Campus Trends

A combination of different elements make a notebook look more attractive.

Why Use A Notebook?

Promiti Prova Chowdhury
Photos: Kazi Tahsin Agaz Apurbo

Who are you fond of more? Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin, or, Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara? Define and show your choice through your notebooks! Yes, a notebook is an essential tool for a student and life without it is quite unimaginable. Electronic notebooks or online to-do lists are fine if you are used to them, but nothing beats the so-called 'old-fashioned' paper notebooks and a pen which help you jot down notes from classroom lectures, or points whenever you come across interesting posts, quotes, or simply when an idea pops into your mind.

When notebooks are so important, why not have some fun with them and personalise them with artwork? Fashion house Jatra has a decent collection of notebooks of unique designs and presentations. These notebooks are decorated with colourful birds, small terracotta, bamboo sticks, newspapers, funny posters of commercial Bangla cinemas, calendar papers, handmade tissue wraps, and even, packets of local chips and biscuits! Jatra's signature element, 'rickshaw art', is highly visible on the covers. These notebooks are available at Tk 219 - 385. Imagine walking on campus with a notebook that says 'shami chintai,' partly visible on the cover, or the one wrapped with jute fabric, with a small piece of terracotta placed on it. That might give you an earthy, poetic look. The choice is yours!

Similar kinds of notebooks are available at Source, Grasshopper, and Aarong. Grasshopper, a small yet cheerful shop on the second floor of Aziz Super Market, is known to be a stationery heaven for students. The screen-printed notebooks available there are a current craze among the students. These notebooks have pictures and short autobiographies of legends printed on the covers and come in different sizes. They range between Tk 30 to Tk 400.

You can also buy different elements and personalise your notebook according to your taste and imagination. For that you necessarily need not to be an art student. May be you like to sketch or colour once in a while or may be sometimes you can doodle around and make your notebook unique. The mentioned above stores sell some of the elements but the shop that caters possibly all kinds of stationery and the finest kinds of art paper, is Modern Stationary at New Market.

At Modern, you can buy one coloured boards at Tk 150-160 for the cover. There are model papers and cartridge paper sheets of different colours, hand paints and prints which cost Tk 50 per piece. One piece is 20''-30'' in size. You can use poster, acrylic or water colour on those which are matte, not glossy. Just ask the shopkeeper about the quality of the paper and buy accordingly. After jotting down everything, the final binding (you can do a diary binding or spiral binding) can be done from Nilkhet. For an easier option just buy one 'university copy' from any book store at Tk 25-50 and decorate it according to your taste.

Some simple yet decent looking notebooks from Hearts are available at Archies Gallery and Hallmark. They would cost around Tk 100-190. The China-made official notebooks with a pen holder inside would cost Tk 250 in the same stores. At Nilkhet you would get notebooks with colourful patterns on the covers at Tk 120-180. These notebooks contain 208 to 300 pages with a marker.

Research shows that taking notes the old-fashioned way, hand writing them on a notebook migt be slower, but the student actually has to listen, think and prioritise while doing so. So if you are smart and trendy enough this semester, grab a notebook and personalise it!