This notebook made by Asia Pacific Offset was a gift, but not a holiday gift. I received it in a roundabout way, with a sample book I needed for my job. Though I sometimes get free notebooks as samples, I can’t remember the last time I got a promotional notebook from my day job.

It was a lovely surprise to get this notebook. The design is fun and immediately eye-catching, with silver metallic lines debossed on the exposed cardboard cover and the pop of pink on the spine.

There is no wrap around the cover, so you can see exactly how it was constructed with boards on the front and back and on the spine, then a textured tape over the spine. It’s similar to the size of a standard Travelers Notebook: 115mm x 198mm, or 4-9/16 x 7-13/16″.

The Asia Pacific brand name appears on the back cover, and there was a card tucked inside that lists their office locations around the world. There is no interior branding, and the inside pages form the endpapers.

It’s an interesting paper choice, unlike most other squared notebooks I’ve reviewed. There are hot pink squares at 3cm, which are then divided into eighths in grey lines. 1/8 of 3cm is 3.75mm– an unusual grid size, I think. Works out to a little less than 1/8″ so it’s not very standard in inches either. (Moleskine and many other brands use a 5mm grid.)

The paper works fine with most pens, but the wettest fountain pens feather and bleed a bit. The grid design might get a little distracting with smaller handwriting and finer nib sizes but I think it would be fun for designs and doodles.

This notebook is not something I would buy as is, but I’d probably buy one in a pocket size. Either way, I think it’s a great promo item to show off some of a book printer’s capabilities and I’m glad it found its way to me.