Stationery Freaks

The Trouble With Making Everything Easier

Is analogue making a comeback? 
Maybe. But perhaps that isn't quite the right question.
In this episode of Stationery Freaks, Helen and Rob wander and meander through notebooks, video games (yes, you read that right), typewriters, old cars, AI-generated music, writing retreats, Hobonichis, Moleskines and the pleasure of making things slightly harder than they need to be.
Helen has become unexpectedly absorbed in an online game. Of course, this comes complete with colour-coded plans and strategies in her Hobonichi. 
Rob has repurposed the writing bureau specifically for finishing his squirrel book — and then written exactly zero words in it.
There is a pattern somewhere in here.
We've spent years removing friction from everything. Digital tools make things faster. AI makes things easier. Algorithms make decisions for us. We're told to optimise everything and digital is wonderfully good at doing that optimisation. 
And yet some of the things we value most seem to require the opposite. And maybe that's really what people are reclaiming.
A notebook takes longer than a notes app. A typewriter is considerably slower than a laptop. An old car requires actual participation and focus. Sketching before opening a computer gives an idea time to breathe. Even spending an hour playing a game can feel more restorative than another hour scrolling.
Maybe it's not a rise of just analogue. Maybe analogue is just one of the ways to regain some control over what we actually think. 
Well, that's where we ended up anyway - of course, it wasn't a straight line to get there. 
Along the way we discuss:
Rob's Department of Interesting Things
Helen's beloved Hobonichi
A fascinating shop called Labour and Wait
Moleskines and banning digital
Apple Notes for voice memos and early drafts
As well as writing rituals, the appeal of analogue travel kits, and the excellent YouTube channel of John Pattison.
It's a slightly rambling conversation, as usual, about stationery that turns into something else entirely: what happens when we stop trying to make every minute productive?

And whether a little friction might actually be good for us.
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After a few months away — and a very welcome "petition of one" from Stacy in Florida — Rob and Helen are back.
Rob has been building a public commonplace: twenty-five years of learning, typed onto index cards (possibly breaking his typewriter in the process) and slowly taking over his studio wall. Helen has been redistributing her notebook collection to a room of grateful authors, which may or may not count as cheating in the great notebook challenge. See original hoarding cast here and a revisit to the challenge of using notebooks here.
Along the way: why old publishing offices were built around attention rather than productivity, a typewritten daily planning ritual that's quietly replaced Todoist, the strange magnetism of Midori paper, a beautiful Japanese storage haul, giving away index cards to parents and why the whole world seems to be drifting back to analogue.
It's like old times. Which is rather the point of the cast.
It's good to be back.
If you'd like to see images, and more about the show - check out the companion newsletter to this episode.
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In this episode of Stationery Freaks, Rob and Helen dig into the messy, essential world of scrap notes: desk pads, Post-its, legal pads, envelopes, voice memos, and the “grab whatever’s nearby” capture habit.
They explore the real question beneath the stationery: what’s the process for turning a quick note into something useful — and what happens when your capture system becomes a pile of open loops.

We cover:
Why scrap notes exist: capturing ideas without breaking the moment
Desk pads as “work in progress” surfaces (and why that’s a feature, not a bug)
The threshold problem: forgetting what you went to write down the moment you change rooms
Analog vs digital: how Rob and Helen bounce between both
The discipline of finishing: why ideas aren’t valuable until they become something
A practical “funnel” approach: backlog → sprouts → now (commitment increases as you narrow)
The emotional side: cluttered desks = cluttered minds, and why clearing down helps you think
Listener shout-outs and the surprisingly global reach of Stationery Freaks
Listener request:
Share your stationery “in the wild” or your desk setup on Instagram (doesn’t have to be pretty!) and tag @stationeryfreaksuk.

We mention:
Mark+Fold “Glow” notebook
Noted (Substack) by Jillian Hess
“Analog Attorney” series (Attorney at Work) by Bull Garlington

It’s our first Stationery Freaks episode of 2026, and we’re going deep on goal setting, as we usually do for the first cast of the year. 

Rob and Helen compare two different approaches to planning the year: outcomes vs lifestyle, goals vs systems, and why the “right” method depends on what helps you keep going (not what looks good on paper).
Helen shares her shift toward building routines that protect what matters - writing time, movement, mental bandwidth - plus a surprisingly brilliant charity-shop find: a Rocketbook reusable notebook for 50p.
Rob reflects on his year using a Collins ledger, talks “painted picture” thinking, and explains why reducing friction is the only way his creative work (and business) stays sustainable - including a post-mortem on the infamous Wallpaper Method.
Along the way we talk Obsidian vs Apple Notes, Todoist, habit tracking (and why it can backfire), buying stationery locally vs Amazon, and the uncomfortable truth:
between us, we’re entering 2026 with 172 unused notebooks (yes, really).
And how this year we've set ourselves the target of ending the year with fewer notebooks.
If you’re planning your year - or rebuilding your systems after they collapsed in January - this one’s for you.

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Instagram: @stationeryfreaksuk

It’s the last Stationery Freaks episode before Christmas, and after a slightly chaotic month we’re back with a free-form catch-up full of notebook temptation, planning experiments, and advent calendar joy.
Helen reviews two very premium stationery advent calendars — Martha Brook(s) and Tom’s Studio — including what you actually get, which one feels more “decorative vs functional,” and the one item she absolutely refuses to touch (again).
Rob shares his new structured SmartPlanner time-blocking experiment (and why he’s moved from pen to pencil), an everyday-carry bag confession featuring nine notebooks, and an early idea he’s calling The Wallpaper Method: learning notes on a giant scroll.
We also chat about “analog wellbeing,” why January is peak notebook season, end-of-year reflection (hello, Collins ledger), and what we’ll be tackling in the first episode of 2026.