Overall rating
Size: | A5 |
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Colours: | Black, Dark Brown |
Cost: | $120.00 USD |
Personalisation: | Yes |
Country: | USA |
Available from: | www.graphicimage.com |
For: | Eye catching crocodile stamped leather, perfect stitching and finish |
Against: | Low quality notebook insert, Pen holder only suitable for skinny pens or pencils |
First Impressions
We ordered this leather notebook journal from fine leather store ‘Graphic Image’ in the USA. The packaging was amongst the best of any leather journal we’ve received. It arrived in a lovely satin patterned bag with tight packaging for safe postage.
The first thing we noticed was how shiny the finish was on this leather! It had a ‘bling’ effect, and almost made it feel like a pleather of sorts, which some will enjoy more than others. The workmanship and stitching was absolutely perfect. The leather notebook has a padded feel to it. We opened it to see the notebook inside was of a low quality, and didn’t suit the glamorous feel of the cover.
1 Week Review
We shared use of this notebook every day for a week, and whilst it was a pleasure to carry around and be seen with, it had some usability challenges.
The pen holder in the middle was only suitable for pencils and the thinnest of pens. It didn’t fit any thicker pens, including a Mont Blanc pen we used with other journal notebooks. The document sleeve on the inside cover was great for storing receipts or any loose pieces of paper we needed to keep handy.
This perforated notebook was more suitable for writing short notes and tear-away lists. We would describe this as more of notepad actually. The quality of the navy blue bindings at the pad top was of low quality and not the same standard as the rest of the product. As always, writing on the parchment colour paper was relaxing on the eyes, compared with brilliant white paper.
Criteria Review
Quality
Features
Usability
Charm
Value
OVERALL
6
“Extravagant design and great workmanship”
Conclusion
This crocodile printed leather journal is a head-turner. It instantly screams ‘exclusivity and quality’, but is let down by a low-quality internal notepad and lack of useful features. It will be greatly appreciated by those with a liking to glamorous shiny crocodile printed leather!
Update: The Graphic Image brand has since updated this product to include a wider document sleeve and 3 business card holders on the inside cover. You can view this through the link above, along with many other leather journal notebooks which are built for longer writing sessions.