25 Aug 2011

muji notebook review

I've been using Muji notebooks for years and I can't believe I never blogged about them properly! You can find some here on their website but be warned that they aren't as cheap as some other notebooks that you may get from, say, Paperchase. However, I usually buy my Muji notebooks from Hong Kong Muji stores so if the exchange rate is favourable, I can normally get them for a fairly good deal compared to the UK prices. Anyway, here is the front cover:


I've been using mine as a work experience diary for this summer as I'm shadowing doctors and seeing surgeries in nearby hospitals. I'm also using it as a notebook to collate all the stuff that would be relevant for my post-grad medicine application (such as sport, responsibilities I have had, etc). Anyway, the front cover is a mid-brownish colour and there is a yellow strip down the left hand side where the spine is. I actually bought a multipack of these and each spine had a different colour - there was red, yellow, grey and a navy too. 

Let's take a look at the paper. Ignore the content of the next page; I was just writing notes on things I had seen which had piqued my interest (thus, prompting me to research about them more on the internet).


The rule is narrow which is fine for me as my handwriting is on the smaller side anyway and the paper is a sort of faint yellowy colour (giving it a slightly vintage feel). The paper also feels smooth. The above picture shows a page where I used a rollerball pen. Next, I will show you how the paper looks with fountain pen.


For ease of writing, I actually preferred using the rollerball as I thought it made me write neater than with a fountain pen! Anyway, next crucial point - bleedthrough.


And overleaf:


As you can see, you can see the faint outline of where I have written things, but there isn't any bleedthrough at all to such an extent that you can see the ink. With fountain pen, there was no bleedthrough at all and you couldn't even see the outline of my writing on the other side of the page.

Overall, I'm actually quite impressed with these notebooks. They are slim as the website says there are 30 pages in each - something which I can confirm as I counted mine...! There are 30 pages which equates to 60 sides where writing can go. And also, these notebooks do look quite 'fashionable' if you will. They are simple in design and do the job nicely. They come in a range of different sizes but I have the one that is not A5 but it isn't A4 either; it's somewhere in between the two sizes and I find this is still small enough to carry to lectures if needs be.

NB: Photos updated 31st January 2015

4 comments

  1. I LOVE YOUR WRITING FIRST OFF!!!!

    I am just curious, from your notes, did you learn anything about intersex? and intersex conditions? :-)

    Would be interested to know what you learnt about them if you did cover anything like that? xxx

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  2. I love Muji notebooks and always keep a few on-hand. I think they're one of the best deals for notebooks in NYC. I also really like how you keep your notes; I'm newly inspired to keep better notes on my various projects and the research they entail, though I've been using, and will continue to use, an A5 loose leaf binder (the 20-hole style), also from Muji.

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  3. Hi Imy, thanks for the compliment about my handwriting :) I haven't personally seen a case of intersex whilst on this placement but when I read your post, I went and googled it! I do find things to do with obstetrics and gynaecology very interesting - and from the amount of stuff I've learnt with my degree to do with genes and the formation of human beings from an embryo, I did find it fascinating in a good way.

    Also, for your surgery, it looks as if you had a laproscopy from the pictures taken? I'm just wondering how that was for you personally. I've seen quite a lot of them but I may have to experience one myself next summer and am wondering what the recovery is like - i.e. how long it takes and if the scars heal quickly, etc.

    M Ng - I love Muji notebooks too :) I love using a blue pen and then underlining in a bold red to add that variation and to jazz up what would be 'boring' notes to read over! Gotta love Muji stuff.

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  4. Hi Angela

    Sorry ive not replied yet!!! I've been so slack! :-(

    Thats ok you do have beautiful writing! I need to practice to make mine prettier hehe

    I was only curious as alot of people studying similar things get taught about it, and they can get taught wrongly in a way, and say things that arnt true, like that they should operate as soon as they find out without giving the child a choice, there is a lot of weird things that go on with it, like sterlising! making them normal etc...

    i did have a laproscopy gonadectamy :-) lol

    There not too bad, the air they put in you gets painful after a while as they blow you up apprently, and i have alot of trapped air after which wasnt nice, butotherwise not too bad i stil have the scars :-(

    xxx

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