And so it has happened – I got my exclusive copy of newest Moleskine Beijing City notebook. What a happy chance for a stationery geek like me to come across the special campaign by the Working Unit – Asian representative of Modo&Modo.

20 lucky Beijingers and 20 lucky Hong Kong residents got the exclusive preview copy of a new citybook last month – and I’m one of these lucky beggars. The task was to work with the notebook, fill it and make it “live” – and then send it back to Hong Kong for an exhibition as a part of the advertising campaign. As a reward for taking part in the campaign all the participants will get the free citybook and any of moleskine notebooks they choose.
Frankly speaking, my “creation” sucks, because I didn’t spend much time decorating it (it was the examination period, so never mind),

But I used the notebok the way I wanted – making it not the masterpiece, but a guidebook to my favourite city. The more successful works are available at the MoleskineAsia webpage. So…

What’s it like?

With “BEIJING” stamped on the back, the notebook is thick, heavy and really nice.

The Maps

There’s 36 pages of zone maps, ranging in scale from 1:5000 to 1:1700036 page map and 12 translucent tracing sheets for marks and routes. The Key Map summarises the overall layout of the city, showing the sequence and location of the zone maps. An alphabetical street index is included.

The map in the notebook is the most important thing for me, because I walk a lot, and usual map is not quite convenient. But the sad thing is that the map covers only the central part of the city inside the Third ring road, and my lovely BFSU is not include, as well as the Suzhou bridge area, Dongzhimen wai road and Sanlitun area. It is sad.

I’ve noticed that not all pens fit for writing on the map and the tracing sheets – only ball pen or drawliner are suitable (by the way, ink pen is not suitable for writing moleskine ‘acid-free’ paper either) – I’ve smeared what I’d written and drawn few times. So I’ve started marking the travel routes directly on the map and the places of interest and stuff on the tracing sheet. Nice.

The Subway

The subway map is very useful – it includes not only the existing lines (1st, 2nd, 13th, 5th and the Batong lines), but also the ‘under construction’ ones. Some of them are planned to be launched before the Olympics, other will be launched next year. Anyway, try not to mess it all up.

‘For notes and thoughts’ and the city file

76 blank pages, giving you all the space you need to write, jot down useful information, and record your thoughts, stories, and memories.

I haven’t filled this part because for that purpose I usually use my old plain notebook, but just give me some time.

A personal, 96-page archive, with 12 tabs in two series of 6, so that everything that matters most is at your fingertips. The first 6 tabs are printed; the others are blank so you can personalize them with the enclosed adhesive labels…

…filled with all the Beijing places, as museums, hotels, restaurants (all the Tibetan entries inside!), bars, clubs, shops and all other interesting and useful places.

Olymic games area

China hosts the 29th summer Olympic games this year, so Modo&Modo has enclosed a special Olympic games area guide – with a map, streets and venue index. There’s also a special August calendar for the Olympics. Just in case.

All the photos are clickable. You can also see the full set at my Flickr.

The official sales were to start on the 24th of June. So I should go and check out the EMO+ and 2 other shops in Beijing, where Moleskine notebooks are available.

Links
www.moleskine.com
www.moleskineasia.com
www.workingunit.com

Coming soon…

Work by Wong Kok Keong, a Singaporean designer of [Orcadesign] studio, who won the Judges’Prize for the MUJI Award 02: International Design Competition which was held last year and was materialized as one of MUJI’s products.

Diary schedules are arranged in lines and grids, which are difficult to see and has little flexibility.
This notebook makes it clear, intuitive and easy to plan and see your daily schedules.

Inside the 5 ¾”H x 4”W pocket size notebook, the pages are divided by AM and PM. The left hand side of an open page has a graphic of a white clock which represents AM and on the right hand side has a dark clock which represents PM. Simple but functional, new way to plan your day out.