Leuchtturm1917 Medium A5, Dotted

Moleskine has the brand recognition. Leuchtturm1917 has the better notebook. The pages are numbered out of the factory, the first few sheets are a real table of contents you fill in as you go, and the paper handles fountain-pen ink without ghosting.

The dot grid is the right level of structure: enough to keep handwriting straight and sketches square, not so much that the page feels like a worksheet. Two ribbon bookmarks (most notebooks ship with one) let you keep your current page and a reference page open at once.

It comes in roughly 30 colors and a few sizes. The Medium A5, hardcover, dotted is the default. Pick a color you'll recognize on a desk full of black notebooks.