I'm a moleskine guy, what do you all doodle and brainstorm in?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4336215

by armenarmen • 14 years ago

12 17 14 years ago

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mindcrime• 14 years ago

Wirebound artists sketch pads. Usually the store brand from Office Depot or Staples or wherever I pick up a fresh batch. I carry at least one of these things and box of colored pencils, plus a couple of drafting pencils, with me most of the time for quick doodling and sketching out ideas and what-not.

nate76• 14 years ago

Index cards. I doodle on either the blank side of ruled cards or purchase un-ruled index cards. I brainstorm on whichever side makes sense.

tankbot• 14 years ago

Inkflow for iPad. Then if I like something I shoot it over to Inkpad, slap a new layer on top of the doodle and convert it to nice vector graphics.

Edit: Changed second 'Inkflow' to 'Inkpad' as it should have been initially.

mnicole• 14 years ago

Just got some Rhodia dot grid paper (http://rhodiapads.com/collections_boutique_dotPad.shtml) to sketch out layouts and icons and I love it. For brainstorming and general chaos organization, I use iThoughtsHD. If I ever run into a bump in the road, I highly recommend the free and beautiful Unstuck iPad app.

dholowiski• 14 years ago

Like Moleskine only way better: http://www.leuchtturm1917.com/en/content/medium-notebook I love the dotted ones. Hard to find though.

mulligan• 14 years ago

What distinguishes it from a moleskine?

HedgeMage2• 14 years ago

Much heavier paper, less bleed-through. If they don't feather fountain pen ink badly, I may have to invest in some.

abelnation• 14 years ago

+1 on this notebook. i get the largest ("master") format, which can fit a full 8x11 sheet of paper in between pages.

http://www.amazon.com/Kikkerland-Leuchtturm-Notebook-0-5-Inc...

ninh• 14 years ago

moleskine, which is kind of weird though if you think about it: any other sketchbook is likely to be a magnitude cheaper and would for me probably suffice the purpose of doodling/sketching just as well. I do catch myself subconsciously factoring this in when sketching/doodling though by using the paper surface more errr... economically ;-) The best reason I could think of is the leather cover; it holds amazingly well in my overly packed backpack :)

aoiao• 14 years ago

I can never commit to a book of blank paper. So when I find scraps of paper, like receipts or a page to tear out of something, I write everything on those and staple them together as I go so I'm not carrying around excess weight and it fits in my pocket. And I'm always sure to have free, ugly paper surfaces to fill with my ugly writing for the rest of my life.

verganileonardo• 14 years ago

I use Workflowy [1]! Looks like a simple notepad and work great with bullet points and indents. Probably the best and simplest tool I've found to keep track of brainstorming and to-dos.

[1] Ref link: https://workflowy.com/?ref=6c6be5d :)

actionbrandon• 14 years ago

I carry one of these in my back pocket at all times. "a year of white pages" by Nava. You switch books every month, and then can look at them later.

http://www.navadesign.com/_funzioni_articoli_dettaglio.php?A...

HedgeMage2• 14 years ago

My carry-everywhere notebooks are Moleskines, mostly because I have a ton of them I got for a song on a good sale a while back. When that stash runs out I'll look for something with an equally-or-more indestructible cover and better paper inside.

At my desk, I have a pretty extensive collection of papers, but my go-to for quick brainstorming or hashing things out is a couple of Arc notebooks (Staples' in-house brand). It's easy to move the pages around, and the paper is very fountain-pen-friendly.

sprobertson• 14 years ago

8.5x11 printer paper is my favorite. You can find it in any office, school, or modern home. It makes no assumptions about line direction or grid size. And with entry-level origami techniques you can reconfigure it into mobile sizes. Then, when you realize what you wrote on it wasn't actually important, you can use it as an impromptu fly-swatter or dustpan.

GuiA• 14 years ago

Muji recycled A5 notebooks. Perfect size to carry around everywhere, good paper quality (I use a fountain pen).

zeruch• 14 years ago

I use a bevy of various brands and sizes. Mnemosyne grid pads, Caslons, as well as stuff I've picked up at various stores like Utrecht and Amsterdam Art.

aidenn0• 14 years ago

Any pocketable notebook with square grids, I've used moleskine and these:

http://www.amazon.com/Leuchtturm-Pocket-Notebook-Squared-LB1...

I'm a moleskine guy, what do you all doodle and brainstorm in?

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