Review: Exacompta Journal 21

[thibaulthalpern]

This is a quick review of the Exacompta Journal21, a one day per page diary. I also included a brief comparison with the Moleskine Large Day-a-Page Diary.

 

I

 

Summary

 

http://www.specialweb.com/original/icons/thumbs_down.gifExacompta Journal 21

 

http://www.heartofwisdom.com/images/blog/Stumbleupon/thumbs-up.gifMoleskine Daily Diary

 

In comparing these two journals, my verdict is I much prefer the Moleskine Large Day Diary. Journal 21 is a little bit bigger in height and width. The Moleskine is a little thicker. However, the differences in size are minute enough to essentially consider them the same size. The only area that Journal 21 surpasses Moleskine is the paper, but not by much and not enough to make Journal 21 the better of the two. In all other areas, the Moleskine Diary wins.

 

II

 

Journal 21, description and features

The bulk of the diary is taken up by one-day-per page . Each page in that section is formatted as follows: the top section is headed by the day of the week, date, and month. There's information on what week of the year it is, holiday, a mini-calendar, an the rest of the page is lined with each line marked for a half-hour.

 

At the bottom of each corner of the page is a perforated quarter disc that presumably you remove to mark off each day. It makes it easier to find the current date that way.

 

Other notable sections of the diary include: a page listing major holidays and dates in 2009 and 2010, international telephone access codes, U.S. and Canada time zones, a semi annual planner (3 months-per-page, making it 6 months for a full spread), a month-a-page planner, and section for addresses.

 

Journal 21, evaluation

The best feature of this journal is the paper. The paper takes a while for fountain pen ink to dry on due to the glossy and less absorbent quality of the paper, but there is usually no feathering or bleeding. The paper is very smooth and a pleasure to write on.

 

Aesthetically, the design of the journal is in a word ugly. The design reminds me of cheap, garish, unprofessional dime-a-dozen journals due to the bold thick lines used to border each page, the blue coloured text that labels each day, each mini calendar, and other information. The font used for some of the sections, such as the date on each page and the month for the monthly planner clashes. One font is sans-serif with a low x-height and wide, while the other font is a serif font with a tall x-height and narrow. Furthermore, the use of perforated discs to mark off each day is crude. A ribbon, while an expensive feature, is more elegant, subtle, and aesthetically pleasing.

 

The use of a plastic cover reeks of a cheap diary. The quality of the paper which is excellent, clashes with the poorly designed visual elements of the journal and with the cheap plastic cover. Plastic is known to crack with repeated stress. I would not be surprised if the spine of the diary and flap inserts begins to crack by April after being stressed day in and day out.

 

Overall, the design is garish and uninviting. I do not enjoy it and do not feel moved to make entries in the diary. I do not recommend it. However, because I have this on hand and it was free, I'm using it for my dissertation log.

 

III

 

Moleskine Large Day Diary, quick overview and evaluation

I also have a Moleskine Large Day Diary on hand which I am using as a daily running log. Everything about this journal excels from the design of the visual elements, layout of the book, usage of fonts, various sections of the diary, pocket features, ribbon marker, the cover, its ability to open flat, and especially the book binding. In the back pocket of the diary there is an insert booklet with numerous untitled tabbed sections, an excellent feature. I would grade the Moleskine paper as somewhere between acceptable to good for most fountain pen inks. The quality of the paper is certainly not as good as Journal 21 but the other features of this journal put together outweigh the superior paper quality of the Journal 21.

