DIY Reading & Writing-Hack: Build Your Ultimate 2in1 Note-Book
How a piece of duct tape shaped my reading and journaling habits.
My inspiration
As a UX designer I think a lot about how accessibility shapes behaviour and habits — be it in the digital or physical realm. I am an outdoorsy person yet also a digital kid from the 90s and 00s. During my childhood I found myself exposed to the plethora of highly accessible digital media. You would either find me playing outside, on the bicycle — or in front of a screen.
While this gave me certain advantages in knowledge and arguably brought me places in my professional career, it has always been challenging to me to develop habits around more mindful non-digital activities. And now, since the rise of iPad kids and low rates in reading I am concerned this could apply to more people.
Highly Accessible Media: Acknowledging Potentially Unhealthy Media Habits
While the symptoms of problematic media use are lesser visible in society compared to other unhealthy habits such as substance abuse or gambling, which have immediate effects on physical health or financial situation, excessive media consumption and social media eats precious lifetime and can affect mental health.
Proper public education around media literacy was not yet in place — and still is not broadly adopted, with The Netherlands banning phones from classrooms in 2024.
Back to Basics
Acknowledging this led me to the desire of shifting my attention from FOMO (fear of missing out) — and the constant hunt for new information and content, back to the mastery of basics: Essential principles and timeless knowledge — before dealing with more transient, choice-overloading, infinite information like tv series, brands, celebreties or soccer results.
I have identified journaling and reading as two of those “healthy” and sustainable habits — so I decided to question their level of accessibility in my everyday life — and how we might improve it.
Low Accessible Media: Bookshelves Were Not Designed For Outdoorsy People
Peoples’ lives have become more decentralised. Contemporary mobility options allow us to go everywhere, Airbnb enables us to feel home anywhere — but while our digital addiction machines (phones) join our travels, our bookshelf stays at home.
You either already have a habit of consciously selecting books for on the go or you are left with your phone.
Instagram-Aesthetics and Digital Obesity Crisis
“Ok, I’m guilty — I purchase books when I like the cover” — Someone I talked to about reading habits
This somewhat shocking yet not really surprising statement follows what Instagram and Pinterest conditioned us to do: Bringing aesthetics to our homes. Has reading become a fashion accessoire with the sole purpose to appear educated? “Booktok” and Bookfluencer profiles on Instagram suggest so — but a focus on pure aesthetics is probably the last thing we need in the intellectual obesity crisis.
E-Book-Reader
If it doesn’t fit in a backpack, it’s not for me
This is a logic I started applying to many aspects of my life: For instance, I use both my folding bicycle or my inflatable kayak far more often than I would use the full-sized classic counterparts. Simply due to accessibility. They fit in a bag, I can take them on the train, cross borders — and if they are stored in a spot I come across every day, it is more likely to form habits around them. To me, they provide similar joy to owning the more comfy yet operation-intense and more costly counterparts: cabriolets and yachts. Still great for the special occasion, just as a private bookshelf or the local library — but harder to establish daily habits around.
A good decade ago, in 2016, I discovered E-Book-Readers. Rational me said: Perfect, no bookshelf required anymore — I can finally move into a tiny house. Literally — when you now opt for a 10m2 smaller living space — an area usually occupied by bookshelves, this can save you around 50.000 EUR. Also do not forget about saved lifetime for managing physical books (buying / selling).
“E-Reader? I need the physical touch and smell of real books”
I keep on getting this take against e-books. And yes, this is a well distributed narrative by the book and publisher industry to keep up sales for physical books, since with e-books, authors can earn higher margins [conspiracy mode off].
But let’s be honest. How many books have you really completed in the last year? Wouldn’t you sacrifice a bit of intimacy if you could have all the books in the palm of your hands — and thereby read more? But sure, I gotta have to admit:
Who wants to switch from paper to plastic. Eww!
So yes, there are aesthetical / haptical aspects that scare away users, especially sophisticated readers, from broad adoption — but how to tackle them? I started take their user needs more seriously.
Notebook — Add Paper To The Experience
Whenever my brain is idling, be it during watching people in a cafe or consuming slow, long-format content — just as podcasts or books, I am in need to capture my thoughts. I have tried multiple ways to do so, yet even the success in my note-taking habit seems to depend on the medium. OneNote, Notion, Anytype, MarginNote, Obsidian — all great tools as long as you have a screen. But that very screen again invites for other distractions.
A physical notebook? But what size? A3? Great for long art nights at home. A4 accompanied me in school — yet all too often notes ended up wrinkled somewhere in my bag. A5? Still large and heavy for a fanny pack.
When I started attending and performing standup comedy events I noticed a key difference: Many comedians were using A6-sized notebooks. Light, easy to collect thoughts on the go wherever you are — and unobtrusive on stage. Bingo!
E-Reader, Notebook, Pen — Ready To Go?
Well, Steve would not approve. These are 3 separate devices creating clutter and logistical challenges when heading out. Who wants to lose a pen?
Be Like Steve — Glue It Together
Just recently some guy offered a service on German craigslist “Kleinanzeigen”. He would come for a home visit and unify all your remote controls using hot-glue for better accessibility. People were raising concerns on how to access the battery but overall it was genius. My mother rarely ever uses the TV alone since there are ~ 5 remotes spread across the room to deal with.
An iPod — a phone — and an internet communication device. These are not three separate devices.
Kindle + Pocket Notebook + Pen + Case + Tape = Portable Literacy Awesomeness
Why
The big why here really was about bringing both input and output closer together, thereby unifying two healthy habits.
Books are input / consumption - but then also create output in your braincells (e.g. when actively highlighting text in the book or looking up words)
Notebook is a medium for output - yet dumping your brain on the paper also reflects back to your brain and can be a means of making sense of your thoughts as Henrik Karlsson puts it “when I type, it is as if I pin my thoughts to the table. I can examine them.”
Unifying my e-reader with a physical notebook suddenly seemed like the most obvious thing to do. But how? Glue, Velcro, Magnets?
Prototype 1 - Flexible Velcro Tape
My first prototytpe involved velcro tape. As it turned out it was the perfect prototyping material to play around with, since I could attach / detach it, flexibly realign until it was the perfect fit from an ergonomic stance.
Prototype 2 - Magnets
Things I did not like yet about my notebook? It was heavy when reading. I realized that aspect whenever holding my Kindle without a case. What if we could use smaller notebooks instead - and make them (hot-) swappable? I switched to a lighter, 60 pages notebook. The attachment mechanism? Magnets! But damn, they were heavy too - and not too strong. While the prototype worked pretty nicely I concluded that this would need some serious engineering.
Prototype 3 - Just Tape
I came to realization that I already figured out the perfect position to attach my notebook (by using flexible velcro tape in my first prototype phase) - and strong tape would work just fine for now - at least for this vacation.
Sometimes it does not take too much at all to create a workable product.
Prototype X - Be Part of The Journey
You are an industrial / product design engineer / student in the field and want to create something nice - a replacable, detachable low-waste notebook system for E-Books made for broadly available standard notebooks and together bring it to the next level? Let’s go :)
Features
Paper haptics (cuddle with paper while reading from an e-book reader)
2-way stand (natural direction of folding case + notebook doubles as second stand) — perfect for reading in bed.
Notebook doubles as holding bar
Open Source
Love the label with your name over the brand!