This object in the list is probably the ant-thesis of minimalism. It in fact contains more visual elements than the average high end notebook.

Minimalism is a philosophy that relates to neutrality. The object should not attract attention to itself. Neither should the object be inherently personalized, in fact it should be depersonalized. It should be background object which allows one to do things. To quote the popular Dieter Rams, it should be "as little design as possible." Of course this doesn't avoid the case where the object stands out simply by being different than the others, although that's a different scenario.

The first problem is the inclusion of text on the front and the side. There is no reason why it needs to be there from a minimalist standpoint. Although worse yet is that the text that was chosen is even more anti-minimalist. The text, "My Black Book" refers to the self—the person owning the book. In the text alone it connects to the ego of the owner which makes it both an inherently personalized item and one of prestige. It's like having a kitschy phone case. It speaks towards the ego of the owner.

The rest of the pages continue to stroke the ego in this regard. There is an introduction in which its very inclusion speaks towards another one's authority, especially with the fact that it was signed by a person. This is not to mention the inclusion of grammar mistakes. It is also attempting to predetermine the contents of the book, namely one that is journal-like. There is no reason why a notebook should do this. The experience and contents of the notebook should be determined according to its owner.

The "Chapters" of this book is worrying. It frames the contents of the book as being more important than they are. If you own this book, chances are you're most likely not an important person writing their autobiography. There is no reason why to frame it as one.

The inclusion of the publisher's logo on the side is laughable when positioned as minimalist. It's visual clutter which has no reason whatsoever to be included.

Although this rant might be a bit excessive, the fact is that minimalism means "as little as possible." It's not possible to call yourself minimal if the object you've created is one which contains more, not less components than the standard one and is not an object that is neutral.

Minimal means grayscale palette with a touch of teak.

This collection is much more functional than minimal.