Review: Kikki K Grid Notebook/ Journal

It’s been much anticipated and many a videos have been shared on YouTube, facebook and instagram! But how does the physical product stack up? Lets get straight into our Kikki K Grid Note Book review!

I went in and got one today, and it was met with mixed emotions. One one hand I was excited Kikki K had finally upped the ante and brought out something for us alternative journalists, or alternative planners. I still have piles of planners and honestly, I think that’s the market they need to stay in until they nail bullet journals and notebooks. So lets get straight into it:

Cost: $24.90 and purchasable instore or online

The cover is a hard cover and comes with a single ribbon bookmark. The cover has gold writing. When you open it up, it has a brief explanation of what they are calling Grid Journaling. It doesn’t really explain the purpose, only merely to “own your story” and “write your story down” It would have been nice to give some reference to the movement that fuelled it.

We then move straight into a contents page. I’d say this is one of the small areas this journal fails, is there is a counts section but no page numbers.

When we open the journal up, we find that the “dots” are in fact tiny crosses, and this makes it sort of like a grid and sort of like a dot journal. The stats for the stars (The wee dots) are 0.5cm squared. There are 26 stars across and 44 stars down. It is an A5 Journal.

It has a small pocket in the back, which when it arrives, contains some templates for the journal, we’ll go into those later in the post.

From here I went straight into a pen test. There is no visible “announcement” of the gsm of the paper – but I’m going to say its sitting at around 80/90gsm. If feels more like copy paper than the buttery softness of STM’s for example.

The pen test faired will, barely any bleed or ghosting which is great, however….. when I popped Watercolor on it, the paper pilled and tore. Not great for a journal.

Ok lets talk about the templates they have created. The templates are printed on card stock, the template with a blank back (as in white blank with no crosses) It looks badly printed, the crosses aren’t clear, and it’s definitely not as stylised as the other Kikki K products we have come to love.

There is a monthly calendar template, daily notes template, weekly layout, Bucket list, tv show and movies, favourite quotes, places to eat, Weekly expenses, birthdays and anniversaries.

Lets talk pros and cons

Pros:

It’s great as a starter, has the basics, and they have a nice twist on the dots and grids by making them crosses.

The hard cover is a nice feature.

The paper with stood multiple pens and fairs well, with no ghosting and no bleeds.

Cons:

I feel like I’m being overly critical however, there are somethings that just aren’t gelling for me on this.

There is no back envelope for those important bits. No Page numbers, pilling with water, and the cheap feel to the paper.

No pen hook, no band to keep it closed.

Overall it feels rushed, and not a well styled as some of the other products they have, it feels as though they have strayed from their core business, stationery, to keep up with a booming market, which is great, but I think they should have done some more research with those of us that use them daily, as these aren’t traditional planners or journals, they are made for use and organisation. They could have easily upped the game with some great planner stickers, better quote pages, or quote cards.

I think its a 2.5/5 for me.