 

Moleskine Day Diary design is very subtle, yet effective. It has a series of mini-calendars in the front, a quick planner (two months per page, with each line being one day), a table grid of major holidays, travel planning and memo section (which I actually see no major use for), World time zones, distance between major cities (not necessary), dialling codes (also not necessary), and the bulk of the diary being the a day per page diary. At the back of the book is a pocket. Inserted into the pocket is a blank book with blank tabbed sections. While perhaps the original idea of this blank book is for addresses, one could use it for something else especially since none of the tabbed sections are marked. Moleskine has included three sheets of printed and unprinted stickers for you to label the sections in any way you want. I will not be using this inserted booklet for addresses but rather will be using it to track a) my weekly running mileage, and my shoe mileage for each pair of running shoe. Lastly, Moleskine has included a ribbon to mark your place. This is a much more elegant way to mark the day than how Journal 21 does it. There is also an elastic band to keep the journal shut.

 

The design elements of the diary is very subtle yet effective, pleasing and inviting for the user to make his or her mark/entries in it. The diary has guidelines/marks that are effective enough to help you organise and plan, yet subtle enough not to overpower your own entries, unlike the Journal 21.

 

You can buy the Moleskine Day Diary either in hardcover or softcover. I know that both versions come with the ribbon and elastic band. I am uncertain if the softcover one comes with the insertable booklet.

 

Verdict: get the Moleskine, if like me you find the visual elements and design of a book important and the quality of the Moleskine paper acceptable. Of course, if you find the Moleskine paper utterly unacceptable, then you perhaps should gravitate towards the Journal 21.

 

Appendix

 

A. For a different review and alternative opinion, see (bleep)'s entry: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=84803

 

B. Where to Buy:

URL for Journal21 in USA: http://quovadisplanners.com/catalog/journal21

URL for Moleskine Day Diary: http://www.moleskine.com/eng/_interni/cata...ogo_diaries.htm

 

 

Images of the two Diaries

 

Caption: Image of Exacompta Journal 21

http://www.quovadisplanners.com/img/cat/journal21.jpg

 

Caption: Image of Moleskine Day Diary

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/134/346899680_b2f834cd99.jpg

 

Nota Bene: This review is written in draft format, so please excuse the grammatical errors and awkward usage of English. While I'm quite fluent in English, it is a second language for me.

Edited December 31, 2008 by thibaulthalpern

[thibaulthalpern]

Update

 

I just found out the following:

 

• Softcover versions of the Moleskine Day Diary do not come with the insertable tabbed booklet. It does come with the pocket just like most Moleskine notebooks do.

 

• Black hardcover versions of the Moleskine Day Diary come with the insertable tabbed booklet. The tabs are pre-labelled with the English alphabet. It does not come with any adhesive stickers to re-label the tabs. There are 13 tabs in the booklet with each tab for two letters of the alphabet. This version of the day diary also has the inner pocket.

 

• Red hardcover versions of the Moleskine Day Diary come with the insertable tabbed booklet. The tabs are not pre-labelled. There are 9 tabs in the booklet (as opposed to the 13 tabs of the black hard cover version). Because the tabs do not come pre-labelled, Moleskine has included three sheets of labels. Some of the labels are icons; some of them are pre-printed with text such as "blogs", "shops"; some of them are blank white labels that you can write on. This version of the day diary also has the inner pocket.

 

I prefer the red hardcover version. The price for all three are about the same. At my local bookstore, the softcover version was only US$ 1 cheaper than the hardcover version.

Edited December 31, 2008 by thibaulthalpern

[davidspitzer]

Update

 

I just found out the following:

 

• Softcover versions of the Moleskine Day Diary do not come with the insertable tabbed booklet. It does come with the pocket just like most Moleskine notebooks do.

 

• Black hardcover versions of the Moleskine Day Diary come with the insertable tabbed booklet. The tabs are pre-labelled with the English alphabet. It does not come with any adhesive stickers to re-label the tabs. There are 13 tabs in the booklet with each tab for two letters of the alphabet. This version of the day diary also has the inner pocket.

 

• Red hardcover versions of the Moleskine Day Diary come with the insertable tabbed booklet. The tabs are not pre-labelled. There are 9 tabs in the booklet (as opposed to the 13 tabs of the black hard cover version). Because the tabs do not come pre-labelled, Moleskine has included three sheets of labels. Some of the labels are icons; some of them are pre-printed with text such as "blogs", "shops"; some of them are blank white labels that you can write on. This version of the day diary also has the inner pocket.

