Here’s something for everyone whose New Year’s Resolution is to start keeping a diary! A few months ago, I was sent a free sample of an interesting journal called Keel’s Simple Diary. It’s quite different from most of the items I’ve reviewed. It’s a sort of hybrid, I guess– perhaps more of a creativity prod or writing exercise prompter than a traditional diary or journal. Here’s the explanation in the creator’s own words:

Dear Reader,

There are three reasons why most people, although they have tried, won’t keep a diary:

• Not every day is very eventful.
• It actually takes a lot of discipline.
  (regarding 1 even more so).
• In retrospect, many find what they have written quite embarrassing.

You may use Simple Diaryâ„¢

• however you like.
• whenever you want.
• wherever you are.
• randomly or page by page.
• filling in your thoughts or leaving it blank.
• reading one page or as many as you wish.
• and putting it aside for a while.
• as an assistant for any occasion in life.

I hope you find a true friend, a great place or some wisdom through this book. That would make me happy.

Good luck, and thank you for your time. It’s all yours.
Philipp Keel

With all that out of the way, let’s take a look!

The sample I received had a white leather-ish cover, embossed with silver and red type on the front, back and spine. It’s quite classy-looking.

The cover is fairly thin and flexible, which gives it a nice feel, though it makes the corners rather susceptible to bending.

The edges are silver, and there’s a red ribbon marker– again, classy details.

The front and back endpapers have the Keel’s logo pattern, and there’s a pocket in the back.

Inside, you have pages made of a lovely thick, creamy paper. Each one is different, with questions or multiple choices or blanks to fill in– they’re rather absurd, but fun. When I was a kid, I had this sort of prompted journal, with pages for things like “My Best Friend,” or “My Favorite Foods.” This is like a surrealist take on one of those journals!

Each page has a header for the date, but then you’re supposed to choose things like whether your day was moist or chaste or chilly, and explain why. It gets even weirder from there.

Other pages are not dated. The one below is for recording “5 things you can do/ 5 things you can’t do” and “5 things you want/ 5 things you don’t want anymore.”

Some of the pages even have spaces where you’re supposed to draw things, like this one:

I’m not sure how some of the questions are supposed to provide any wisdom about your life, but I guess everyone will interpret them in their own way.

My sample came with a little brochure explaining the concept, and showing the other colors that are available– I have to say, they’d all look great together sitting on a shelf if you kept several years’ worth of these diaries!

This is the kind of thing that would make a fun gift for someone creative and open-minded. A lot of people might react to it with a “huh?” or think it’s a bit overly clever, but others will enjoy the randomness! Personally, though I think it’s well-designed and rather fun, I don’t think I’ll really use it. I keep a journal the boring, old-fashioned way, by just writing down what I’ve been doing and thinking about, and lately I find I have enough other writing projects to keep me busy without needing something like this to stimulate ideas. But you never know when you might need a kick in the pants, so I’ll keep my Simple Diary handy in case thinking about “a shape, thing or feature you find terribly irresistible” might encourage some burst of innovation!

Specs: Flexicover, 11.7 x 16.6 cm (4.6 x 6.5 in.), 136 pages

The suggested retail price is a quite reasonable $15– for what feels like a rather luxurious package, I would have expected them to charge more.

You can order the Simple Diary online from Taschen, or find it in various shops. (I believe I’ve seen it at McNally Jackson and Kate’s Paperie in NYC.)