We know a lot of you utilize notebooks for a plethora of different things so when we stumbled upon Cognitive Surplus, we had to share it with you. (Yes, YOU, we are looking directly at you!)

Cognitive Surplus was started in 2013 when Kristen and her husband Geoff started designing and hand-making sustainable goods to celebrate science in a tiny NYC apartment. From those days of screen printing and storing wares beneath a lofted bed, they’ve come a long way. They traded Manhattan for Central Oregon’s high desert, but their mission has stayed the same: design and build goods that show-off the beauty of science while trying to leave the world just a little better than they found it.

Cognitive Surplus takes the term, “eco-friendly” to a whole new level from their products to how their offices work/ recycle, they never take their eye off their footprint. In fact, at the end of each year, they do an energy audit and look for ways to improve their efficiency.

Today, we are sharing their “Dark Matter” notebooks. Each cover in the Dark Matter series celebrates the beauty found in darkness and the scenes made by the faintest light. All Dark Matter notebooks are printed on 120 gsm, extra-thick black paper. Yep…. you read that right, BLACK paper. This extra-thick 120 gsm black paper works great with gel pens (for the brightest colors, look for ones that are formulated to work on dark media, like their Supernova Pens), metallic pens, pastels and even some paints!

Each notebook is 160 pages, measures 7″ x 9″ and have a lay-flat hardcover. They use 100% recycled paper, use soy ink, utilize carbon neutral shipping/ operations and have compostable packaging … VERY ECO-FRIENDLY! Here is a look at just a few of the notebooks from their Dark Matter collection.

The textured covers of these notebooks have the feel of old textbooks, and with advanced lay-flat pages, they want to fall open, like a well-loved library book. Go ahead and see for yourself – these are the notebooks your most brilliant ideas, sketches, and illustrations have been waiting for.

Currently, there are 17 different “Dark Matter” notebook designs to choose from. If you can’t decide just which one to get, that’s fine, they offer a bundle so you can grab a bunch at once.