A SORT OF INTRO LETTER
Dear soon-to-be-maker,
I welcome you into the world of notebooks. The object you are now holding in your hands is the final result of a year-long research. I am Emma, a student of the Experimental Publishing Master course at Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam. During the second year of our studies, we are asked to work on a research project and to make it public in this specific context.
The result of my research is a kick-starter kit, or a game, or a (note-)book, to start questioning and experimenting with the creation of notebooks. 
My aim was to create an object that could be used, and not only consumed. Thus, I would like you, my reader, my user, to become a maker through the use of this kit. I hope you will enjoy the journey through my texts, my prototypes, my questions and my answers. I hope you will find your way in the practice of making notebooks and you will explore the feelings of creating your own tool.
I made many different choices in the creation of this work, and I would like to share them with you. Therefore, if you are interested in knowing more, go on reading!

WHY DID I DO THIS?
One of the main reasons I feel the urgency to discuss this topic is based on both my personal experience and the experiences of others during their growth. It revolves around the standardization of abilities, desires, and ways of living. Throughout our lives, we are expected to meet certain standards and conform to generalisations. However, these structures may be comfortable for some individuals while making others feel completely out of place.
In general, in society, I don’t like that we are expected or used to be all the same, that expressing who we are is not part of daily life, but many times it’s a shaming process that has a lot of impact on growth and development of self. I believe that the rise of consumerism has contributed to this phenomenon. We have become accustomed to the idea that we can simply buy objects, disregarding whether they are tailored specifically for us or if they are designed in the same way for everyone else in the world. 
I would like this research to be a sort of manifesto for a general context but using the notebook as a metaphor: Who are you? How does your brain work? How do your ideas come along? What are your needs from a tool that society provides in a standardised form?
It is not only about making a notebook, it is how making a notebook will put you in the position of questioning who you are and the objects you use, why you use them and how something made by you for you could look and feel like.

HOW THE (NOTE)BOOK IS MADE
Initially, the goal was to create a kit for making notebooks that could be read, but also used to practically make notebooks. To do so, I used my existing collection of texts, conversations, images, thoughts. Making a multitude of prototypes throughout the research process helped shape the material concept of this (note-)book, intertwining practical prompts and inspirations with theoretical texts. I made these prototypes to be able to analyse them and write about them; on the other side, I needed the right notebooks to take notes and develop this project, supporting my thinking and learning needs.
The first prototype worth mentioning is “the first notebook kit: An adjustable and editable notebook with included tape and papers for continuation” (find the analysis in the cards!). This notebook is directly inspired by the concept of index cards: they are cards used to store a small amount of content. Reading about them in history, I discovered that they are mainly used for two reasons: as a memory aid and to create new connections. I divided the texts into smaller cards, making editing choices and ensuring each card can stand alone. This prevents overwhelming the reader and allows for creating connections between the cards. In the moment the concept of modularity found me and grasped my interest, I created another prototype: the triad notebook. This prototype is composed of 3 rows (as the one you’re holding has 4), that can be browsed in different ways, helping to recreate connections between the different sections.
Next to modularity, customizability was another essential aspect, as the core concept of the entire project. I want to acknowledge our individuality and the desire to interact with objects in our own way. To achieve this, the chosen spine lets you, the user, to take possession of the object and participate in its use and creation. The spine allows a 360 degrees rotation so that all the content in the rows can reconnect to the other rows. In addition, it enables experimenting with different notebooks structures; you could mix your own pages with the provided ones; you could get rid of all the pages I provided, and fill it in with yours. Or you could make new notebooks. In addition, the pages can become cards and can be used without the spine. Would they still be a (note-)book then? 
Defining when a notebook ceases to be a notebook has been a question throughout this process. While this publication is printed, I hope that through these different considerations, at least for some, this could still be defined as a notebook.
The content originates from my own reflections and the notes I took, both digital and handwritten. The latter were notes and now, after printing them out I wonder, are they still?
Last but not least, to minimize paper waste the publication is printed on an A4 layout. Further information about paper size is provided inside this spread.
              
