Looking for informational note cards

June 4, 2009 10:33 AM

Help me find printable informational note cards

I'm looking for something like a DIY Planner, Hipster PDA, or PocketMod that contains informational listings.

I'd really like to create my own little reference guide for different things to carry around with me. I don't have specific information in mind, but I'd like it to be open ended - first aid, log tables, periodic tables, graphs of average penis size per country, you name it.

And no, I'm not all typesetting-cool, so I don't think I'd be able to make something to do this properly with Word/InDesign/Scribus/whatever. I'm really looking for something I can just snag and print.

Any help appreciated.

posted by phrakture to education (11 comments total)

What about 3x5 cards for a laser or inkjet printer?
posted by jgirl at 11:17 AM on June 4

What about these cheat sheets?
posted by Houstonian at 11:36 AM on June 4

Those cheatsheets look nice. I wonder if I could get a more open-ended format from him, so I could add my own information.
posted by phrakture at 11:46 AM on June 4

Relevant: Knot Card
posted by phrakture at 12:32 PM on June 4

I make custom PocketMods all the time with their PDF to PocketMod Converter (which you can download from their front page).

Simply make your template in Microsoft Word, at least eight pages worth (I find that 20pt. font makes for easy readability after the conversion). Then save it as a PDF (I use the free CutePDF for this), and send it through the aforementioned program.

I know that you said you aren't typesetting-savvy, but it's a fairly simple process. Just cut and paste in the info you want, throw in a few tables, and you're done.

I have several now: a book of poetry, to do lists, car maintenance log, address book, Christmas letter, reference, game rules, etc.

Good luck.
posted by litterateur at 1:15 PM on June 4

And of course there is always PocketRef (Adam Savage swears by it).
posted by litterateur at 1:21 PM on June 4

@litterateur: Looking at PocketMod a little bit more. The problem is that my primary computer usage is on OSX and Linux. I don't want to have to fire up VMWare to do this, and their app is Win32 only.

Still, I'll try it out. Would you mind sharing any neat ones you made?
posted by phrakture at 1:43 PM on June 4

You should be able to print to an eight-page PDF, then use some linux or OS X imposition software to push the pages around into the PocketMod format.

This command appears to create a PocketMod from "eight pages.pdf" using the Multivalent tools:


$ java.exe -cp multivalent.jar tool.pdf.Impose -dim 2x4 -layout 1l,2r,8l,3r,7l,4r,6l,5r -paper "letter" -verbose "eight pages.pdf"


I'm assuming that page 1 is the front cover and page 8 is the back. You won't have the fold and cut lines, but it shouldn't be hard to figure out.
posted by chazlarson at 2:28 PM on June 4

Well, I'm not sure how useful you'll find any of these, but I'm more than glad to share them with you:

~ Poetry (shameless self-link)
~ Game Rules (Index Card Games)
~ Car Maintenance Log
~ Principles from Robert McKee's "Story"
~ Latin Reference Guide (from Latin the Easy Way)
~ Writing Tips I, II, III, IV, V (from Fiction Addiction)
posted by litterateur at 3:09 PM on June 4

Many apologies for the double-post, but you, phrakture, have catalyzed an obsession in me. After a quick Google search, I found the following:

~ Tech Tip: My Mac Won’t Start! A Tiny Guide
~ Track Travel and Workouts with a PocketMod
~ A collection from Fairly Useless
~ Mapfacture (PocketMod-sized maps)
~ A collection from We Do That
~ Printable CEO

There are also several free pocket games available through Boardgame Geek, such as Zombie in My Pocket.
posted by litterateur at 4:01 PM on June 4

Don't worry, it's a bit of an obsession for me as well.

I'm thinking I might try making some Google Docs based layouts, or importing existing things into Google Docs, as that would allow easy distribution and conversion to PDF.
posted by phrakture at 7:37 AM on June 5