The consistency of books is certainly never to be confused with the static. There is hardly an object that shows change more clearly than a notebook – both the object and in your thinking. Diverse traces of coffee and wine, dirt and rain that mark the material and create an individual patina, tell of its use, of development and change. And not only on the outside, but also in regards to the content, notebooks are definitely dynamic investments. Texts on laptops are cut up, moved back and forth, constantly revised, optimised, completed and ultimately, overwritten and saved when they are perfect. This is the opposite of the immediacy of the written word, where every manual correction, every ripped out page, every crossed out letter of the continuous thought process is preserved.
It is not unusual that when browsing through your notes, hidden connections and forgotten memories come to light. In this way, work processes have their own form of presence and visibility. And when browsing, we are reviewing the chronology of a “natural system” of organisation that fits ideally to the operational function of the human brain. That is why information is surprisingly easy to find intuitively. In addition, things that are written and drawn analogue – as many different studies prove – are better remembered over a longer period of time anyway. Because during the first step of the work process, we already filter, rate, estimate and create a structure.
Handwriting beats the ten-finger system of typing.
The notebook is misunderstood, if it is considered a pre-digital phenomenon and damned to a sad existence as a replaceable vintage accessory or a last alternative for conservative technophobes. The term Monotone-monochrome and notebooks do not fit together. They are a versatile instrument of our time: full of mindfulness and self-discovery. A notebook is a diary and personal companion, a place for ideas and a bearer of inspiration, a learning tool and a place for experimentation. A notebook is innovative and traditional, vibrant and calming, unique and universal all at the same time – just simply an essential tool for the here and now.