                HOW THE (NOTE)BOOK IS DESIGNED
Through these last two years in the course, one of the main things we have been taught is to use alternative ways and tools to produce our publications. This is one of the reasons why I chose to develop a Python script for the purpose. But it doesn’t stop here. The script generates a different positioning for each card every time it is run. This deliberate randomness in the placement of the cards allows for a user-centric experience, where the order and arrangement are not predetermined. The script enables the generation of different PDFs for printing with each reload, ensuring that users encounter a distinct arrangement of cards every time the content is printed. This approach embraces modularity again, as the connections between cards can vary based on their specific positions. Whether one reads card A next to card B or card A next to card C, the experience will differ. The intention behind this is to offer an individual experience to each user, encouraging them to create their own unique connections.

WHY A PRINTED PUBLICATION IS IMPORTANT
Apart from everything described above, for example the possibility to edit the order of the cards, or to manipulate the spine and transform the basic structure of the object, there are other reasons why a printed publication is necessary at this point.
First, the choice() method, one of the Python functions used in the main script, selects a random element from a list. You know that it is choosing from a list of options, but what happens in the back, it’s not given to you. So, I wondered: what happens when you mirror digital interactions into a physical movement? When this concept is applied to the (note-)book in your hands, you become the one determining how you navigate through the rows of cards. You have control over the changes, appearances, and disappearances of content. While the specific content behind each card remains unknown, you can physically perceive the anticipation and surprise.
Secondly, the act of turning the pages, the feeling of the paper are essential features that add a lot to the experience. Through this research, I have discovered the significance of reading and taking notes in physical form. What I found the most interesting is the impact and importance of the physical act of turning pages and the spatial layout of text: readers engage more, understand and remember more; the spatiality of a physical object facilitates a deeper interaction and comprehension of the materials. For further insights, refer to the excerpts from my thesis.

THE METHODS USED
The methods I used to feed this publication are multiple experiments and approaches I worked with between March 2022 and April 2023. The first one is my personal notebook process that consists in the creation of different prototypes to analyse and question my use of notebooks and to discover how to modify them to adjust them to my needs. The second method consists in having discussion groups to collect opinions through conversation and questions. The third one involves gathering and analysing the work of other users to understand how they approach the same process. The last method is the Collaborative Explorative Sessions (C.E.S.): the C.E.S. are a collaborative playground to experiment with a collection of exercises together with the workshop participants. I created the C.E.S. through the knowledge acquired in the process and specifically thanks to the first three methods included in the research, as well as inspired by Generative Design Research, which includes the end user in the design process (Sanders and Stappers, 2014). All these methods will not be discussed inside this publication, but related thoughts and opinions will be presented in some of the cards. In addition, the results of the research are published in my thesis, “Paper Notebooks: From an Industrial Model to a Tool of Expression” (2023), produced in the context of the graduation research from the Experimental Publishing (XPUB) Master course at the Piet Zwart Institute, Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences.

COLOPHON&LICENSE
Emma Prato
June 2023
design, texts, pictures: Emma Prato
pictures of some of the CES prototypes: Ål Nik
pictures of me unfolding the “notebook kit”: Michael Murtaugh
paper: circle offset 170g /
context natural 150gsm (insides);
conqueror ivory 300gsm (cover);
leftovers for introtext and back cardboard
typefaces: catamaran by Pria Ravichandran,
notcouriersans by Ludivine Loiseau and OSP
downloaded from https://www.design-research.be/by-womxn/
printed at: wdka, rotterdam
copyleft: this work is free, you can copy, distribute and modify it
under the terms of the Free Art License http://www.artlibre.org
[EMMA PRATO, HOW TO MAKE A NOTEBOOK THAT...: FROM
INDUSTRIAL MODEL TO TOOL OF EXPRESSION,
published in June 2023, Rotterdam, NL]

The Triad One

A Wiki Scroll

Q: how to make a notebook that exaggerate the scattered and the chaos?

need for new inputs out of the mess

strings

binding

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: the notebook kit

20.09.22 I delivered to Supi° the first notebook kit: An adjustable and editable notebook with included tape and papers for continuation. The idea is that this type of notebooks allows the user to build it up easily as their needs come over and adjusting and editing while using it and not being forced to stay in a standardised area for standardised notebook users.

with thick paper

paperformat

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: this publication

03.05.23 The final publication is selected content organised and split into little cards. This content, through a python script, get inserted into an a4 template and can be printed as a booklet. Ideally, every time, the PDF comes out differently through random choice. The content mixes only in the same row, not between rows, to avoid contradictory connections (the user will be able to move them around by themselves afterwards anyway).

to have multiple notebooks in one

addons

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: the first one

+it occupies less space but offers bigger pages

+the additional lateral wings allow modularity: the user can move the wings to connect with multiple pages at the same time

+if the user forgets something the wings give more space to write

-the fact that it's folded means it's thicker and it's difficult to write if it's too big

Q: who do you write for?

