The Puget News

We all know that Moleskine brands their notebooks as the choice of literati and artists. Every time you shop for a new one, the labels recite famous personages who have used them before you. An example of their effusive copy is found on their website:

MOLESKINE IS THE LEGENDARY NOTEBOOK,
USED BY EUROPEAN ARTISTS AND THINKERS
FOR THE PAST TWO CENTURIES.

THIS SILENT AND DISCREET KEEPER
OF AN EXTRAORDINARY TRADITION, WHICH
HAS BEEN MISSING FOR YEARS, HAS BEEN
REPRODUCED BY THE ITALIAN COMPANY MODO
& MODO SINCE 1998. WITH ITS VARIOUS
DIFFERENT PAGE STYLES IT ACCOMPANIES
THE CREATIVE PROFESSIONS AND HAS BECOME
A SYMBOL OF CONTEMPORARY NOMADISM.

MOLESKINE IS A FAMILY OF NOTEBOOKS
FOR DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS, ACCORDING
WITH A FREE MINDSTYLE, BOTH BASIC
AND EMOTIONAL.

This block of text is associated with an image of Van Gogh’s image sketchbook if that “artist / cool kid vibe” wasn’t clear enough for you. The underlying message is, you too can be hailed as the next [insert artist name or author name here] if you use our notebooks to further your creativity.

Furthering that allure, Moleskine has gone even deeper and created a separate site called DETOUR aimed at exhibiting all the ways that creative people (they highlight architects, artists, designers, illustrators and writers) use their products.

I admire how Moleskine has been able to associate and brand something so mundane as being something high-end and inspirational. Even though I know what they’re doing with their branding, I still have a hard time disassociating the powerful feelings that it conjures. Moleskine is the beneficiary of a huge number of positive associations for me because they draft of the success of so many powerful visionaries.

Eventually, I buy another one. It’s my kryptonite. I have to. I am powerless. You had me at Hemingway you bastards! Now leave me alone!

The following video is a demonstration of how artist Paula Scher used a Moleskine to explore some quirky fonts:

It’s impossible for me to comprehend a personality like Paula Scher that can fill an entire notebook of doodles without any apparent mistakes. I look at that video and that’s what I’m dazzled by.

Now back to my mantra of “it’s just a notebook, it’s just a notebook, it’s just a notebook…”

[discovered via a post on 37signals]

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 15th, 2007 at 9:26 am and is filed under Video, Art, Advertising. You can follow any responses to this entry through the feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.