A simple notebook might be a peculiar object to wax lyrical about but Moleskine offers compelling evidence that some notebooks are more equal than others.
Literary and artistic giants such as Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway all favoured a classic black notebook, with rounded corners, an elastic page holder and an internal pocket.
This simple design and heritage story lives on today through the Moleskine notebook, which can still shower a certain creative sparkle, sophistication and style upon its owner.
In fact, could you say that Moleskine has become to notebooks what Nokia Lumia is to smartphones?
Moleskine Journal for Lumia
If you think that carrying a notebook and a smartphone around is too onerous then you might very well consider downloading the Moleskine Journal app (free) for your Nokia Lumia in the Windows Phone Store.
As you might expect, this app combines the simplicity of a notebook with all the technological advantages that you would expect from a smartphone app.
It’s easy to customise, notes can be synced with Evernote or SkyDrive, you can switch between different colours, fonts and also insert photos.
Perhaps another key point is that, while this app is bursting with features, it remains recognisably a Moleskine product.
There are three types of ‘notebooks’ within the app for you to work with.
- Notes – A blank page that allows free form drawing and sketches with your finger as a paintbrush. There’s also a choice of brush or pen styles, colours and you can add your images too.
- Weekly Notebook – this is a weekly planner and calendar that helps you to keep on top of your schedule and appointments.
- Passions notebook – Keep a list of your favourite things. Add images and jot down your thoughts.
Within each of these three notebook templates, you can add more notebooks. For example you could have one weekly notebook for work and another weekly notebook for your social life. Likewise, you could keep a passions notebook on food and another on books.
Within each notebook you can also add and delete pages as you go along. Individual pages can also be uploaded to Evernote and SkyDrive.
Notebooks can also be pinned to your Start screen and you can also set up reminders, which is particularly useful for the weekly notebooks.
Moleskine Journal is incredibly simple to use, beautifully designed and retains just enough of the charm from its physical notebooks.
Yes, there are other apps that will have all the features, and perhaps more besides, of the Moleskine Journal but none of them can trace their evolution and inspiration back to so many geniuses of the 20th century.
Top image credit: Amir Kuckovic