Lined, Blank, Dot Grid, Grid...what Do You Prefer, And Why? =)

[TestTube]

As the title suggests, what's your preference for writing, journaling, etc and why?

[LizEF]

I prefer lined for letters, journaling, or any large amount of text-only writing - because I can't write in a straight line, even on dot grid.

 

I prefer dot grid for scribbles, note-taking, doodling, and the like because the grid both lets me structure the page my way, and not be constrained by the page's structure (lines), nor distracted by a full grid with solid lines.

 

I sometimes doodle on blank paper, but I can't write a straight line to save my life - and I don't really like using a lined sheet underneath the one I'm writing on.

[countrydirt]

I prefer blank for journaling and letters. I also prefer dot grid for planning. I just picked up a Black n Red hardbound, so I going to learn to use lines for a work journal.

[AmandaW]

Blank. I don't like to be constrained by other people's rules! They make the page look too busy and spoil the drawings.

 

If it matters, writing straight lines comes with practice.

[TestTube]

Blank. I don't like to be constrained by other people's rules! They make the page look too busy and spoil the drawings.

 

If it matters, writing straight lines comes with practice.

 

I am just curious what everyone in general prefers. However, the reason for the post is that I'm new to fountain pens but absolutely fell in love; and it made me want to hand write my autobiography.

 

I notice (on videos) that a lot of people really like dot grid. I'm looking at this at the moment:

 

https://www.gouletpens.com/leuchtturm1917-master-black-dot-grid-notebook/p/LT-327366

 

I would obviously like it to be as beautiful as possible on every page. I haven't tried a dot grid notebook yet (though I have one coming in the mail) but it almost seems obvious to me that if I were to order this in blank, and hold a lined page underneath it so the lines stay perfectly straight, that the end result would be the most gorgeous option.

 

What do you guys think? (And still just curious in general what everyone else prefers if anyone else wants to chime in) =D

[Kelly G]

I like dot grid pads for quick notes. I'm currently using pads from Franklin-Christoph that have very fountain pen friendly paper.

For my daily journal - meeting notes, phone notes, etc, I use lined Marumman Mnemosyne A5 notebooks I source from Goulet Pen Co.

For my day planner, I've been using Rhodia Goal Books, which are dot grid.

 

More than anything, I prefer paper that is fountain pen friendly - no feathering, bleed through, and minimal show through. All the above meet my criteria.

 

I'm another who can't write a straight line on blank paper and I don't like messing with a lined under sheet; but that's just me.

 

Good luck in your quest!

[Runnin_Ute]

I use everything from blank, to dot, to grid, to lined. Journal is mostly lined (but not exclusively), letters are mostly blank, but again not exclusive. And anything in between. My planner is a Franklin system, which uses lines. Over the years, most of my journaling has been in those pages. That is what happens when you have over 30 years worth. (Start January 1986) As a journal I didn't write a lot of x happened today type entries in those pages. But taken as a whole there is a lot there. Everything from class notes, to newspaper clippings (job ads) to notes from phone conversations to whatever. Business and personal.

[TestTube]

 

I like dot grid pads for quick notes. I'm currently using pads from Franklin-Christoph that have very fountain pen friendly paper.

For my daily journal - meeting notes, phone notes, etc, I use lined Marumman Mnemosyne A5 notebooks I source from Goulet Pen Co.

For my day planner, I've been using Rhodia Goal Books, which are dot grid.

 

More than anything, I prefer paper that is fountain pen friendly - no feathering, bleed through, and minimal show through. All the above meet my criteria.

 

I'm another who can't write a straight line on blank paper and I don't like messing with a lined under sheet; but that's just me.

 

Good luck in your quest!

 

 

I'm getting so many mixed reviews on the Leuchtturm 1917 Master that I linked. Some say there's a ton of bleed-through (which I wouldn't be able to stand, I can handle *some*, if I'm rewriting over a line too much then it's my own fault), most say there's little to none.

 

However, right now all I have is a Moleskine journal, which apparently has horrible paper...yet I'm writing with a medium Pilot Metropolitan and although there's a lot of ghosting (which I don't really mind), there's almost no bleed-through as long as I'm writing softly and not doubling up on lines. And the Leuchtturm is supposed to have better paper in their journals - 80g - and the Master (the one I linked) is 100g paper. So I can't possibly imagine getting any bleed-through with it.