03.10.22 time-specific writing [erica° said]= writing that makes sense only in the moment you wrote it.

Prototype from CES

thesis excerpts: the commonplace book

During the XVI century, the commonplace books (the term in English appeared around 1578) became significant in education and pedagogy and were “private notebooks in which students and scholars kept extracts from the major classical texts” (Yeo, 2008).

squared paper

paperformat

CONVERSATIONS ON NOTEBOOKS

[ ] Notebooks are always too big or too small

like long lines

[ ] has different notes in different places, also digital

[ ] needs to be at 90 degrees

the weird folds inspiring for drawings, not for notes because too messy

like envelopes and foldings

for temporary notes

situation

thesis excerpts: the moleskine

In the XIX century in Europe, a specific type of notebook spread around: the moleskine. The name means ‘leather’ in English and it has been used to describe a notebook with a black cover of a very strong vinyl-coated material, a little pocket on the back and a rubber band. The notebook has been used by many famous authors and artists, becoming very well-known in Europe, “until plastic-covered ones gradually replaced them from the 1950s” (te Heesen, 2005). In 1997, Moleskine became a trademark for an Italian company and spread all over the world, evolving and following the trends to stay up to date.

hard cover

binding

PROCESS NOTES: a personal notebook process

A personal notebook process is the ever-changing process a person can go through, by analysing and keeping attention to their individual note-taking activity and their use of paper notebooks to understand themselves and their needs.

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: the metal rings one

18.01.2023 FUTURE: I would like to edit the one I am already using to fix the problems I am having at the moment.

-change paper

-add more paper

-fold paper

-pay more attention when i re-organise materials

PROCESS NOTES: what i would like is

18.04.23 I would like to create (active) makers, not consumers. The final outcome needs to be something to be used to make, not only to receive/consume. I want the users of this work to participate in the act of making notebooks against capitalism and commodity practices. I want to expand the spaces of this medium.

PROCESS NOTES: why notebooks?

22.09.22 I have always been interested in the materiality of objects and their touch and how to build things myself. A lot is also about subjectivity and modularity: I am fascinated by the fact that, also a publication, for example, can be created in a way that every person that uses it can react in their own way. I think it's a lot about disrupting known formats and ideas.

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: the metal rings one

14.02.23 I noticed how much i work with numbered lists when i have a flat sheet of paper. I think it's pretty evident, looking at the first notebook and the ring one, how much the shape changed the content. It is very hard right now to use this notebook for brainstorming. I am only writing lines of text and cannot connect with other things at all.

sticks

binding

The Last One

The Ring One

Q: How do you write?

(directions, space in the nb..)

for personal thoughts

situation

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: the last one

28.03.23 The last notebook I made for myself and that I hope will follow me until graduation, as an answer to my thoughts on the 15.03.23. Overall, I am super happy with it. The fact that it fits in the inside pocket of my jacket is just one of the amazing features this notebook is offering. I am already noticing that the different width of the pages is making a difference.

Look for the image in the cards

where I have written my

"thoughts on this notebook"

(hint: yellow cover).

step 5. look at the shape of your notebook. is it small? is it big enough?

The Columns One

The First Notebook Kit

step 7. is there any addition that would make your notebook even more practical?

to create new connections between content

situation

step 8. should the cover be hard or soft? can you re-use a cardboard you already have? or maybe a parcel you received yesterday?

The Wiki Scroll

The Ring One

rough paper

paperformat

step 2. look at your notes and move through them. what do you notice? do you see any pattern in your behaviours?

