Knock back | Please take notes

Every office has a stack of them.

50 sheets.
Yellow.
Ruled.
Heavy backing.
Perforated.
Boring!

For your next meeting or groovy idea, skip the terribly pedestrian and reach for something with some style. Here are five options to consider instead of the ever present legal eagle yellow.

Moleskine
The epitome of classic design and reliability, the Moleskine notebook has been around for two centuries and was used by Matisse, Van Gogh and Hemingway. Assembled and designed in Italy, the notebooks are offered in different sizes and configurations. There are even limited editions. Check out this one for Helvetica.

Nava One Year of White Pages
A functional set of twelve skinny notebooks, each generously packed with 80 blank pages. The best part and novelty is that the month on each notebook is identified by a hole. January has one hole, February two, March three and so on. The set is available at Fitzu for $42.00.

Field Notes
These little cuties from the ingenious folks at Coudal Partners are perfect for sticking in the back pocket of your favorite jeans. They’re simple and unpretentious and made in the U.S.A. Get a set of three 3-1/2 x 5-1/2 books for $9.95 here.

Muji
Simple, recycled, cheap and Japanese! Notebooks by Muji start at $1.25. Yes, $1.25!

Evernote
If you’ve gone paper free, give Evernote a try. The online utility works on most devices and is both Mac and Windows compatible. I use the iPhone app almost daily to remind me of something I need to see or do. I can take photo of an item and write or voice record a message about it. I can save it for future reference, email it or sync it up with my laptop. Get the iPhone app here. It’s free!