(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)
When it comes to notebooks, you can find one for every specific purpose. Be it certain industries, odd rulings, or other constraints and requirements, there’s probably a notebook for it. I’ve always found that interesting, and it’s no surprise that I was intrigued by the Life Margin notebook.
The Life Margin notebook is a soft cover notebook with 80 pages of smooth, ivory paper that feels incredible to the touch and when writing. Like the other Life notebooks, this is some seriously good stuff. It’s a simple notebook, but it’s also simply wonderful.
On the outside, the Margin notebook is a craft paper material that bends easily, but is still resilient. Depending on the paper rule, the branding and cloth binding material is red (plain), blue (ruled), or yellow (graph). Apart from the minimal product information on the covers, there’s nothing else, which gives it a utilitarian feel. The Margin notebook is A5 in size and is held together by stitching and cloth tape. Overall, it has a clean, professional look on the outside.
On the inside, you’re greeted with a minimal front page that has a space for creating an "index" of your writings, or a place to write down your contact information. After that, we get to the good stuff. This paper is some of my favorite, and there’s 80 pages of it in this little notebook. It’s a light ivory color and has a special coating on it to make it extra smooth. Despite the coating, it handles all types of inks, graphite, etc. with ease. Dry times for inks aren’t affected, and it also does a decent job of preventing show-through on the back of the page.
Apart from the super wet Schmidt P8126 refill, the show-through is minimal and leaves the back pages perfectly usable for other writing. If you typically use wet pens, it will depend on what kind of ink you use with this notebook. In some cases, you may not be able to use the back page.
Writing on this paper is an incredibly enjoyable experience. It’s smooth when writing, has a good weight, and also has a pleasant color. The pages lay open easily, and the notebook closes flat when not in use. The binding seems strong, but also very pliable. There are no pages numbers in the notebook, but it does boast something special.
Like the name implies, this notebook features a vertical margin line about 1.5 inches or 35mm from the left side of the page. It’s an unobtrusive light gray line that’s helpful for leaving a (you guessed it) margin on the left side for notes, edits, or whatever else. Due to the somewhat light weight of the paper, you can also see the margin line showing throw from the back page, which gives you a handy right margin as well. Due to the light ink, it’s easy to disregard the margin when you don’t need it. And, the margin is present on each ruling type. I found the margin useful for making outlines and lists, but I could also see how it would be useful for note-taking and planning. Given the open structure, you can use it in whatever way makes sense to you in different situations.
Life notebooks have long been a favorite of mine due to the paper and build quality, and the Margin notebook is no exception.
(Vanness Pens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.
Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!