 

I prefer the red hardcover version. The price for all three are about the same. At my local bookstore, the softcover version was only US$ 1 cheaper than the hardcover version.

 

 

my experience is that the xcompta one, which I just got a free version had paper that was far superior then that of the moleskine or it may be the problem that the moleskine quality is so all over the board, i got a bad one. The 1 page a day molskine i got bleed through like a 2 year old picking at a scab (sorry for the visual)

 

Its all about the paper for me. xcompta could have ruled it with squiggly lines drawn by a monkey and i would have liked it better than the moleskine due to the paper quality

 

[thibaulthalpern]

my experience is that the xcompta one, which I just got a free version had paper that was far superior then that of the moleskine or it may be the problem that the moleskine quality is so all over the board, i got a bad one. The 1 page a day molskine i got bleed through like a 2 year old picking at a scab (sorry for the visual)

 

Its all about the paper for me. xcompta could have ruled it with squiggly lines drawn by a monkey and i would have liked it better than the moleskine due to the paper quality

 

Yes, I agree that the Journal 21 has superior paper, but in my opinion Moleskine paper is not so bad that the superiority of Journal 21 paper trumps the whole package of the Moleskine.

 

It's definitely not all about the paper for me. The design is important. After all, if it is only all about the paper, then I'd get a blank journal as opposed to a day planner.

 

[davidspitzer]

my experience is that the xcompta one, which I just got a free version had paper that was far superior then that of the moleskine or it may be the problem that the moleskine quality is so all over the board, i got a bad one. The 1 page a day molskine i got bleed through like a 2 year old picking at a scab (sorry for the visual)

 

Its all about the paper for me. xcompta could have ruled it with squiggly lines drawn by a monkey and i would have liked it better than the moleskine due to the paper quality

 

Yes, I agree that the Journal 21 has superior paper, but in my opinion Moleskine paper is not so bad that the superiority of Journal 21 paper trumps the whole package of the Moleskine.

 

It's definitely not all about the paper for me. The design is important. After all, if it is only all about the paper, then I'd get a blank journal as opposed to a day planner.

 

 

Funny i rhought the moleskine design was overly simplistic and amateuristic looking - maybe you got a better sample but the moleskine i got actually bleed through and printed on the next page (arrrgh!). One thing is for sure though if the moleskine works for you than it is the better notebook for you.

[thibaulthalpern]

Funny i rhought the moleskine design was overly simplistic and amateuristic looking - maybe you got a better sample but the moleskine i got actually bleed through and printed on the next page (arrrgh!). One thing is for sure though if the moleskine works for you than it is the better notebook for you.

 

I use nibs that are fine or smaller, so don't often get bleed through. If you use say a broad wet nib, then yes I can see how Moleskine paper can easily just bleed.

[Ghost Plane]

I use broad wet nibs.

[spotted and speckled]

I just posted my obligatory review of the 21, and I must confess the cover is the least pleasing aspect of it--but I figured, hey, it was free, they are not going to send me a leather one.

 

The paper is WAY better in the Quovadis one. I have been using a Moleskine (black extra-large weekly), and the paper bleeds through with almost all my pens/ink, and the thing is a tank. It weighs a ton in my backpack--I don't even notice the weight difference with the 21. Ok, the 21 is 5 x 8 and the moleskine is 7 x 10, but the moleskine has a 180 pages, and the 21 has twice that, so it evens out. The moleskine is still a tank.

 

The ribbon is a nice touch, I agree. I don't use the tear-off daily tab thing, I clip them off (smooth paper lines, not jagged, just call me a snob!).

 

I do see where Quovadis has a 90g paper journal, so I'm thinking that might be the way to go for me next year. Eliminate all the bleed through from the Baystates.

http://quovadisplanners.com/catalog/prenote