When Dartboard Media, the folks behind Cool Material,  set out to design a notebook, they knew they wanted something funny but functional. What’s something that everyone needs? A to-do list! And so they created this sassy pocket notebook to carry in their online store for men’s gifts.

“No one really wants to do all of the stuff on their agenda—they have to,” wrote Jenni Chasteen of Dartboard. “We figured adding some humor to the mix might lighten a busy person’s mood a bit.”

These pocket notebook feature your favorite four-letter words and reflect the universal sigh of busy task-masters everywhere. The notebooks are available for sale here on Cool Material, which boasts a curated collection of “generally awesome stuff.”

The SIGFGD Scout Books sell in a two-pack of pocket-sized chipboard tools. The graphic is also available gracing the cover of a spiral-bound notebook at a slightly larger size. Get yours now! They’re selling fast.

The temporary tattoos of your childhood are back — but this time they’re design-y. Tattly is website that curates illustrative and typographic images from the design community and turns them into temporary tattoos to adorn your arms, legs and…whatever else.

Their latest curated image comes from Marc Johns, an illustrator with a decidedly straightforward style and a quick wit. Johns created an image that can be applied to your body, as well as the chipboard cover of a Scout Book.

The What To Focus On Notebook Pack contains a three notebooks with a custom dot-grid interior and a trio of matching temporary tattoos.

The notebooks invite to-do lists, New Year’s resolutions, and loads of other content. Focus on a happy place, Johns and Tattly encourage, or at least on what’s contained within your pocket notebook.

We absolutely love how innovative and unexpected Tattly’s use for Scout Books is. Bravo!

All images courtesy Tattly. Thanks guys!

Scout Books is officially publishing, and our new imprint is called Good Ink.

We just released our first literary box set that includes ten must-read classic American authors paired with ten wonderful illustrators. The earliest story in the mix is “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving (originally published in 1819!).

We were thrilled when one of our favorite Portland artists, Bwana Spoons, jumped on the chance to illustrate this iconic American tale. Andrea Raijer helped document this awesome project, following Bwana as he created original illustrations for the Scout Books edition of Rip Van Winkle, then tracing the path of those illustrations through the Scout Book production process. Our friend Chris Funk assisted with music.

Enjoy!

Credits:
Photography and Editing: Andrea Raijer
Music: Chris Funk
Featuring Illustrations by: Bwana Spoons
Scout Book Making: by Lindsay Arth, Dave Authier, Taryn Cowart, Nicholas Graham, Ellery Harvey, Andrea Raijer, François Vigneault, Austin Whipple, and Laura Whipple

Pinball Publishing is where we make Scout Books.

This lovely video depicts the people and the machines that make it all happen, following the production cycle for the BOOM! Scout Book design. We love what we do and hope you enjoy this peek behind the scenes of our Southeast Portland operation.

The footage was shot and edited by the talented Alin Dragulin, concepted and art directed by the marvelous Scrappers, and scored by Jared Mees & the Grown Children. They are all total PDX superstars (though Scrappers is now in Maui!), and are part of why we are so happy to live and work in this supportive creative community.

Credits:
Photography and Editing: Alin Dragulin
Art Directing: Justin Scrappers Morrison
Music: Shake by Jared Mees & The Grown Children
Scout Book Making: by Lindsay Arth, Dave Authier, Nicholas Graham, Andrea Raijer, François Vigneault, Austin Whipple, and Laura Whipple
Cat: Mimi Marcel

What grows in your Scout Book?

Insight, creativity, doodles, dreams, schemes, exciting plans, maybe even a giraffe or two.

With the immense help of Justin Scrappers Morrison, Alin Dragulin, Jessie Bazata, Chris Funk, and many more wonderful people; the Scout Books team embarked on a papercraft adventure to help illustrate all the Big Ideas within your Scout Book.

Justin Scrappers Morrison chose paper effects to show all the magic within a Scout Book (donut! Skateboard! iphone! giraffe! cloud! letters! numbers! yes!). Each component emerging from the Scout Books was hand-crafted with different colors of paper by Justin Scrappers Morrison, Jessie Bazata and their super talented team. Then, each paper sculpture was hung by fishing line and moved inch-by-inch during the photo shoot. The effect of all this incredible work? An animated explosion of fun! And a visual reminder to never underestimate the power of your ideas, or the power of developing them with a pocket-sized notebook.

Introduced in 2009, Scout Books are a unique brand of notebooks and books that help you express, develop and catalog your big ideas. They also allow you to share your big ideas and incredible stories with others in a hands-on format.

The pocket-sized Scout Book is durable, versatile and affordable. It is available with grid, lined, blank, and unique interiors. Made in Portland, Oregon (by the very models in this photoshoot!) with 100% recycled papers, and vegetable based inks, the format is easily customized to showcase your artwork and ideas. Your Scout Book can be a notebook, a book, a catalog, a city guide, and more. It can be anything you want it to be. The possibilities are endless.

That’s why we love to call them Little Books for Big Ideas.

Credits:

Photography and Editing by: Alin Dragulin
Concept and Art Directing by: Justin “Scrappers” Morrison
Music by: Chris Funk and Search Party West

Papercraft Crew:
Jessie Bazata
Whitney Phu
Rory Phillips
Sean Garrison
Justin “Scrappers” Morrison
François Vigneault

Photo Shoot Crew:
Alin Dragulin
Justin “Scrappers” Morrison
Julian Gese
Priscilla Phitsanoukane
Andrea Raijer

Models and other helping hands:
Laura Whipple
Nicole Lavelle
François Vigneault
Dave Authier
Austin Whipple

The Brand New Conference was a one day event held by UnderConsideration in November 2010. The event built upon the ongoing dialogue already active on Brand New, the branding and identity arm of the UnderConsideration family of blogs. Organized by Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit, the conference pulled in top-notch practitioners for a rousing day of talks and workshops.

We partnered with the conference to provide a pocket-sized notebook for attendees. Keeping track of new ideas and good stories is crucial for any conference attendee, and the Scout Book perfect to include in a gift bag, to use as a conference schedule, or even to provide in place of a ticket.

To see more images of the Brand New Scout Book check out this Flickr set!