Not a Plotter review!

Over the last couple of months quite a few people seem to have decided to get a Plotter notebook and write extremely detailed reviews. I won’t do that here. Just a bit about the why and how I’m using it.

My motivation behind looking into binder systems - and Plotter in particular - came primarily from two angles:

• I was never satisfied with how projects work when following the Bullet Journal method. Many are very short-lived and only require half a page or less. You often don’t know if a project is short-lived, though, and so you create gaps just in case. And. these will never really be filled…
• Non-binder systems have an archival problem. You can only archive the whole notebook and so always carry lots of pages with you that you absolutely don’t need anymore. When a notebook is on its last pages, you also potentially have to have a new one with you.

So… a binder system might work for me and solves both issues. Plotter then drew my attention because of their association with Midori/Traveler’s Company since I really like their paper and style.

The big downside: Plotter is not available in Europe. So if I should get into this, it will be expensive either due to shipping costs or due to long delays and the large quantities of refills I’d have to get. Well, the binder itself is expensive either way while the refills are luckily quite cheap (80 pieces of dot-grid paper for around €5).

My setup

Earlier this year and given the tense climate between the USA and the EU I thought I might run out of chances to get a Plotter and so I took the first one and got this:

• Bible size Horse Hair II in black. That size is pretty much perfect for me since it’s smaller than A5 but also a bit wider than “narrow”. It is also compatible with Filofax Personal-sized accessories like hole-punches.
• A lot of project folders since I wanted to keep at least some kind of structure around long-running projects
• A lot of dot grid and 2mm grid refills because they will have to last for multiple years (until I can get more through friends traveling to the USA or Japan)
• A pen holder since I wanted to have the primary pen always at the ready. Unfortunately, the holder is slightly tighter than anticipated and so a normal Pilot Capless doesn’t fit comfortably. A TWSBI Precision does and is also look better there anyway 😁
• Other stuff like a strap, ruler, and more.

A quick note about the paper/pen/ink combination: I initially wanted to try the whole thing with Platinum Carbon Black. Unfortunately, the drying time there is just horrible so I went with TWSBI Blue-Black which is an iron-gal ink and so also water-proof. My preferred pen for the Plotter would have been my black Pilot Capless with a fine nib. Turns out, that pen is exactly that little step too wide and only fits into the pen-holder with some force. Luckily, the TWSBI Precision Gunmetal fits perfectly and works well with the ink and the paper!

The back of the notebook holds all the multi-year/long term projects while the front is for active notes and collections. For instance, I have a page collecting birthdays of friends and family, one for movies I’ve watches this year, and one for gift-ideas.

I also keep a refill-block outside of the rings in the front of the cover to quickly write down new thoughts without having to turn any pages. This is especially useful for documenting events while they’re happening (like meetup notes or discussion protocols)!

In the end, this all gives me something between an commonplace notebook and a flexible system for projects. Exactly what I’ve been missing in my setup 🙂

I’m also considering using it as my new bullet journal for work once my notebook there is full. Especially there the archival aspect of Plotter will be extremely useful as I want to keep only operational tasks and notes in there anyway. Something to write about another time 😀