paper quality:High quality paper will improve your writing experience. That said, high quality paper depends a lot on your writing instrument. For example, pens with heavy ink such as fountain pens will need thicker paper to avoid ghosting (when the ink absorbs), while thicker paper may be better for sketching with a softer pencil. (A lot of this also depends on personal preference.) If you’re primarily writing notes with a ballpoint pen, almost any paper will work.
shape and size:For writing, I like vertically oriented notebooks, about A5 size, but for sketching and watercolor I prefer landscape-oriented notebooks. I know people who like the exact opposite. You’ll have to figure out what size you like, but once you do you can narrow down the area quite a bit. Also keep in mind that if you’re carrying around a notebook all day, weight matters. Everyone has their own sweet spot between page count, weight, and size. You’ll have to experiment to find what works for you.
binding style: This may sound obvious, but how a notebook lies when open is very important, and how a notebook lies is largely determined by the binding. For example, some people (especially left-handed writers) prefer lay-flat notebooks because they lie completely flat, making them easier to write on. Other people like spiral binding because you can fold the entire notebook in half, and it is easier to tear out the pages. Perfect-bound notebooks (the most common binding, according to Moleskine) are much sturdier than spiral bound, but do not lie flat, and the pages are difficult to tear.
page decision: There are four common types of decisions: lined, dotted, grid, and none. The decision is mostly a matter of taste, although I find dot grids essential for some project planning, especially for anything involving measurements (e.g., woodworking projects), so I always have a dot-grid notebook with me. Dot grids are also a popular choice for keeping a bullet journal.
reuse: I’ve come to think of notebooks as two parts: the cover and the pages. Hard cover notebooks, like the Leuchtterm1917, combine the two in a single package, where softcover notebooks, like the Field Notes or Moleskine Cahier notebooks, lend themselves to being housed in an additional cover. What I like about keeping the two things separate is that my notebook always looks the same. The leather cover never changes, I just keep putting new notebooks inside. There are covers for Leuchtterm notebooks, so you can have both if you want, but I find that makes the notebooks heavier.
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