step 9. fold it, or not. bind it, or not.

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

alternative materials: do you need a cutting mat?

This is easy. If you need to cut paper, there are two ways: or you fold it and use your knife in the fold to separate the two parts. This method works well if you, for example, start from an A4 and need to make two a5s: it means, when you need the sheet you own to be cut in two identical parts. The other way works well especially if you own a real and sharp paper cutter. You will need a ruler positioned on top of the paper, with the measurements marked, and something that works as a cutting mat. I once used another notebook, but that was radical. Other options are any piece of wood or thick cardboard, anything that nobody cares if it get ruined with cut lines.

step 6. now take paper you might have around you. or buy some. how should this paper be like?

PROCESS NOTES: a personal notebook process

What are the negative sides? What could be a different approach to solve the issue? If what has been analysed above did not work, why didn't it work? Analysing what worked and what did not help to reason on new ways to solve the issue that was not solved.

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

need for new inputs out of the mess

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.

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).

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: some reasons for this project to exist

(C) Learning .Notebooks are an individual space for learning .How knowing our thinking processes helps our learning .Creation experience as part of the process of learning

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

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: the first one

materials used:

a4 multiple types of papers (white, cream, coloured, thicker, thinner etc..)

a4 wrong prints

amazon cardboard

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.

Q: how to make a notebook to protect yourself from the outside?

need for personal space

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 was to create books from waste and finding ways to make it work.

step 8. should the cover be hard or soft? can you re-use a cardboard you already have? do you have an old cardboard from?

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.

alternative materials: do you need a bone folder?

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

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 sum-up window/space

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: supi's notebooks

29.09.23 Supi (XPUB classmate) 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/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, paper has a substantial impact on the results, so that often pen and paper goes together.

thesis excerpts: notebook as subversion

I chose an object or medium which is the emblem of productivity and that participates in consumerist practices. The aim is to convert it from an industrial model to a tool of expression, a self-thought and subversive object.

PROCESS NOTES: why notebooks?

22.09.22 The reason why I am interested in notebooks is because of culture studies as well as from a practical point of view. I find it weird that every person writes in the same way with the same device and it doesn’t make sense because we are all different and need different methods to engage with a piece of paper, annotate things, remember things, learn things. Not every is one fit.

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.

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: the metal rings one

15.03.23 Yesterday I discovered I hate writing on vertical large notebooks. I always start making lists and it's never visual and I hate it because I get super lost and also in conversation/brainstorming notes there is no structure at all and I feel uncomfortable because I am not sure I can trust my own notes. In addition, metal rings don't work for me. I am too messy, I have texts everywhere, I cannot track the last thing I wrote, I need to go in order.

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.

Q: what does everyone need from a notebook?

12.10.22 Notebooks as a lens into humans' brains, why someone needs to visualise, to organise, to reason, to focus, to extract themselves?

thesis excerpts: the origin of notebooks

Note-taking has existed for a long time but there is not much evidence of it before the XV century (Blair, 2010, p.1). Nowadays, notebooks are mostly used for annotating for later use, but in the past, they were used to organise and classify materials (Yeo, 2008). They “were part of daily life for literate, educated individuals, (..) were prompts for material that should be stored in memory” (Yeo, 2008). Paper notebooks consisted of the work of intellectuals on parchment, to transmit oral knowledge.

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

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

30.09.22 This idea works on the concept of modularity: reconnecting content between the three sections, making possible to have an overview of content even when the space on the column is finished. By choosing a specific method (that could be colours, page number, or even a personal one created on the go) it should become intuitive to move in the space of the triad notebook.

thesis excerpts: the problem of notebooks

We live in an era in which we can decide to continuously fulfil our desires, without wondering or understanding what we truly need or want. Many people buy a paper notebook because they are attracted by the idea they have of this object, of that nostalgic feeling of hand-writing. Yet, users of paper notebooks, as I discovered through multiple sessions and conversations, frequently tend not to start or complete their notebooks because they are not conscious of the possibilities this medium can offer.

Q: how to make a notebook that can travel?

notebook-crossing?

step 4. while wondering around your pages, consider when you wrote something, in which situation, for which reason. do you know how is the notebook supporting you?

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: the metal rings one

18.01.2023 It feels better to have metal rings and the chance to position every sheet where I want. CONS. I am very unorganised. At the moment I am always writing everything that comes very fast, in whatever position in the page. This leads to a big amount of content without a structure/any entry point. It is not accessible after some time I wrote things down.

PROCESS NOTES: when i can't use a notebook

What interrupts me from using a notebook is that I do not know where to position the sudden ideas or thoughts I have. From this statement, I understand that what I need from the next notebook is to have the possibility to immediately write down what I have in mind, wherever I position it, without feeling any guilt regarding the appearance of the pages of my notebook. It is also important that it does not look too perfect, so that I feel okay in using what I have however I want.

alternative materials: 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 this 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!

