Preferred Journal Size

[WHartman]

I am curious... is there a preferred size for a daily use journal? I see / read about passport size Midori's, or the traveler size Midori's as well as the DIY ones, and it seems that everyone makes them about the same size (A4 I think). But I just recently made a passport size journal, and while I like it, I kinda prefer my larger sized one (150mm x 215mm), probably similar to a Midori traveler. I understand that this is a personal preference, just kinda looking to see what others use or prefer.

 

Just so we are on the same page, I am talking about the journal that you carry and use on a daily basis.

 

-Wade

[TSherbs]

I prefer A5

[AFountain]

I use two regularly - a smaller one (102mm x 162mm Quo Vadis) that I carry in my bag and has everything from reminders to grocery lists to story ideas that occur to me at odd times. Personal rather than work.

 

The larger usually stays on my desk at work and is another Quo Vadis but is 149mm x 235mm. It's small enough that I could carry it in my bag but I only need it at work.

 

I'd been looking for the perfect notebook for a while and was happy to find the Quo Vadis notebooks. So far they've been just what I'd been looking for.

[jimhughes]

Let me muddy the waters a mite. Up untill recently I carried an A6, roughly 3.5 x 5.25 " lined or dot or grid in size. Leuch 1917, Rhodia

Webbie. Back in the day I had to use a 3 part Carbonless Forms for charting on patients, which required a RB pen as even a Sheaffer nail FP wouldn't go through well enough for Pharmacists to read the 3rd copy Rx, I used a lot of Mollies. These would fit in the staff coat pockets easily. Recently I switched over to a Leather Cover for a fits better in Dress Shirt Pocket uses a Rhodia Staple Bound Notebook, roughly 70 mm x 100 mm in size. Now these are for quick notes, reminders and the like. If you're talking about something

I want to keep and have handy permanently I use a Engineering Level Book, most are 4.75" x 7.5" although I have some that are smaller, 4" x 6.5" lined mixed with grids, cotton paper content 25%. These are designed to be used in the field. This was a staple in my undergrad studies Anthropology. I have some going back to college days 1962-1966 and into RVN Army duty 1966-1969, Oman 1972,

and now back into civilian work. I probably have 50-60 of these stored in my office. These tolerate FP's although Back in college and military service I used Technical Pens with India Ink for permanence. Hope this helps, Jim

[androids.conundrum]

Preferred size really depends on function (note taking, journaling, lists). I like the size of composition notebooks for note taking in school, and something in the range of 5.5"X8.5" to A5 for basic journaling, lists and scratch paper, personal notes I guess. I honestly prefer A5 to 5.5"X8.5" but being in the US where international sizes aren't particularly common its often easier to find or make notebooks that are about half the size of a letter sized piece of paper. Anything smaller I don't really enjoy using and anything larger quickly becomes unwieldy.

[Blade Runner]

Doesn't it depend on what you're using it for? Maybe also size of writing?

[therecorder]

Doesn't it depend on what you're using it for? Maybe also size of writing?

I agree... I also find that the size of my writing will vary in relation to the paper that I am using. If I'm using a small notebook or pad, my writing is much smaller than it is when I write in larger ones.

[Plume145]

 

Just so we are on the same page, I am talking about the journal that you carry and use on a daily basis.

 

-Wade

That doesn't really clarify things for me! Sorry It's just, 'journal', 'carry' and 'daily basis' have very different meanings from one person to the next.

 

For example, journal: is it long, in-depth explorations of your experiences? a place to track progress towards a goal, such as fitness or a renovation project? Is it a simple log of what you did today, like a reverse to-do list? Is it something closer to what others call a planner? Do you call a notebook a 'journal' based on what it looks like (eg, hardbound, with a pretty cover, etc) as opposed to what you use it for?

 

Same with 'carry' (in your enormous workbag? in your pocket? in your handbag?) and 'daily use' (once a day, always at the same place, eg bedtime? multiple times a day, whenever the mood strikes?)

 

Take my own stuff, for example: there's a total of four notebooks that I use several times a week if not every single day, and they range from smaller than A7 all the way to a thick B5. But all of them could be described as 'journals', I use all of them 'daily' (or close enough) and I have been known to carry them around too (usually only 3 out of the 4 at the same time, but still).

