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Ask HN: What your favorite sketchbook/notebook to store your brain dumps?

11 points by ciaoben ↗ HN
I am having an unexpected difficulty to find a good notebook/sketchbook to bring along with me and where to "brainstorm with myself" during my work as a software developer and my personal life.

As I enjoy using application with good UI and great UX, I want to find a notebook where I can store differents months of free thoughts (it seems that asking for more than 40/60 pages is asking a lot) and that feels good.

Would like to know if some of the people here have some suggestion, I am interested in not too small formats (perfect would be A5).

10 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 32.1 ms ] thread
bemmu
I just have a stream-of-consciousness text file where I type anything that's on my mind, including ideas. Main downside is that I can't scribble on it.
samat
Moleskine would be default choice for me.
e_py
Mine too! Moleskine classic hardcover for me
ch215
Field Notes get my vote. Expensive but unrivaled quality. You can leave one in your back pocket for a month and it won't fall to pieces.

https://fieldnotesbrand.com

sogen
I'd go to any art supplies store and look in the stationery section, you'll find lots of options in there.

Lately I bought some Pantone notepads, they come in several sizes, sturdy and have dotted guides.

But 99% of the time I just use cheap 99¢ notebooks.

qwrusz
Where are you looking? What is the problem? # of pages?

I would stay away from notebooks with paper thats too thin and writing bleeds through to the other side, had issues with this and moleskin but YMMV.

No affiliation, but on jetpens.com you can filter by page size and number of pages etc. For example this notebook is A5, has 250 pages and the pages numbered and there's a blank index to organize thoughts.

http://www.jetpens.com/Leuchtturm1917-Copper-Gilt-Edge-Noteb...

Jtsummers
Check out Staples line of Arc products. Similar to a spiral notebook in how you can fold it, but the sheets come out easily like a 3-ringed binder and can be reordered. The first page in mine is blank. I write the date and topic at the top, use as many sheets as I need. Then move them to the appropriate section or into another Circa notebook (as appropriate). The covers and disks to create more notebooks are reasonably inexpensive, and you can purchase your own punch for a modest price to make compatible paper out of any paper stock you have available (and to make printouts and such fit into it easily).

Levenger's Circa line was my introduction to the concept, but their notebooks and paper are more expensive and less available (compared to having a Staples in nearly every city).

I use the Junior sized notebooks (8.5"x5.5", or roughly A5 sized for those not in the US). It's not a pocket notebook, but easily carried and fits nicely into most bags. Being able to reorganize the pages also reduces, for me, the difficulty of first writing something down ("crap, it doesn't need to be in this notebook!" kind of nonsense).