PROCESS NOTES: inspirational quotes

19.09.22 Someone said (Brendan Howell): our collective work is having new ideas to find better alternatives to th(e ma)instream ways that shut down every imagination chance, they offer the “best” way. Do it in a different way. + "Thus, throughout, I demonstrate how a certain thread of experimental poetry has always been engaged with questioning the media by which it is made and through which it is consumed" (Emerson, L., 2014) —> the medium is the message (Mcluhan, 2013).

Prototype from CES

thesis excerpts: my aim

I aimed for users to take part in every section of the design process as well as the practical creation of the object, to explore the endless spaces of a notebook and the memories and knowledge hidden inside of it.

no binding

binding

This Publication Prototype

The Ring One

tools to make notebooks: do you need a cutter?

Any knife would help with this. Obviously, the less sharp the knife, the less polished the cut will look like. In case, I would suggest to appreciate the rough cut: it shows the inside of the paper, it makes the notebook thicker and last but not least: if you are a perfectionist or someone who feels scared of ruining nice looking objects, this might help you to loosen yourself and feel more free to use your notebook. Bye bye guiltiness!

to transport tools (e.g. pen) within the notebook

addons

PROCESS NOTES: the past

The main concept of using leftovers to make notebooks was born while I was making a book as a Christmas gift for a friend: it was late and I could not go and buy anything so I used every type of paper I had in the house. Different papers, with different weights, different colours, everything kept inside an Amazon box’s cardboard. I realized how interesting it was to create books from waste and finding ways to make it work.

The Notebooks of Supi

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: supi's notebooks

29.09.23 Supi° presented me some updates on the use of her notebooks. Supi noticed how much a different tool/pen has a different result on her way of working, drawing or thinking, how much it makes a difference in the act of playing with the use of the pen (the way you interact with the pen, an object that teaches her through the act of drawing - notebooks as discovery space). In this case, the pen has a substantial impact on the results, so that often pen and paper goes together.

thesis excerpts: the first codex

In the Medieval period, the first codex format for manuscripts was created, replacing the papyrus, and the purpose of use shifted “from a cumbersome mnemonic aid to a readily accessible information storehouse” (Hobart and Schiffman, 2000).

CONVERSATIONS ON NOTEBOOKS

[ ] Notebook for important thoughts and sketches

C: I use it less than before

E: Do you know why?

C: What if i draw something and it's not nice? After I have drawn it then I have to keep it there, inside my notebook and the notebook is ruined with bad drawings.

C: I compare the pages to see if they are all beautiful.

Prototype from CES

thesis excerpts: what is a notebook?

“The notebook as a paper machine consists of the functions noting and storing of notes. ‘To note’ means first and foremost ‘to write down’, from the Latin ‘notare’, or from ‘noscere’, which means ‘to get to know’. (...) writing results in a praxis with paper that requires certain gestures, performed acts, rituals and tools.” (te Heesen, 2005)

A Long Sheet Experiment

spiral

binding

The One that did not work

with space for marginalia

paperformat

PROCESS NOTES: a personal notebook process

What is the starting need that brought to the creation and use of the notebook?

This question helps to highlight the starting point and main reason for the creation of a new notebook (or modification applied). it can be described in a few words.

Q: how to make a notebook to experience the world?

Q: How to transform anxieties into notebooks' features?

Thought about how the uncomfortabilities felt with a notebooks can come from certain anxieties we have in life and how we can transform those anxieties into notebooks features (e.g. how can I make a notebook public without thinking that what I write is stupid?).

transportable

situation

The Last One

soft cover

binding

step 1. take your current notebook. look at it, open it. where do you write? what do you write?

vertical shape

paperformat

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: some new ideas on how to play with the structure of the notebook

30.09.22 Thought about the fact that the limit of binding is that there's no space for easy customisation or add-ons after it's closed at the beginning. Instead of the notebook kit, where i felt there was too little rigid structure and the user could feel too lost, i imagined to use the same technique starting from a bound one [name: the infinite notebook]. It is bound, but free to move: the user is also able to cut out pages, re-position but also keep in what they care about.

to forget things

situation

tools to make notebooks: do you need an awl?

