The Enduring Appeal of Graph Paper

How do you like your notebook pages: dots, plain, lined, or squared? I'm personally a big fan of squared/graph paper notebooks and pads, since they're very versatile for writing, drawing, and copying over Sudoku and Ken Ken puzzles when you've made a mistake and have to start over! I've used many brands, particularly Moleskine, as for a long time they were the only pocket sized hardcover notebooks I could find with graph paper. Now, of course, there are more choices available, and due to some design choices at Moleskine, some users might be considering other options.

Manufacturer paper changes

I recently posted a link on my own site about the blogger at Recording Thoughts, who decided to switch to Leuchtturm after noticing a change in Moleskine's squared notebooks: Moleskine Monday: Hello, Goodbye.
My own observations confirmed what I read at Recording Thoughts: the graph lines on newer Moleskines are darker. You might think this sort of thing wouldn't be noticeable, but it really is! Below you can see an old Moleskine in the foreground, and an older one underneath.

When I started using my new Moleskine, I was immediately bothered by the darker lines-- I use very fine point pens, so the weight of the graph lines really competes with what I'm writing.
I thought the dark lines might be a defect confined to a particular print run, so I submitted a query via Moleskine's quality control page on their website. A day or two later, I received a reply informing me that the darker lines were not a defect, but in fact a design change prompted by complaints from people with "sight problems" who found the old lines too faint!

Lovenotebooks to the rescue

I guess that goes to show that you can't please everyone all the time. But since I care about pleasing ME, I immediately contacted LoveNotebooks to see if their stock of Moleskines included the older versions with faint lines. And here's the good news: if you use pocket size squared notebooks, you can get the ones with faint lines at LoveNotebooks (while supplies last). If you use the large notebooks, their stock on those has the darker lines.
In the meantime, I've still got about 2/3 of my current notebook left to write in. For the first few days those darker lines were really driving me nuts, but I've started to get more used to them now. I've also been using a wider pen and writing bigger, to compete with those dark lines, and to use up my pages faster!

Guest Blog Post by Nifty, follow her passion on www.notebookstories.com