All right, so everyone's guessed by now we are definitely talking
about our turn all of notebooks. Let's not beat around in the
Bush anymore. There's a whole lot of reasons
and I will not try to go on a tirade like I did on that last
one so that we could have a conversation today.
I would say that I think the reason that our turn all of
notebooks are my favorite is because after coming from
notebooks that ghosted and bled through and I was such a
disbeliever that any notebook paper could actually not ghost
through. It was the most amazing feeling
to use one page heavily and then flip it over and feel like I was
actually on a fresh new page. That to me, is what honestly
made me fall in love with their notebooks.
First was the fact that I never felt like I was wasting paper
and I always felt like I was starting on a nice new clean
page. No, that is very fair.
That was that was the reason why I was so interested in them to
start with, because back when I first got into Archer and Olive
notebooks, 160 GSM notebooks were not the normal, like
they're much more than normal now.
But back then it was everybody was in their LT19 seventeens or
their scribbles that matter. I was in a scribbles that
matter. So another thing that I really
loved about moving from scribbles that matter in
particular, like just to throw them under the bus a little bit,
sorry, but moving from a notebook that had branding on
the outside of the notebook to no branding on the outside.
That was also a selling point for me.
I'm like, I don't want to be like toting around my notebook
and just be like with your brand name printed on the back in
quite large text. Actually I think it was on the
front in quite large text. I didn't, I've never thought
about that. I only ever think I had no,
never scribble. Dingbats was the one that I had.
I don't think I ever had a scribble that matters.
I never got into that, but it does make a big deal.
I mean, the cover design is definitely the other reason, you
know, that I really fell in love with them a lot.
There's so many different ideas and things like that.
And you know, I was just thinking about this the other
day. I was telling you before we
started recording today that there is the Mind Journal, which
is a journal I've looked at before that they had messaged me
to say that they were I guess not going to be in business
anymore. And I was thinking about it and
I was like, I wonder why, you know, like what from a notebook
business perspective, like keeps people in business, obviously a
good idea, good quality branding.
But the other thing that I really love about Archer and all
of, and I know some people like don't they like it, but they
don't like it is that it is forever changing.
There's always a new season, a new design, new things that are
coming out. I don't, I honestly don't know
that a lot of notebook companies are really doing that.
Planners, yes, like I know that there's like the seasonal
planners, teacher planners, yearly planners, all of that,
Erin Condren, whatever those, all of that stuff.
I don't know what that genre is called, but our channel also
consistently delivers with like really cool designs.
And even when they're not really delivering and we all complain
about it, like they continuously are revamping, retrying and
doing new things, which also continuously keeps me excited.
Like I think that's how they hook us.
They know what they're doing. Oh, definitely they, they are,
they are in, in the knowledge space of marketing and such.
Very much that. I think that in terms of the
design aspect of it, it also is really nice to know that like
people are designing that. And I, I especially in the day
and age of computer generated imagery and all of that kind of
thing, knowing the people behind the designs, knowing who is
going and doing those things and putting their time, effort and
energy to bring us products that are absolutely gorgeous.
I also think that's really special.
Like obviously we both have a kind of personal connection with
Archer and all of having worked on their, what was previously
called the design team. Such a miss Norman, like so many
people like, Oh, you're designing the notebooks.
No, definitely not. We were writing blog posts and
making reels it. Was good I mean well, I mean as
a person who got to do that and actually design it like, you
know, that was something that was really cool and it gave me a
totally new insight on that. It also made me feel like bad
when I've like talked poorly about some of their notebook
designs before because doing it myself, I realized there's a lot
that goes into it and then like to put something out and then
for people not to respond well to it maybe definitely like feel
a lot different very empathetic to the designers that do that.
But you're right, like it's cool to get to know them and see
that. I wish we had a little bit more
influence, but like no one will tell us anything usually in
advance. And that's the thing too.
It's like they have to like design these notebooks so far in
advance. And like you said, they know all
the marketing stuff and what's going on and like what's hot and
what's not for the most part. To think that like some cases
they're designing these like 6 months to a year in advance.
Like that's wild to me. Like my brain doesn't work more
than like a week or two in advance.
I can't imagine like that far ahead.
But I I just feel like most of the time they're hitting the
metal on the head with designs. I'm very impressed.