 

So I don't know if these reviews saying that even on the Master 100g paper there's a ton of bleed-through are just flat out lying, or it's the ink they're using, or what's going on >.>

[PaganArcher]

I prefer blank for most things, grid for a couple of my personal work books, and dot grid a distant third. I will give dot grid credit where it is due. The dots themselves fade away from focus when reading the pages.

 

I personally have had no bleed through problems with the Leuchtturm A4 Master I currently have. Then again, I tend towards extra fine nibs on the dry side, and I feel like that is a large part of it. But even my Lamy 2K BB has yet to cause a problem.

[WolvertonMountain]

I prefer lined for letters, journaling, or any large amount of text-only writing - because I can't write in a straight line, even on dot grid.

 

I prefer dot grid for scribbles, note-taking, doodling, and the like because the grid both lets me structure the page my way, and not be constrained by the page's structure (lines), nor distracted by a full grid with solid lines.

 

I sometimes doodle on blank paper, but I can't write a straight line to save my life - and I don't really like using a lined sheet underneath the one I'm writing on.

 

What you wrote EXACTLY fits my experience, LizEF. I stay away from blank paper or I will print a dot grid on blank paper.

With the exception of a TMLee journal, I prefer notebooks/journals with twin-ring binding as the cover and pages can be rotated completely behind the page on which I am writing.

Hard bound notebooks/journals take twice the space when opened and set on a writing surface because they cannot be completely folded over.

 

I have now found the complete system which is perfect for my note-taking needs...

I carry Road Trip docs, paperwork, a Black and Red twin-wire bound notebook, couple of pens and anything else I might need in a Dexas Slimcase 2. This case exactly holds 8.5x11 paper inside and has a clipboard on the front. A hard-bound notebook just wouldn't work with this system.

 

Clifton

 

Clifton

[praxim]

Finding different comments from mine in a previous, similar thread, I prefer hard bound books which open flat, but are not thick. The problem with anything even moderately thick is that toward the bottom of the page one's wrist drops off the edge, making it harder to write comfortably or neatly. I tend to grab another small pad as a wrist-rest.

 

I also prefer [faint] dot grid. It is flexible for different uses, and provides alignment cues (which I need*) without constraining me to a given spacing, i.e. I write over the dots as it suits me. Faint dots vanish under and amid the writing.

 

* When using blank notepaper I employ a line card under it. All my life my writing has never travelled in a straight line of its own accord no matter what the practise. I am better at tennis; which I don't play.

[akrohn2010]

I love my dot grid Leuchtturms. Just bought another one. The dots are more subdued than on other journals I have seen (Rhodia being one example) and that plus the off-white color makes for a nice, classy experience. No bleed through even with 1.1 stubs - some ghosting but it does not bother me. And due to it being not as smooth as Rhodia/Clairfontaine ink dries more quickly.

 

I think I would favor lined paper if I ever get around to writing a novel or set of short stories by hand (on my bucket list) just for the added structure. Dot grid is nice for journal, planners, etc.

 

Finally I use blank Clairfontaine for letters/correspondence, with a guide sheet to keep my lines straight.

 

Best of luck!

[TestTube]

Finding different comments from mine in a previous, similar thread, I prefer hard bound books which open flat, but are not thick. The problem with anything even moderately thick is that toward the bottom of the page one's wrist drops off the edge, making it harder to write comfortably or neatly. I tend to grab another small pad as a wrist-rest.

 

This is exactly my experience as well with larger books, but just like you I'll grab something else to rest my hand on and it ends up working fine.

 

I just received an A5 blank Clairefontaine Triumphe pad, and an A5 Rhodia dot pad. Going to see which one I like writing in better (dotted or blank, I kind've want to move away from lined as it seems rather intruding to me), and then pull the trigger on the master, or order a custom made hardcover on etsy with paper of my choice, for my autobiography.

 

I may type it out in full first, and then estimate how long it would end up being after handwritten; so I know how many pages to get if I were to order a custom made book.

[Karmachanic]

Dot grid for journal as it helps me to be neater, and the dot spacing of 5mm suits my hand. As stated by praxim, the dots almost disappear when the page is full of ink. Guide sheet for letters.

 

Nanami Crossfield and/or Taroko Enigma journals. Leather cover. Nanami Writting Mat and/or a phone to help with bottom of the journal drop-off thing.

