Journaling “Big Ideas”
When I was teaching (a few years back now), we spent a lot of time thinking about how to best reach the most students with activities, and/or providing different opportunities to engage them. I am a solid visual-verbal learner - I need to see it, read it, and write it to fix it in my brain. When I was in school, including university, I would sit down before finals and go over the study guide. I would go back to my notebooks from the semester and rewrite all of the pertinent information. I’m rather fascinated with that connection between writing and learning. I feel Field Notes slogan in my bones, “I’m not writing it down to remember it later, I’m writing it down to remember it now.”
With the rise of computers, especially computers in schools, there has been some research on how we fix information for memory. According to several studies taking notes either in text or drawing to remember concepts activates more areas of the brain than simply typing it on a computer. One is also more likely to recall information more quickly because of the need to summarize it into your notes. People taking notes by computer tend to take dictation more than notes. Here’s a pretty decent overview of some of the research in Scientific American - Why Writing by Hand is Better for Memory and Learning.
I grew up right on the cusp of laptops becoming something accessible and not astronomically expensive. I was in undergrad when the first iPad came out. We were still graded on penmanship in high school. I learned cursive in elementary (something I felt I was absolutely terrible at until the last few years). Even when I did take lecture notes on my laptop, those eventually got printed off and handwritten when I needed to study.
I still follow this process today in both my professional and creative work. Even though the final product may be electronic, the start of it was on paper. While that does mean I have to type up what I wrote down, my drafts tend to be cleaner overall when written by hand. Whether I am building an education program, an exhibit panel, or telling a short story, it goes from my brain to my hand to the pen and ink on the page.
Writing things down and visually representing them on paper is also important to me when trying to puzzle out decisions. It takes a page or more, and not just any page size, big A4 pages is where the big ideas get to play.
Although most of my writing and journaling happens in my A6 notebooks, big ideas need those big pages. Here are some of my favorite “big ideas” journals (that would also function as notetakers if you have a big enough writing space).
Leuchtturm1917 A4+ Slim
This notebook came into my life on a shopping trip with my sister. I found it in the very back of a chaotic notebook display at a Home Goods. There are two aisles that always must be snooped at Home Goods - candles and office supplies. I remember seeing it and deciding to buy it because it was laughably big. At the time I was primarily using pocket notebooks. This thing was a monster in comparison. This notebook takes up a LOT of real estate when it is open (since it’s two A4 pages wide at that point). It allows me to just focus on that expanse of dot grid and get all of the ideas, lists, mind maps, and more across the massive spread. While this brand of paper can struggle with wet inks and wide nibs, I’ve never had any major problems with it.
Also a nice open space for doodling when words aren’t quite coming.
Life Typewriter Paper Pad A4
I picked up this pad of paper during the frantic paper gathering phase I went through about two years ago. It’s a blank writing pad which allows for freeform writing and doodling. However, if I do need structure, the paper is thin enough to see a guide sheet on the other side. A nice feature of it being a paper pad is that I can rip out the page, fold it into quarters, and slide it into my A6 TN.
Onion Skin Paper (Large notebook from The Onion Skin Journal and a Fidelity onion skin ream)
It’s no secret that I am a fan of translucent paper. I like seeing the writing layer as I write page after page. It actually spurs me on to keep going. The Onion Skin Journal large notebook was an impulse purchase during a sale. The book is beautiful and actually getting over how expensive they are to write in it is a hurdle at times, but when I do play with it, it’s really delightful. I did a review of the A6 The Onion Skin Journal insert and the paper is the same, just much larger.
The Fidelity Onion Skin paper is my “messy” onion skin paper. I use it at it’s full size (US letter), fold it in half, and also bind it down into A6-ish notebooks for my TN. It’s kind of steep to get into ($47 USD before shipping, which runs about $15 if I remember right), but it lasts a while. I usually only go through a ream every year or year and half.
What is your go to for “big idea” journaling?
A6 TN nearby for size comparison.
Currently Inked
Ferris Wheel Press Jelly Bean Blue - Kaweco liliput fireblue 14K M ‘journaler’ - This is one of the original Ferris Wheel Press colors that I am just now trying. I got in an ink charger set alongside Lady Rose and Pumpkin Patch. This ink is a straight forward blue with a little bit of red sheen. It sits in-between Colorverse Quasar and Colorverse Supernova to me. It appears to have been discontinued by FWP.
Ferris Wheel Press Valiant Blue - Kaweco Art Sport Terrazzo B ‘imperial’ - Not gonna lie, I thought this ink was going to be identical to Wearingeul Atlas (Atlas Stationers Excl.) when FWP sent it to me to try out. I am pleasantly surprised to discover that they are different. Valiant Blue is a little darker with green/gold shimmer whereas Atlas has blue shimmer and the base color is lighter. It’s a nice color. And the box art is gorgeous, it looks great on my ink shelf.
Papier Plume The Count (2023 LE) - Kaweco liliput copper M ‘stub’ - I was kinda ‘meh’ about this ink when I got it around this time last year. This year though? I am loving it. It is a little dry, but with a teeny tiny amount of White Lightning it flowed and shaded beautifully. It really gives off spooky vibes which is very needed in October.
Diamine Deck the Halls - Kaweco Art Sport Tiger’s Eye 14K M ‘selvedge’ - This was one of the moodier entries from the Green Edition Inkvent in 2022. Deck the Halls is a dark, shading purple with copper shimmer. It was a little dark for my tastes at the moment, but it’s a really gorgeous ink. I’m sure it will have its time to shine at some point.
Colorverse Milky Lavender - Kaweco Sport Dark Olive BB - This cheerful purple is one of my favorites and a comfort ink on top of that. It helped brighten many a day over the past two weeks. In the BB nib this unique purple can really show off its shading.
It was kind of fun flipping through some of my old notes… this one is so old I was still primarily printing everything and using EF and F nibs.