The recently released Novel discbound planner refill range utilised a minimalist aesthetic that was not lacking in features. Each part of the range was carefully designed to be an important part of the whole, whilst each offering alternative uses for its creative users. Novel Days and Weeks, for example, can be used to plan the future or record past events. Some of the designs might hide less obvious purposes. One such piece is Novel Blocks. Here, we will go into what makes this specific arrangement of dots and squares so versatile, and show examples of creative ways you can play with the Blocks.

First, let's have a look at some of the features of Novel Blocks. As with all the designs in the Novel refill range, the style is minimalist and utilitarian. All functional space is available to the user, allowing their work and personal style to be at the forefront. Light grey dots form a grid across the page with 5mm spacing. This grid provides subtle guidance for writing and sketches without distracting from the created content.

There is dedicated space for a title or date in the header. This space, and the rest of the page, is neatly divided by fine crosshairs that signify the edges, corners and midpoints of the useable page.

In traditional publishing a large inner margin prevents text getting lost into the depths of the book binding, but with discbinding this is not an issue as the book can be laid flat or wrapped back on itself without any damage to pages or covers. In the case of Blocks and the other Novel refills, a wider inner margin accounts for the small amount of writing space the user may find is taken up by protruding binding discs if the discbound book is not full to the optimum capacity.

With some of the more cohesive design features of the range mentioned, we can get to the boxes which are a main feature of Blocks. The boxes can be used to hold markings, symbols or text to suit a variety of purposes. Interestingly, the name Blocks does not refer only to the boxes or even the dot grid the makes up the page. It more so points to the potential for how the page can be used.

The crosshairs at the centre of the page provide a convenient point of reference for segmenting the page into halves or quarters, quickly and easily. With this ability, you can manage the information on the page and create a variety of useful spreads for daily use or reference material.

1. Weekly Spreads

Do you like to change up the layouts of your weekly spreads each week? Novel Blocks makes it easy. Divide the pages in whatever way you need, using the dots and lines as guides.

2. Project Planning

Create columns to differentiate between projects and tasks, and check them off as you go.

3. Tracking

Feel the satisfaction of crossing off the dates that you have completed your tasks!

4. Bullet Journalling

If you prefer a flexible planning style such as the Bullet Journal method, with some minimal structure to your journal pages, you might enjoy using Blocks to keep your pages neat and organised.

5. Task Lists

The vertical squares in the Novel Blocks design are perfect for your to-do lists (or any other types of lists!). Use numbering, traditional checkmarks or your own symbols to signify the status of your list items.

These are just a few of the ways you can use Novel Blocks. The fun is in creating a layout and system that works for you, and adapting it as your needs change. It is so easy to do this with Novel discbound notebooks and refills.

Blocks is available as a refill or as part of the Novel Plans A5 planner. Check out the Novel shop for other designs in the series of refills. They have all been designed to provide a minimalist organisational format for you to express your individuality and creativity. It is important for your stationery to support your thinking process, not distract from it and that is what the new range aims to do.

Please do share how you use your Novel refills, especially Blocks, as there is a lot of potential for individual interpretation and different use cases with that one. It would be really inspirational to see how you use Novel to find solutions to various problems. Hopefully this post has given some ideas to work with, and I hope that you have fun experimenting :)

- Alex