[dcwaites]

I carry a small A6 Modena notebook in the small pocket of my backpack. It gets referred to several times a day (at home, traveling to work, at work) and written into occasionally.

I used to prefer A4 on my desk, but after some testing, I now prefer B5 on my desk. I also keep an A5 journal/notebook in the big pocket of my backpack, for when I want to write down longer thoughts when I am traveling.

 

However, these are my preferences. You need to work out what you prefer, in your various circumstances, and according to what you need to write down.

[Vgimlet]

I don't carry my daily journal(s) unless we are travelling - my normal journal is large, about 8.5 x 11.5 and is leather bound, too heavy to lug around for daily use. I have another journal, probably an A5, that's much thinner, that I also use daily for other stuff,

 

For carrying with me I use a passport size notebook, but that's just for things I don't want to put on notepad of my phone. For me, it also depends on what bag I'm carrying - I've switched from a backpack to a messenger bag in the last few years because I don't want to lug a heavy backpack around on the bus, so I now just take the small notebook for writing emergencies.

 

For my daily journal I like the larger size - I write a lot and go through one of those a year. When I'm travelling I always have my 'bag of tricks' which is big enough to hold all my journals, at least one card deck, my Kindle, and other various things I/we might need to amuse ourselves.

[erpe]

I use a mix. For daily journaling/diary it's a 9x14/A6 192 page Molieskine, Sigma or Oxford, in my coat-pocket is a 9x14 Moleskine cahier/volant or a clairefontaine AgeBag 9x14 96 page, on the desk for meeting/phone notes is an A5 Sigma, when travelling, I use a few 9x14 92 pages and in hotel-rooms an A4 Sigma for journaling. All entries are dated and mixed among the notebooks so I hope nobody will ever have to sort my notes

[GeneralSynopsis]

On my desk at work I keep two day books, one work related and the other for scrap calculations, also a project history journal, all A5. At home I keep A5 scrap working books on each of the two desks I use. The journal I carry with me is A6. I also carry an assortment of A7 and credit card sized stapled notebooks in jacket pockets and wallet for random notes and shopping lists.

 

These are a mixture of commercial quadrille spiral and homemade notebooks (hard or soft bound depending on my mood when I made them).

[Paddler]

I don't carry a journal. My journals are letter size or approx. A4 and are too large and heavy to tote everywhere. I carry a notebook in my shirt pocket. Ideas go in there, later to be fleshed out for transcription to the appropriate subject journal. A daily journal is a diary. Those are boring.

[therecorder]

I don't carry a journal. My journals are letter size or approx. A4 and are too large and heavy to tote everywhere. I carry a notebook in my shirt pocket. Ideas go in there, later to be fleshed out for transcription to the appropriate subject journal. A daily journal is a diary. Those are boring.

The words actually mean the same... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diary

[therecorder]

Not trying to derail the thread, but I thought that this might be interesting reading for some:

 

http://flavorwire.com/367030/10-famous-authors-on-the-importance-of-keeping-a-journal/

[sandy101]

For general prose writing and diary type stuff I find A5 is enough.

 

For poetry I find A4 works better because I need the space to develop ideas - the A4 is a canvas which I can spread the words and lines out on. I usually try out different versions of poems and lines, so I it is useful to have everything in sight, as turning the page can wreck my concentration.

[legume]

A5 is the ideal size for me. A6 size paper is just too small and I burn through the pages, and A4 is too large to carry around or to start a new page if the last one is only half written.

[Paddler]

The words actually mean the same... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diary

Wikipedia is the most inaccurate source of information on the net. Try the Oxford English Dictionary for the real definitions of words.

Edited February 23, 2014 by Paddler

[Citygirl]

Do you all have different journals for different purposes? I have now settled on using two journals, one as a scrapbook/daily diary and another for more intense thoughts to write as and when I feel the need. As for sizes, the scrapbook diary is an A4 exercise book, the other journal is an A5 page a day diary but I scribble out the dates and put in my own.

Edited February 23, 2014 by Citygirl

[inkypete]

I have an A4 clairefontaine spiral notebook in a gfeller cover on my desk as what I would call my day book. It travels to and from work in my briefcase. I use A5 clairefontaine stapled for almost every other use - they also live in gfeller covers. I also have a levenger notebook in a leather cover in my shirt pocket.