What is it? This is not a hole puncher, but more like a hole maker. You'll need this in case of a thread binding, to help your needle to pass through the sheets correctly (the sheets need to be alligned - if that's what you want) In this case, a knife would not work. What about a needle? That's already what will pass through the holes. You can also use a needle that is a tiny bigger than the one you'll use for binding later. Yes, it does hurt a bit when the paper is not very thin. A solution is creating your own tool, by attaching or glueing a needle inside anything that you can hold with one hand.

glue bound

binding

smooth paper

paperformat

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: the metal rings one

09.02.23 I made some modifications to the metal ring notebook:

-I added color separation for sections equipped with a small pocket; is it going to work?

-a pen holder

-a4 sheets folded in half that allow a more structured note-taking; they are thinner than the paper I used before.

Will i like it?

The First One

PROCESS NOTES: a personal notebook process

What are the positive sides? Does it work within the starting purpose?

This is to understand if the solutions that have been found and applied to the new notebook are valid and working. This is important mostly not to lose track of the reasons underneath the concept and to evaluate how much the modifications worked.

rubber band

binding

CONVERSATIONS ON NOTEBOOKS: describe your notebook's practice

[ ]

I forget things so it's helpful to remember, to centralise thoughts and let space for more things

plain sheets

hard cover not to break them

separate notebooks for different needs

to let go stuff and stop thinking

dotted paper

paperformat

CONVERSATIONS ON NOTEBOOKS: describe your notebook's practice

[ ]

lot of layers

start multiple notebooks at the same time

when it's new, the content is selected sticky notes for temporary thoughts

other archives/papers, content is distributed everywhere

scattered around

use them to visualise, it's about what it's happening right now

not attached to one tool

The Columns One

tools to make notebooks: do you need a folding bone?

This tool helps us to fold the sheets to avoid breaking paper, especially if thick, and to be more precise. For this, you can use the back side of any metal knife. Or anything that is flat, hard and with a smooth surface that you can easily hold in your hands. Try with other objects too, you will be surprised!

PROCESS NOTES: why reusing materials?

22.09.22 I started to make recycled notebooks during my bachelor's already, in that case it was mostly just about recycling and reusing materials and I really enjoyed to use trash to make notebooks. Then I heard a lot of people feeling guilty in using nice notebooks. I thought that trashy notebooks could therefore be better for people because they would get used.

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: new idea for books' annotations

12.11.22 I need a notebook for ideas sketching and development = where to write down a sudden idea fast and easy and then have the space to develop it in the future = organised but free space to express maybe with a little sum-up section

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: the metal rings one

18.01.2023 I feel restricted in the moment I have to write on a flat a5 page. I feel like the content is never organised because I can write in every direction and most of the time I use visual note-taking, or note-making, especially the circular method (have starting points in the middle and then move around it), i get lost in the space because I have no interruptions or limitations.

very big

paperformat

The One that did not work

Prototype from CES

PROCESS NOTES: general rule on making notebooks

It is important to have entry points to access the notebook. This means having a structure that does not slow you down or interrupt the moment in which you want to write something down.

The First One

thesis excerpts: what is note-taking?

Ann Blair defines note-taking as “the product of practices of reading and writing taught in school and reinforced by various cultural models” (Blair, 2010, p.5).

The Notebook Kit

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: supi's notebooks

29.09.23 Supi° has started with a basic notebook, then moved to other prototypes. One that she made herself (and to which I contributed with a simple rubber band to avoid the paper from breaking), in which she's using photocopies paper (the simpler it is, the least guilty the user will feel while using it) and a 0.38 Muji pen. This type of notebook is giving Supi more space for organisation (or mess) but especially, it's creating new and unexpected connection between the content of the pages.

The First One

to save/keep loose sheets

addons

CONVERSATIONS ON NOTEBOOKS

[ ] crave for the format of a book

need to be compact and stable

if narrows help writing, so like columns and foldings

[ ] like to play around

how to combine together? rip off bad pages to recombination them

paper didn't allow flexibility

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: the last one

15.03.23 I will take the one that did not work I made in december and rip it apart. I will 1) change the cover, it was too hard and felt very difficult to open and use. 2) add the pockets as they have been very useful. 3) get rid of one of the signatures as I had to make it smaller. 4) I made some of the folded sheets a bit wider and some less and I want to see if those cm more I have will influence how I feel. As with the wide sheets I am having problems, how much do I have to reduce it to make it the perfect width?