I've carried two designs as "core" editions for a few years now, meaning they're a design that I keep on making indefinitely. Both editions echo materials from the very early days of Dapper Notes, in the form of a cork cover and a striped fabric. I've been wanting to add a third design into the core rotation, one that echoes more of the illustrated and artist-made designs that feature in my more recent work.
This is where Hoa's Adventures with Pet Duckling watercolor painting comes in. The design featured on the cover for Forward Bound was made with longevity in mind. Most of my collaborations with artists include licensing their artwork for a specific and limited use, which is one of the main reasons why limited editions are one-and-done. Hoa's work, however, was licensed for indefinite use, and over the last year since the introduction of Forward Bound I've been slowly working on bringing this one to life as a permanent notebook option.
Similar but different
The new core edition, Berdan Grove, has the same cover illustration as Forward Bound, and is printed on the same linen fabric. But that's where the similarities end. The following photos highlight all of the similarities and differences, with the original Forward Bound notebook ← on the left, and the new Berdan Grove edition → on the right.
Same: Cover design and thread
As noted above, Berdan Grove has the same cover illustration as Forward Bound, and is also printed on the same linen cotton canvas fabric. They are also both bound with the same dark green waxed thread.
Different: Inside the notebook
The new Berdan Grove design features a fern bookcloth and sienna endsheets, different from Forward Bound which has the reverse coloring with an orange bookcloth and green endsheet.
The informational endsheet is also different. The original Forward Bound had spot illustrations of cats, also drawn by Hoa Nguyen, and in their reverse we had printed her Stationery Season watercolor art. The new Berdan Grove uses standard informational endsheets, the same as all other core collection notebooks with no additional illustrations.
Different: Packaging
Berdan Grove is packaged like all other core designs in a coordinating box, with no dedicated extras. And like other core collection pocket notebooks, for Berdan Grove: 1) The stats card is printed directly into the paper packaging, and 2) The full cover design is printed onto the outside, a feature that helps the notebooks stand out in a retail environment.
