Composition notebooks aren’t particularly great or good-looking. They are, however, highly durable, readily available, and cheap enough that they’ve become indispensable to many students, writers, and designers over the years. Comp is an attempt to reinvent the unpretentious black and white notebook, improving various elements while retaining its long-beloved characteristics.
Designed by Aron Fay, the new notebook takes the classic elements of the 180-year old design, then pairs it with modern printing and binding technologies, along with high-quality materials. Granted, that means it’s far from being as affordable as the stack of composition books you can get at Target, although it does offer a new option for folks who don’t mind paying extra for a well-made writing pad.
Comp is a 148-page notebook with a cover that retains a similar marbling pattern as the original, although they replaced it with a hand-drawn pattern that shows a more balanced contrast between the black and white specks. It also retains the white rectangular label, ensuring anyone who sees the notebook will notice the nod to the classic design. Since the original’s center-sewn binding doesn’t lay flat, they replaced it with a boards on, lay flat bind, all while throwing in a black Italian cialux cloth to cover the exposed spine.
Features include 2mm wrapped hardcovers with square corners, 120gsm ultra-white uncoated paper, and dyed black end sheets. It measures 7.5 x 9.75 inches, with the interior leaves coming as either lined or unlined.
A Kickstarter campaign is currently running for Comp. Pledges to reserve a unit starts at $19.