The Idea
I’ve always liked the look and feel of the Midori Traveler notebook. A traveler style notebook cover uses elastic bands to hold a notebook and other things inside. The problem that I have with that particular version, is that it requires a very specialized size of notebook to fit inside. I decided that it was too niche for my needs.
However that changed when my college career was shifted from in person to online class and I found that I needed a planner. So I designed one that fits my needs better.
First Prototype
My traveler notebook is designed to fit a half sheet of paper inside. This makes it so that I don’t have to buy a specific notebook anymore. The main function of the cover is essentially the same. It uses elastic to hold the paper in and an elastic to wrap around it when closed to hold it there.
One of the things that I enjoy about the original traveler notebook is the clean cover. I tried to mimic that while adding my own style to my planner by doing a much smaller, laser-cut design in one corner.
Further Designs
The first design worked well, but it required some work. The second version of the traveler was a little bit taller to better accommodate the height of a notebook inside. The first version was for paper, and this second version fit a notebook inside much better.
Final Version
While the second version was better, the notebooks that I was using were thicker than the stack of papers that I was using in the first version. Because of this, the edge of the cover, lined up nearly perfectly with the edge of the notebook and didn’t provide as much protection as I was hoping. So in the final version, I added a little bit of width to the edge so that the notebook was fully covered and protected inside.