Doane Paper is almost a dream come true
I am always on the look out for the perfect notepad. In my world of building stuff on the web making quick draft notes and sketches is part and parcel of everyday work.
Regular ruled or grid notebooks are fine for notes and quick interface sketches respectively. But that means two notepads in my bag. And if you know me, you know I am obsessive about simple, bare-essentials travel. I pack lighter than a hummingbird for my flights and whenever else I step outside the door.
Enter Chad Doane and his Doane Paper pads where each sheet has both lines and grids. Simple, smart.
Before ordering a set of pads I downloaded the generously provided PDF and printed a few sheets. I used them to draft screens for a project I was working on, and I got hooked on the Doane Paper right then and there.
Previously I had done most of my page draft work on either regular white sheets or a nice purpose made pad I received from EffectiveUI (and that I am savoring): gray dotted lines with screen resolution markings to boot. Would Doane Paper beat the competition?
Today my 3-pack of the real product came in the mail and I have been working with it for a few hours. I still like it, but not as unreservedly as I thought I would. And it’s my own fault.
Doane Paper, the pad versus the PDF printed in grayscale.
When I printed the test sheets from the PDF I did so with a grayscale setting on my printer. I had nice discreet gray lines to guide my pen. The actual pads have light blue lines, plus a red line on the left.
While the pads still work great for note taking and small sketches, the blue lines get a tad overwhelming on larger design drafts and they really pop when scanned.
So, here is my very short wish list for a v2 that would make Doane Paper the perfect product for me and maybe others in the same line of work:
- Gray lines instead of blue (ok to keep the red one)
- Dotted as opposed to solid lines, but solid would be ok
- Thinner pads as an option. 50 sheets per pad is fab for home base, but 15-20 would be ideal for travel (I told you I obsess about packing light for my trips).
And please do keep the DP logo and info in the corner of the sheets (the PDF sheet has it, the pads don’t). Otherwise you loose the branding when a sheet is torn out (the DP logo and URL are only printed on the binding stock at the top of the pad). At $9.95 for a three-pack, they are a cheap specialty paper product - please don’t change that.
I’m sending pads to Johan and Andreas to see what they think of them. Doane Paper is not perfect, yet, but the word should still be spread. Don’t believe me? Download and print the PDF and see for yourself.