Q: can you make a notebook that slows you down?

11.10.22 from M&Ms (workshop) "smoothest paper to prevent myself from hesitating because of no friction" = friction slows down

alternative materials: do you need a 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 so a solution is attaching a needle inside anything that you can hold with one hand.

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

Q: What makes a notebook a notebook?

05.04.23 When something gets printed, does it stop to be a notebook? Clara (tutor) and I discussed about the limits of the pages, how basic paper books do not allow annotation because of the little space in the margines. We tried to define what is a notebook for us. I said that for me it is something that accompanies you in certain situations and offers a support. Clara said they are periodicals. They are positioned in a specific location, and during a certain period of time, where and when the user goes back recurrently.

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.

thesis excerpts: the spatial memory

A process takes place when we take notes and the type of interface we use to do it makes a difference: “The hippocampus is crucially involved not only in memory encoding and retrieval processes but also in spatial memory itself” (Umejima et al., 2021). (..) Throughout my research, I discovered how much it is important, for recovery and reviewing reasons, where I specifically write words or sentences. Recently, while using an unfitting notebook I made, I found myself scared of forgetting because the pages did not allow a proper instinctive positioning of the content while taking notes.

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: the first one but new

15.03.23 I will take the last vertical notebook 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 that 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?

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: the letter one

20.03.23 I produced a special notebook to deliver a starter for a conversation around our projects to Kim and Chae (XPUB classmates). The concept was to give each other something in form of a letter or gift, or anything we could think of, and deliver it to the others in our group. I made a sort of notebook that can be used if you need to write letters, get rid of thoughts, write fast, brainstorm for projects or writing tasks.

thesis excerpts: the encoding function

Kiewra (1989) describes how the encoding function occurs “because note-taking activities encourage increased attention, more elaborative processing of specific ideas, and/or greater organisation of lecture material” (Einstein et al., 1985, in Kiewra, 1989).

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: the letter one

20.03.23 From the first CES, I had this recurrent idea in my head: one of the participants made this very very long strip-notebook, underlining how much the narrowness of the paper would help them to free their mind and free-write. Therefore, I bound this letter notebook with a little string to close it so that it would resemble a gift and folded, so that the length would be discovered just after opening (surprise effect). Then I free wrote both letters: they came out quite different from each other.

step 10. put everything together and start again. did you achieve your requests? can you do something different?

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 facinated by the fact that, even a publication for example, you can create it 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.

PROCESS NOTES: research and starting point

During the first semester at XPUB I have been using an Iperborea notebook, measurements: 10x20. I find the size amazing, but as it involves cutting paper out from an a4 sheet, I didn't want to create a new notebook out of that idea without finding a solution that would not waste anything. I thought about folding instead of cutting: it was nice to add additional notes on the side of the main sheets.

thesis excerpts: levels of creativity

The basic level of creativity is doing, which requires a minimum amount of interest. This happens when we use a notebook already made in the industry and bought from a shelf. The second is adapting. This action is made to personalise and change an object you already have. For example, you could make little additions to it, like a back pocket, or post-its to create more space. The third level is making. This happens when we build a notebook from scratch but we follow predetermined patterns. This action needs more time and energy. The last level is creating. Creating is making something that does not yet exist. It relies on the use of raw materials and the absence of pre-existing rules.

step 3. touch the paper you have, fold it, write on it. is it too thick? too thin? too yellow? check what's right and what's not for you.

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

30.09.22 Recycle notebooks paper to create new notebooks: check paper making --> if i destroy the paper sheets of a notebook in water, then i make a new notebook out of it, then i melt it again, and again, it should become smaller and smaller?

Q: How do you work with your ideas?

Can you describe in a few words how to you think your brain works like?

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?).

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: the first one but new

05.12.22 I found some problems in this new version I made: It's very inflexible. I cannot turn it around, I cannot open the pages completely and I cannot use the two pages as a whole because the curve is too big. It's too thick and bulky. I cannot transport it easily, there are too many pages to start from. I tried to insert different sections. The problem is I am not able, every time I take notes, to visualise in which area the content I want to write should go into, so then it ends up that I don't write at all because I do not know where to start.

thesis excerpts: how note-taking affects learning

There are two ways in which the act of note-taking can affect learning: “The encoding hypothesis suggests that the processing that occurs during the act of note-taking improves learning and retention. The external storage hypothesis touts the benefits of the ability to review material” (Mueller and Oppenheimer, 2014).

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

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.

NOTES ON PROTOTYPE: the first one but new

15.03.23 1) I noticed that I made some of the folded sheets a bit wider than the 20x30 that I used before and some less and I want to see if that 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?

PROCESS NOTES: some reasons for this project to exist

(A) Design .Theory of design is based on people needs .The purpose is providing users with hints of accessible designs and examples of easy adds-on to apply to basic notebooks .What if the structure of the interface could fit better our needs?

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).