[Terry Brack]

I agree with many of the comments already made about using different configurations of paper for different purposes. I do a lot of computation and math work so I find that blank Rhodia Pads are perfect for this (disclaimer, I sell Rhodia and other Exaclair products at pen shows), although for some work with lots of data grids are better. I like dot paper for writing because it keeps my lines straight but the dots seem to vanish when I read the completed page. This is most effective with black ink. I try to avoid dot paper for computation since the dots do interfere with decimal points (not a problem for Europeans who use commas as in place of dots for decimals). I will say, though, I find that when I write on grid paper I find that my handwriting is more uniform, the letters are more in proportion and correctly sized. I also have been using lined Clairfontaine and Rhodia spiral notebooks for my lecture notes. These lie flat on the table and what is written on the lined pages stand out a little more clearly when read from a standing position than either dots or grid would. I have been using a bullet journal based on a grid Clairfontaine My Essential notebook. The grid naturally accommodates the bullets and also tends to keep my writing from getting too large which would fill the page to quickly and take away from that ability to see what is happening at one glance.

[JD-Be]

For text, I use lined paper because it's impossible to me to write in straight lines, ...

I'm left handed ...!

See my writing, not the best ...

[knarflj]

Blank for brainstorming and my journal, where I don't want anything constraining me to a single size of handwriting, and want the ability to doodle without interference (not that I often do, but I want to be able to ).

 

Lines or dot grid for taking notes. (Depends on the size of the notebook and the spacing of the dots or lines - usually I end up with lines for letter-size or larger notebooks, and dots for A5 or smaller.) Here I want uniformity of format, and the lines or dots help.

 

Dot grid or square grid for my planner, prayer notebook, catchall book, same reason as above. (All A5 or smaller paper)

 

Lines (preferably fairly unobtrusive) for my commonplace book (where I really care about straight lines of writing), and also for writing rough drafts (where I'm totally focused on content and don't want to have to think about keeping it tidy) - although I will occasionally use dot grid for the latter if I can't find relatively inexpensive paper in the size and line-spacing I'm looking for. Mostly I scrawl drafts on cheap Brazil-made filler paper, though.

 

Jenny

Edited June 5, 2018 by knarflj

[Amory]

If choosing between dot grid and ruled then your natural handwriting size may be the deciding factor in my opinion. Generally spacing of dot grid in journals is narrower pitch (closer together) than ruled. I have read several posts where mention has been made that to avoid overlapping only being able to write on alternate or every third line. This may leave writing looking lost on the page, as may a small hand on 7mm or wider ruling lined paper.

 

As someone who’s cursive is of a size that fits comfortably on 5mm space grid I find it challenging to write large enough for lined journals and tend to choose plain or gridded.

[inkstainedruth]

My preference is for blank (unlined), but it's hard to find journals that have sufficient capacity for the price that are anything but lined (in those cases I tend to write two lines for every line because I write small.

I did get a smallish dot-grid pad a while back and I like it for some things, like doing the monthly Ink Challenges.

For stuff like writing letters or doing calligraphy on individual sheets of unlined paper (Tomoe River or Clairefontaine Triumphe) I made myself a template that is college ruled lines to go under the page I'm writing on (I don't always get lines of writing straight). It's a file on my laptop, so when the page gets too grungy I just print off another one (and the previous one goes into the recycling bag to be taken to the bin in town.

I only have a limited need for graph paper, and really don't like what is used in most journals. When I DO need graph paper, I prefer the 10/inch pads you get at Staples, but I don't know as how that's all that FP friendly.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Torrilin]

The various dot rulings can work for drawing, but it’s so easy to set me off if the dot grid doesn’t match with the perspective I’m using. It’s just me being strange. Like a lot of artists I can barely draw a straight line and the parallel is even harder. But mostly art doesn’t need or want straight and parallel so setting off my perfectionist tendencies is something I avoid.

 

Blank doesn’t set me off, so I prefer it. My freehand writing can be very wonky and wobbly but I can deal with it better than lines. Art oriented sketchbooks tend to be cheaper than journals or notebooks, but many of them can’t deal with ink or other wet media. Add in that I’m a lefty and extremely fussy about binding and it’s just a lot of trouble. I keep a little list of stuff that is worth buying over again for me.

 

Lined books just don’t work unless it’s for writing only. Grid ditto. So they get used very slowly. And if the ruling is too wide I get very irritated. 6 or 7mm is best, because it adapts to a good range of nib widths. Basically all standard rulings are too wide and I have to fuss a lot to be comfortable. And no just using a fatter italic doesn’t work. I have a thing about the proportions I like if I’m doing calligraphy drill, and it’s genuinely harder to get the look I want with wide rule of any sort.