Best Results Organizing

As we’ve discussed previously, the key to any notebook system is that it fits your individual needs. What could be better than a notebook that you can customize to your specific sense of order?

In the beginning, there was Levenger’s Circa System. The backbone of Circa Notebooks appears to be rings — but instead of three fixed rings inside the spine of a binder, Circa uses discs (11 for letter-sized, 8 for junior-sized notebooks) to hold together a series of component elements: leather and other stylish covers, ink-friendly paper, tab dividers of various types, calendars and more. The discs come in a variety of sizes, from 1/4″ to 3″, and styles from basic black to designer-level sparkly, allowing you to increase the thickness and fashionability of your notebooks by switching out the discs. 

Instead of using a standard hole-punch that creates a series of circles, Levenger designed a specialized punch style (where each “hole” punch looks like a sideways mushroom or umbrella) such that elements can be switched out without tearing the paper edges. This style has been copied, with a little variation by the competition:

Levenger Punch

Ampad Punch

Want your calendar in the front and your notes in the back? Decide tomorrow you want to switch it around? Circa can do that. The Circa System is modular, classy and elegant, but oh-so pricey. Notebook covers range from $60 to $150; the discs, which are sold separately from the covers run $12-$25. Refill pages start at $10 for a set, and if you want to keep any of your own papers, the specialized hole punches range from $30 to $80. 

Two years ago, Staples brought out an almost identical notebook style, the Arc System, which I reviewed in my NAPO EXPO 2012 Recap. Arc has the same system of discs (though fewer sizes, and with a less glossy, more utilitarian styling), fewer but still multiple cover options (leather and poly, decorative and solid) and a variety of productivity accessories. Sort the pages to your preference, change them around as necessary, and switch your cover when you move from classroom to internship to boardroom.

The main difference between Circa and Arc was Arc’s more frugal pricing structure, with covers ranging from $12 for poly to $25 for leather; disc expansion packs are only about $3, and plastic/poly dividers and pockets range from $3-$10. Pre-punched notebook, planner and graph paper sets runs $3.50-$4.50, and a specialized punch is $43.

Then just last spring, we talked about the Ampad Versa Crossover, yet another entry into the discs-instead-of-rings customizable notebook arena. As I described it then:

The key to the Versa Crossover Notebook’s appeal, however, is that the paper — indeed, all elements of the notebook, including the covers, flaps, flags, task pads, pockets and dividers — can be re-positioned anywhere in the notebook. That’s because instead of being attached by spiral wires, everything is held in place by the discs nestled perfectly inside uniquely shaped oval “tabby things.” 

Same basics, but the Versa has thicker, chubbier discs (like Duplo vs. Lego) and a variety of poly-based elements for creating dividers and holding accessory items. At $12-$17 for the basic notebook and about $3 for refill pages, the pricing is fine, but there’s no hole punch for your own papers, and the types of pages are very limited (to wide-ruled or graph paper).

All three notebooks are spiffy, but I felt like Arc offered the best deal for the money for the average user. Recently, however, a client called my attention to a newcomer in customizable notebooks that’s sorta like Circa, Arc, and the Versa Crossover, but sorta like nothing we’ve seen before.

It’s YoonCo’s Sorta, the Adaptive Notebinder.

If Circa is for executives, Versa is for students and Arc is for just about everyone, Sorta is for the person who says, “Well, I’m sorta doing the entrepreneurial thing during the week, and I’m sorta working on my tunes in the evenings.” It’s for someone who doesn’t necessarily see himself carrying a fine calfskin planner or a paisley-print poly cover. It’s for someone who wants a notebook that’s sorta cool for all the ways he or she “sorta” is.

The Sorta is customizable and has removable, repositionable pages. But there are no discs and no rings, and the page/element options have been created by designers rather than productivity or office supply experts.  

To add, remove or rearrange any of the paper elements in your Sorta, bend back the front and rear covers all the way, and the papers “unpinch” from the springback spine of the notebinder. Toss or archive what you remove, and then sort your papers in a stack. Move your graph paper to the front and your sheet music to the back, change out the style of calendar in the middle — and then bend those covers backward, slide your stack of papers back in, and you’re good to go!

There are two basic elements to the Sorta: the outer notebinder and the varying stationery templates.

To see how it all fits together:

Notebinders — The notebinders come in three styles:

• Original ($15.95), which is sort of the reclaimed wood of notebooks, gritty (and hearty) recycled chipboard with accent color choices of black, red, yellow, blue and white;
• Cloth ($23.95) in black, blue, grey and orange; and
• Leatherette ($28.95) in pebbled black

Each notebinder is 6 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ and features one thick, color-coded elastic band for closure and two thin ones for bookmarks. (The bands are standard in the original version and optional for the cloth and leatherette covers.)

Stationery/Templates — Here’s where Sorta wins me over. There’s a huge variety of paper inserts and designs, and they are all kind of quirky. The ink is blue — and none of that stuffy navy or royal blue ink, either. It’s sort of a dark turquoise.

• Calendars — Three one-day day “glance” styles with increasing detail for the Full-timer, Insomniac and Moonlighter, one-week glance in two styles, two-week glance and one month glance. (Note, these are evergreens — you fill in the date on each page type.) They’ve also designed some Sing Another Song planners, based on the notion that, “Let’s be honest—no one can realistically plan ahead past two days. This planning system (named after a Leonard Cohen lyric) acknowledges this reality, forcing you to focus on what you need to do today and tomorrow only. Everything else is backburner.“ 
• Forms — Contacts, Expenses, To Do lists, Time-tracking sheets, Recurring checklists
• Notepaper — Traditional-ruled, “fat” and “skinny” ruled, “dot grid” (like graph paper without the lines), traditional graph, and isometric graph for 3D design
• Art and Music — Sheet music, ukulele chords, penmanship charts, Kanji (Japanese writing) practice paper, unlined and watercolor-suitable paper, and drawing-a-day pages for two-, three- or six-doodle panels, in case you’re a budding cartoonist or just like to think visually.
• Dividers — each divider is white for the left and center two-third and dreamily colored (blue, green, yellow and pink) for the right third of the page.

Most of the paper elements range from $3.49 to $4.49 for a packet of 25 sheets, with the drawing pages priced at $5.59. The dividers are $2.49 for three in any one color, and $3.29 for a variety pack of four.

A word on design: Sorta’s aim is to be goofily cool. Unlike the attractive but fairly boring traditional notebook stylings of the three leaders in customizable notebooks, the key to Sorta’s style is that it’s not at all corporate, and not coming from a single corporate direction. There are currently five design companies from around the US, in addition to YoonCo, contributing to the Sorta elements, including Barrel Strength Design, Machine Design Company, Ditherdog, Patrick M. Coyle and Monkey Show. (If you’re a designer, consider joining the Sorta design team.)

So, what’s missing? Huge expansion possibilities. The Sorta only holds 40-60 sheets of paper at a time, so it’s better for carrying around just what you really want and need and taking advantage of the easy-to-remove-pages aspect. Also, there are no rulers, no plastic sheets with sticky notes and tape flags, and no poly pocket inserts for digital media or business cards. It’s all paper (and, well, cloth, leatherette and elastic) and the lowest of low-tech. But there’s something sorta nice about that.

What do you think of the Sorta? What kind of customizable notebook is your speed?