The fold geometry
Why 4×3 landscape
A 4×6 card folds two ways. Short-side fold gives a 4×3 booklet page (landscape orientation, near-Field-Notes proportion). Long-side fold gives a 2×6 booklet page (awkwardly tall, hard to write on). The short-side fold is the natural choice and the studio's standard.
Stage 1 · Open card
4 × 6 inches · 2 page faces
Stage 2 · Fold short-side
↓
Crease line at midpoint
Stage 3 · Folded booklet page
4 × 3 inches · 4 page faces
One card = 4 page faces when folded. Several cards nested into each other and stapled = a booklet. The studio's standard binding is two staples on the fold line, ~1" from each end.
The capacity math
What a 100-pack actually makes
Cards per booklet × number of booklets, exact remainders matter. A 100-pack of Oxford 4×6 cards yields different booklet configurations depending on the format. The two clean unit-divisions — 4 mini notebooks of 25 pages each, or 2 standard notebooks of 50 pages each — are the .Studio canonical formats.
| Booklet format | Cards used | Page faces | Per 100-pack | Remainder |
|---|
| Mini notebook | 7 | 28 | 14 booklets | 2 cards |
| Standard notebook | 13 | 52 | 7 booklets | 9 cards |
| Big pocket | 25 | 100 | 4 booklets | 0 cards |
| Studio Mini · 25 pages exact | 7 | 28 | 4 booklets | 72 cards remain |
| Studio Standard · 50 pages exact | 13 | 52 | 2 booklets | 74 cards remain |
The 4 mini / 2 standard pattern
The two highlighted rows above are the studio's canonical product configurations. STUDIO-BL-01 ships 4 mini notebooks from one 100-pack, leaving 72 cards for the customer. STUDIO-BL-02 ships 2 standard notebooks, leaving 74 cards. The remainder is intentional — the customer ends with both finished booklets AND a usable stock of remaining cards for other purposes. The studio doesn't ship the whole 100 as booklets because that would be 14 mini booklets (excessive) or 7 standards (odd number).
Text capacity per booklet
What can be printed
For studio-printed manuals and other content, the typography spec matches the rest of the .Studio register — 9pt EB Garamond body, 11pt leading, 0.25" margins on the 4×3 page. This yields ~118 words per page face.
| Booklet | Pages | Words/face | Total words | Content words (after front/back) |
|---|
| Mini · 28 pages | 28 | ~118 | ~3,300 | ~2,600 |
| Standard · 52 pages | 52 | ~118 | ~6,100 | ~5,400 |
| Big pocket · 100 pages | 100 | ~118 | ~11,800 | ~11,000 |
The studio's 50-page Standard booklet at ~5,400 content words is precisely the right size for short manuals (BXBX Hako, KEEP 1646 mods), short essays (Studio Almanac year-end), or condensed CODEX titles (CODEX-001 pocket edition). It opens an editorial surface that previously sat awkwardly between "long card" and "full CODEX."
Blank booklets · the writing-surface tier
For the customer's own writing
Studio-designed but blank inside. Customer fills with their own writing, notes, sketches, field observations. Studio-branded covers in the paper-and-hanko palette, Space Grotesk wordmark. Staple-bound. Compact enough for a back pocket; substantial enough to write in.
STUDIO-BL-01 · FLAGSHIP
Mini Notebooks · 4-pack
4 × 25-page booklets from one 100-pack
Four 25-page mini notebooks, staple-bound, studio-branded covers. Blank or dot-grid interior pages. Each notebook is 4×3 inches landscape — fits in a back pocket, jacket pocket, any small carrying surface. Designed to be filled and refilled over the course of months.
$18
STUDIO-BL-01
STUDIO-BL-02
Standard Notebooks · 2-pack
2 × 50-page booklets from one 100-pack
Two 50-page standard notebooks. More content surface than the mini, still compact. Useful for longer journaling, sustained project notes, sketching across multiple sessions. Same studio-branded covers.
$16
STUDIO-BL-02
STUDIO-BL-03
Year-One Studio Journal
4 × 25-page booklets · quarterly prompts
Four mini notebooks, one for each quarter of the customer's year with the studio. Each booklet has light pre-printed prompts at the top of every spread (e.g., "what worked this week," "what changed about the workspace"). 80% of each page is blank for the customer's writing.
