From across the bookshop, I’m being given a quizzical look. Actually, it’s more nuanced than that; I’d say it was a mix of quizzical blended with shades of withering and subtle top notes of you do know you’re doing that in public, right?

I didn’t study design at university – it was film and theatre for me – so I’ve always been curious about what I missed. Yesterday I tweeted a request for design graduates to summarise in 280 characters or fewer what they had learnt from their degree … and was rather taken aback by the volume of responses.

Ten years ago, Michael Bierut wrote a column for Design Observer about his notebooks – “On August 12, 1982, I took a 10 x 7 1/8 inch National Blank Book Company composition book from the supply closet of my then employer, Vignelli Associates. From that moment, I have never been without one.”