The iA Notebook has just received one of the most prestigious recognitions in design: the Red Dot “Best of the Best” Award for Product Design 2025.
We’re humbled and honored and… No. We’re completely hysterical, pompous and showing off. We’ve earned it. It’s not just a product design award—it’s the crown jewel of product design awards, sought after by the biggest brands in product design, the likes of Apple, Leica, Herman Miller, Braun, and Porsche.
What is the Red Dot award?
Each year, Red Dot honors products that stand out through exceptional design, usability, and innovation. Out of thousands of entries from around the world, only a small number receive the “Best of the Best” distinction—the highest award in the competition. This is the first notebook to win this prestigious award.
The same title has been awarded to the iPhone, the MacBook Pro, the Porsche Taycan, Braun’s minimalist appliances, LG’s OLED TVs, the Nest Thermostat, and the original Apple Watch. Only a small handful of products earn it each year—chosen from thousands around the world.
The story of the iA Notebook
Design principles
Initially, we made the notebook for ourselves. We wanted an equivalent to our focused writing app—something that fades out everything but the text. As the project grew and costs increased, we thought “the perfect notebook” would make an outstanding giveaway and Christmas gift for our clients.
The reaction to the first version of iA Notebook made us think there might be a market for it. Still, we kept going without worrying much about viability, just following our instinct in the hunt for perfection. Bit by bit, we uncovered the design principles that shaped the final product:
- Material: A notebook made entirely of paper, with the idea that its immaculate white fades with use—naturally revealing the beauty of the work poured into it.
- Function: Lines that stay visible while writing but effortlessly disappear when rereading.
- Form: Use classic print and binding techniques, make it all out of paper using embossing and watermarks, and leave all the ink that goes into it to the writer.
If you are familiar with Japanese aesthetics, you’ll discover how our principles mirror three classic Japanese design principles. Finishing the product in Japan, this congruence happened naturally. And, against all odds, it became a commercial product.
Made like a digital product
We first wanted to produce it in Switzerland, exploring the full range of available writing papers. We needed a material that felt good to write on and worked seamlessly with watermarks.
We paid for the paper and each printing iteration. Unfortunately, the Swiss producer got tired of our iterative rounds of prototyping and testing. To us, this process felt normal. This is how we develop our digital products: Prototype, test, and redesign until it works. At some point, the producer just stopped replying to our emails and calls.
Today, our Notebook is used by professional writers and amateurs, journalists, and anyone who values well-made, functional, beautiful writing tools. Often people buy it as a present for their writing friends. This makes us happy since it was conceived as a gift. You can still tell from the care we put into the packaging that it was designed as a gift.
Winning the Red Dot award
What makes it special?
This year, the iA Notebook won the top prize because it rethinks how a notebook should work. Subtle watermarks guide your pen and vanish when you read. The paper adapts to your task. It’s a notebook that respects your thinking process—quietly, elegantly, intelligently. It’s crafted from high-quality materials, built with care, and designed for joy.
We’re honored—and still a little stunned—to see the iA Notebook listed alongside names like the Volvo EX30, Bugaboo Dragonfly, Toyota Prius, Mac Studio, Apple Watch Ultra, Ferrari FXX K, iPad Mini 2022, the max bill MEGA Solar watch, Braun Audio LE Series, BOSE Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, Honda e. It’s crazy to think that we did something in the same line.
How about one of our products meeting the likes of Zeiss ZX1, Porsche 911 Carrera 2011, Google Home 2018, iMacPro 2018, Roland FP90, Apple Watch 2015, 13” MacBook Air, Montblanc M Collection, Sony DSC-RX1RM2, Mercedes AMG GT, Leica T, Ducati Diavel 1260, and the Hasselblad X1D-50? It is crazy? Right?
Did we really earn it?
Looks like it. When you work on something for so long, the idea of what you want becomes more and more concrete. Stronger. Clearer. When we look at it today, we still see things we’d like to improve to get it even closer to that idea. This is typical for designers.
We’re like Achilles and the tortoise—every time we reach our goal, it moves a little further ahead. The difference between the real and the ideal gets tinier and tinier, but to us, it becomes more and more important. At some point, we need to step back and let it be what it is. For us, that point came after ten years.
Looking at it from some distance, it’s great to see how many people contributed to it. It looks and feels simple. And it’s easy to understand. We like how it is made entirely of pleasant material, yet it almost disappears when used.
From a technical point of view, we still get a kick out of using optical illusion as a structural design element. We turned something that seems useless, in fact, detrimental to good design into a functional element that enhances the writer’s focus.
What’s next
This award places the iA Notebook among the best-designed products made last year and it’s the first Red Dot Best of the Best award for a paper notebook. This year, we celebrate 20 years of iA. It’s not the first design prize we have won, but the first for an analog product.
We’re looking forward to picking up our prize in July and meeting with the best product designers worldwide. In the meantime, if you don’t have one already, you can get the notebook in the iA Store.
