making the case for recreating and personalizing everyday items to make you smile
Look around you. What’s that one special item that brings you joy whenever you glance at it? Maybe it’s a cute notebook, a thriving plant you’ve nurtured, or a coffee cup from a small pottery shop. These objects reflect the subconscious choices that shape who you are.
How can we inject our personality into everyday items that might otherwise blend into the background? This question lingered in my mind until I discovered the answer.
Being the stereotypical tech enthusiast I am, I bought a 3D printer last year. I spent time bringing other people’s creations to life and designing items to sell, but something was missing—creating for others just wasn’t satisfying enough.
During New Year’s, I made a resolution to journal more using pen and paper, as digital notes never quite satisfied me enough to maintain the habit. While I found plenty of fun notebooks, the pens were always boring. This got me thinking—could I find a pen that truly reflects who I am?
I probably could have found one if I searched long enough, but where’s the fun in that? With access to 3D printing and CAD design, I could create anything I wanted out of plastic. So I got to work.
I had two main goals for this pen:
- Size: Make it as compact as possible while accommodating standard refills.
- Customization: Add personality through colour choices for each component.
With this in mind, I opened Fusion360 and started designing. The result was a bolt action mechanism that’s both simple to 3D print and easy to assemble, with minimal points of failure. It’s also wonderfully satisfying to use and perfect for fidgeting.
It took a few tries to end up with a final design. My first test print felt too light and cheap due to the pen’s small height. To fix this, I increased its radius—which had the delightful side effect of making it look small, chubby, and cute.
The pen consists of three main pieces: the outer body, the inner body (which holds the refill), and the bolt itself. Each piece can be printed in a different colour, allowing for fun personalization.
Now, what’s a pen without paper? While any notebook can be used for writing, I want to take this a step further. Let’s create a desk notepad for daily to-do lists or quick notes during workdays.
I envision a design with a slot to store loose B6-sized paper, another slot for used pages, and perhaps a way to stand the currently used paper, making my daily to-dos easily viewable. Let’s go over to Fusion360 again:
Test print time! Let’s see how it comes out.
After a couple of adjustments, I now have a pen and notepad that reflect who I am and feel joy when looking and using them. To make A6 paper, just cut a normal A4 paper in 4 equal pieces and you now have refills to add to your notepad. All the 3D print files are attached at the resources portion of this article, as well as the Fusion360 file for the notepad (included in the makerworld files) so you can change the paper size if you wish.
Creating these ultra-personalized items gives me the energy I need to maintain habits I care about and want to nurture. These small dopamine boosts can be precisely what you need to transform your space and support your aspirations. This is just one example of how I achieved this for writing more. Take this as inspiration to tailor it to your life and routine.
Thanks for listening, Matheus Mortatti.