When it comes to choosing the perfect notepad for your journaling and writing needs, there are a few factors to take into consideration before finalizing your decision. You may not give it much thought, but picking the best notepad to suit your needs can make all the difference to your writing abilities and journaling experience.
Here are a few factors for you to consider and keep in mind when choosing your next notepad.
Design
The look of your notepad is important. If you are going to be carrying it around with you all day or placing it on your desk at work, then chances are you want it to look aesthetically pleasing and enticing for you to want to write in it. You can even go a step further and customize your notepad with a unique design to suit your taste. Personalize it with your name, job title, or favorite movie quote, whatever you like to let others know that this is your notepad.
Blank, lines, dots, or grid
Choosing the type of pages that will be inside of your notepad is the next important step after choosing a cover that speaks to you. The majority of people will opt for lined notepads, for those that will be using them for regular note-taking or journaling. Blank pages are good for those who are wanting a bit more creative freedom and may want to use the pages for sketching or drawing. Dotted and gridded paper is useful for various techniques such as lettering.
Size matters
Notepads come in all types of sizes and dimensions, so have a think about how big or small you would like your notepad to be. The best way to do so is to think about what you will be using the notepad for and how. If you are wanting to carry around your notepad with you, then an A4 (letter size) notebook probably isn’t the best choice. If you are after an art notepad to fill with your creative ideas and sketches then an A7 sized pad wouldn’t be ideal for that. Most bloggers agree that the best-sized notepads to start with are A5, the half-letter size. It is big enough to do art in but small enough to carry around and be portable, making it the ideal size.
Notepad binding
The majority of notepads are typically casebound, spiral-bound, or stapled together. There are various pros and cons to each binding, the choice often comes down to personal preference. Casebound notepads are great for creating double-page spreads if they are held together by a combination of stitching and glue then they easily lie open flat. They are also a lot more durable than other types of notepads. Spiral-bound notepads also lie down flat quite easily and are simple to rip multiple pages out of them, making it easy to add, remove, or move around pages in them. Staple-bound notepads tend to have the shortest lifespans and tend to be used only for small, light, and cheaper notebooks.