HISTORY ive been sketching in journals for as long as i can remember and i go through them fairly quickly. i have found that once i find one i like i will buy 4 or 5 and keep them forever. my most recent favorite is the $20 moleskine soft cover XL journal that is about the same size as my ipad. when out & about i found myself taking the journal and the iPad together all the time. the comparable size was simply comfortable & convenient. after my ipad slipped out one day from the elastic closure on the journal i thought about gluing the journal to the cover, but then i realized i could potentially do better. I invested in a collection of rare earth magnets (NIB or Neodymium-Iron-Boride) and set to work learning about polarity and magnetic strength. iFixit.com provided a great tear down of the iPad, exposing the locations and systematic polarity system. the magnets i bought were really strong, and the mag-mag connection is amazing. I went through a few variations before i settled on the final and simplified design.    COVER i wanted to be able to write and draw on the cover, and make it as simply as possible. unfortunately the inclusion of the magnets presents the problem of thickness. were not really talking about a soft cover binding anymore. were now in a "medium hard" arena. the NOTEBLOX logo will be printed in 3 different style to indicate the difference between blank, lined, and gridded pages.  COVER STOCK Kraft paper (front cover = 1.5mm) (back cover = .75mm)  example of Kraft paper cover stock journal below...  PAGES i chose the paper for the NOTEBLOX based on my own choice of pen, pencil and marker. i tried using a better quality vellum paper so that sharpies and markers wouldn't bleed through as much but the cost to manufacture using the higher quality paper was going to affect retail pricing too much. I wanted the NOTEBLOX to be priced at about $15. using a high quality vellum would have them at about $20. please leave a comment below if you think $20 is reasonable for a journal like this with better quality paper. MAGNETS NIB (Neodymium-Iron-Boride) magnets are super powerful and fun to play with, and do their job really well. we've integrated 6 magnets into the rear binding so that when you slip your ipad into the back binging the magnets grab on and keep the iPad secure. use the built in elastic band to hold it in even better. slap it on the refrigerator or other metal object and the magnets hold on and keep your NOTEBLOX where you need it... POCKET i thought about ditching the pocket, but i looked thorough all my old journals and they ALL had stuff in the pockets. Especially the ones i used while traveling, so since im using myself as my own best customer, i kept the pocket. its identical to most, nothing clever here... ELASTIC 2 bands are better than 1. especially on a diagonal and especially when you're running and counting on the binding system to keep your iPad secure. Twin elastics entangle the corners of the NOTEBLOX hold the pages together, and hold the iPad just a little bit safer than otherwise... GRAPHICSi wanted to be able to write and draw on the cover so im leaving the graphics very minimal, consisting of only the NOTEBLOX logo on both the front and back to indicate the style of pages within (see above) FRONT COVER  BACK COVER  INSIDE PAPER PAD (back cover, spine, and front cover) (front cover of the paper pad is laminated to the back side of the front cover and will not be seen)  INSIDE PAPER PAD (back cover & spine only)  GRAPH PAPER (25mm grid with 5mm divisions)   BLANK PAPER (blank)   SECOND PROTOTYPE  | Visit our page at KICKSTARTER  |
NOTEBLOX in the newsWere expecting our first round of prototypes in the next 2 weeks, and after we get the design approved in-house we'll be sending samples out to a variety of media sites like ENGADGET, BGR, Apple Insider, Gizmodo, MacRumors, The Verge, New York Times, Etc. hopefully for a little hands on attention by the technology media moguls. Our official KICKSTARTER campaign will begin as soon as we have some actual prototypes to photograph and play with. |
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