I don't even know how one could do that.
Like look into the crystal ball. Is blue going to be hot next
year? Blue is always hot.
They're always going to have blue journals.
The blue drug will never die. But no, I think it is.
It is nice to be able to just know that there are people
behind it, like you kind of were talking about with the idea of
not being too mean to the designs because you also know
the people behind them. Because I don't know.
Did you get any negative quote quote negative feedback about
your design? I love your design.
It's still on my shelf. I didn't declutter it.
No, I think they it sounds. Like I did.
That sounded really fake. I didn't declutter it.
It's like proof of life. She's here.
He's living his best life over
there. No, I didn't get any criticism
on the design on the outside. The only criticism I actually
have for it as well is I wish the page numbers were a little
bit darker because now using this as my full time journal, I
was just studying the other day with a new page on one of my
collections and I had a really hard time like seeing the page
numbers. And I was like, if I ever got
the chance to do this again, I would make it a little bit
darker. And I kept it light because I
know a lot of the reasons they don't put page numbers in their
notebooks is not everyone uses page numbers.
But I was like, well, hell, if I'm going to get the chance to
do it, I'm doing it now. But it was just one of those
things where that was the only pieces that people, I mean, I'm
not even hard of seeing, right? Like I don't have any visual
impairments and I have a hard time.
I can only imagine someone else with visual impairments, like
they probably can't see it at all.
But other than that, no. Like the only person actually
that had a criticism is when I had done the designs originally
and I had designed the spine, which had a different thing.
Here I showed my wife and she's like, what's Hoda?
And I was like, what? And she's like, it says Hoda on
the side of your notebook. And so the shapes, for whatever
reason, like spelled it out. So it had to get changed because
I was like, Oh my gosh, like, I would have never, ever seen
that. But that was like kind of the
whole thing with the notebook design was that it was supposed
to like have a lot of like, cool to find things inside of it.
Unbeknownst to me, it also spelled out words like thank
goodness it didn't say anything like graphic or else like that,
because that would have been very unintentional and very
unfortunate. But that was the only thing I
feel like from a feedback standpoint.
I'm sure that the marketing team would have had a fun spin on it.
You would have been fine. But yeah, it's probably going to
spot that ahead of time so it doesn't go out for full printing
with the Hoda on it. Yeah, I think that that OK if if
we're, you know, balanced reviews here.
If there was one thing that makes me a little sad about
Arthur and Olive is that it feels like every single item I
have from them is limited edition because it kinda is like
once they sell out, it very rarely comes back unless they do
one of those like bring back the favorites.
We love bring back the favorites because then you actually get
the opportunity to get the favorites that you missed out on
because the releases happened at 2:00 AM your time and you didn't
want to sacrifice your sleep to get a notebook And then you woke
up and I was sold out. Now you're depressed.
Doesn't always work like that because I just wake up for it.
I must be there at release. I must get my notebooks.
But everything being kind of limited edition or feeling
limited edition, that is a bit of a pain point.
So like those designs that they released several years ago, not
being able to just like easily jump on, get them at any time,
that makes me a little bit sad. It does for me as well, but I
think that's why I also love it so much.
It's like anything that you collect that's limited edition
like this whole like la Boo Boo phase thing that's happening
right now, right? Like the whole idea behind it.
It's just like defined like these special or rare ones and
show them off and I guess for now at least, right, like you,
you get what you get. I don't really know how it all
exactly works. I just see everyone talking
about them. They're on the boardwalk.
Everyone's talking about them. But like the notebooks though,
like when I was, you know, decluttering my own and I opened
them up and I was like, it's the original bee design.
Like that was like the one you had to have, right?
And a lot of like the old, like the wizard one they had for like
Halloween, like the broom and the potion bottle and the wand
and all of that. I, I want to use them.
I will, but just also knowing that like I can't get another
one of those immediately is a bummer.
And I know that was such a really big sticking point and I
know something to that they've really worked on to this whole
idea of like having to get online at then or else it's
selling out. You're never going to get it
again. Like I appreciate also if we're
talking about things we do like about them from that negative is
that they are listening to their customers.
They are there to try to make it a good experience for them.
They're also here to make money at the end of the day.