$24
STUDIO-BL-03
Printed manuals · the studio-content tier
For the studio's own writing
Studio editorial work typeset into booklet form. Each title is text the studio has produced or is producing — manuals, almanacs, condensed CODEX editions, internal reference works. Same booklet construction; printed contents instead of blank.
STUDIO-PR-01
BXBX Hako · Owner's Manual
50-page booklet · ~5,000 words
Full owner's manual for the BXBX Hako KEEP wall. Build, install, maintenance, cell-system integration, expansion options. Ships with every Hako delivery; available separately for Hako owners who lost theirs or for curious customers researching the system.
$18
Q3 2026
STUDIO-PR-02 · FEATURED
KEEP 1646 Mods · Manual
50-page booklet · full case study
The complete KEEP-1646-mods case study (sourcing, subdivision, mobility, durability) typeset to booklet form. Documents every mod pattern with cost breakdowns, parts lists, and customer worksheets. The studio's first instructional booklet rather than reference.
$18
Q3 2026
STUDIO-PR-03
CODEX-001 · Pocket Edition
25-page condensed Tao Te Ching
A 25-page condensed Tao Te Ching in booklet form. Sequential reading rather than the card-stack format — a different experience, complement to the full CODEX-001 rather than a replacement. ~2,500 words of Legge's translation, condensed by the studio's editorial choice. Public domain.
$12
Q4 2026
STUDIO-PR-04
Studio Almanac · Year One
50-page year-end booklet
The studio's year-end almanac in booklet form. Catalogue map, year's milestones, selected essays in summary, what's next. A physical artifact the customer can hold that represents the studio's first complete year. Annual release; first one ships end of Year 1.
$20
End of Year 1
Custom typesetting · commission service
Beyond the studio's own catalogue, .Studio offers custom booklet typesetting as a commission service. Customer brings text (their own writing, public-domain work, family records); .Studio typesets it to the booklet format and prints a small run. Pricing $80-200 per booklet depending on length and quantity. This is a Year-2 service offering — Year 1 focuses on the catalogue's own SKUs.
Why this matters
A transformation, not a new product
The booklet line uses cards the customer already has. A customer with a 100-pack of 1646 cards can immediately make 4 mini notebooks. .Studio doesn't need to source different paper or invest in new inventory — the booklet is a transformation of an existing product. This is the cleanest possible product line: zero new inventory, infinite combinatorial possibility, every cell-buyer is also a potential booklet-buyer.
The booklet also opens a new content surface for the studio. Editorial work too long for a single card and too short for a full CODEX — the 5,000-word manual range — now has a natural home. The KEEP 1646 mods case study, the Hako owner's manual, the year-end almanac all become real physical products instead of just web pages.
And finally: the booklet compounds with everything else. A MEAL kit can ship with a booklet insert. A CODEX product can have a companion booklet. A BXBX Hako delivery includes its booklet manual. The booklet is a unifying format that connects practices that previously didn't have a shared deliverable.
Status
Where the booklet line actually is, today
- Format spec: locked. 4×3 landscape, short-side fold, 2-staple binding, 9pt EB Garamond body, 11pt leading
- Source cards: Oxford 4×6 ruled/blank, Made in Mexico (B09GWBJ97Y), $0.022 per card at 500-pack pricing
- STUDIO-BL-01 (Mini · 4-pack): design complete, cover artwork pending, ready for first production run
- STUDIO-BL-02 (Standard · 2-pack): design complete, same status as BL-01
- STUDIO-BL-03 (Year-One Journal): prompt content pending; covers ready
- STUDIO-PR-01 (Hako Manual): waiting on Hako Year-1 production; manual text drafted in BXBX thread documents
- STUDIO-PR-02 (1646 Mods Manual): source content exists (KEEP-1646-mods-thread-v0.1, ~23,000 words); needs editorial pass to condense to ~5,400 booklet words
- STUDIO-PR-03 (CODEX-001 Pocket): waiting on CODEX-001 PDF generator recovery; source text already retrieved
- STUDIO-PR-04 (Studio Almanac): annual product; first one ships at the end of Year 1
Production tooling
The booklet line needs a small print/fold/staple workflow at studio scale. Print on the customer's existing Pixma laser or a small commercial run; fold by hand or with a bone folder; bind with a long-arm stapler ($30-50 at any office-supply source). Year 1 production is studio-by-hand; if volume warrants, Year 2 can introduce a small saddle-stitch booklet press. Until then, the workflow is intentionally artisanal — each booklet is staple-bound by hand and signed off on by the studio.
Related
Where this sits in the catalogue