Let's just be honest, right? But the fact that like they are
doing like pre-orders for designs that people really like
so they can get a hold of them, but then the season moves into
the next one. And so it's kind of, you know,
they got to sell what they're doing, right?
And I think like that is just a part of business.
And again, we have this luxury and like insider knowledge to
know them. And we know more about the
business than probably the average person does just because
we've been a part of it to a certain extent.
But I, while I don't love it, I know people don't love it.
I also kind of like it because I am that type of person that
likes to be able to say like I have this and it does.
It bumps me out with people like Mark, when can I get your
notebook? I'm like, you can't because they
sold out. They don't have any more.
Well, especially like one of the very few things that we actually
did get to design when it was the design team with pins or
like, you know, lapel pin badges type thing.
My badge sold out in like an hour.
And so they were putting together the promo marketing
materials and stuff for it to release over the next couple of
days. And so they released the video
two days later. I'm like, oh look, there's that
pin that you can't get anymore. That's always hard, especially
like when we do our like unboxings or reviews or things
like that and you're just like, oh, I got this beautiful
notebook, man, I'd love for you to be able to get it, but you
can't because they're gone. And now it's just like we're
rubbing it in lightning and in. And it well, it's so hard too,
because you also don't know when stuff is going to like sell out
or in some cases like be discontinued.
Like I have this like uniball, you can like write on
everything. And I did this whole like all my
favorite stationary things. And literally like I had just
bought like 3 or 4 of them off of Amazon not long ago.
I put out the video. People are like, I have to have
that pen. And they go to like use the
link. They're like, oh, no, like
they're discontinued. I was like, what do you mean?
I literally just got them delivered to my house.
They're like, they are not unavailable.
I looked online, I looked on the the the website like they've
discontinued that pen and I was like, oh, well, well, now that
lives out there and people, I'm gonna, you know, it's like
probably one of the first things I'm like, I love this pen.
It writes on everything and then no one can ever get it.
It It's not the best thing in the world, but like, at least
you know, I'm passionate at. Least I'm enthusiastic about it.
You can share my joy from a distance.
I think that again, they are my number one for a reason.
Absolutely love them. But one of the things that is
bit of a curse is I live in New Zealand, shipping is expensive,
which we we do have the wholesalers or the stockist and
such and they have an international list for that
which I do very much appreciate because it means that people who
live a little further afield can get those at a more reasonable
rate. It is still more reasonable for
me to pay after an olive specifically rather than go to a
stockist. But it is always something that
I'm just like just don't look, just just press cash out and
don't look at it and it'll be fine.
Done. Is it over?
But I think no matter what, and this is true to form, like you
said, press the button no matter what, we just love what they're
doing. And that's why it's easy to
collect almost 200 notebooks of different sizes that you have is
like, that's love, that's fandom.
Like when you find something that you really like, I think
you will spend a little bit more on something like that because
you know it's quality at the end of the day.
Yeah. And it's the thing I want to
support the people who have supported us, you know, being
able to be part of the ambassador team, be part of like
their growth and journey and such.
And I think that following along with our Trinola for as long as
we have, you have gotten to see that kind of like and I feel
like it's like our Trinol of law, like when you were here for
the first sub box or the first release of the Acrylographs or
like when they first bought out the calligraphs or anything.
It's like we've been part of the journey, even if it's only from
the sidelines going like, yeah, give me some more notebooks or
whatever. But being able to see that
evolution is the word I was thinking of, you know, going
from the individual icon on the front, now the full cover
designs to the release of the new pens and then bringing in
washi and stickers and everything else they're doing.
It's great. We're die hard fans.
You already knew it, but we would love to hear from you
Platter pals. What are your favorite notebook
brands? What are the ones that you can't
say no to? The ones that you're going to go
back to time and time again? Let us know here on the comments
if you're on YouTube, or you can e-mail us at
plannerpalspodcast@gmail.com or hit us up on Instagram at
Planner Pals Podcast. I can't wait to hear from you
all in the comments, of course, to share new things because
we're going to be in those comments and I'm going to be
looking things up. I've got store credit, so I have
to have stuff that I have to buy.
I don't just got rid of a bunch of stuff, but like I'm always on
the look for something cool and new.
So until next time, Platter pals have a good one.
Thanks for watching.