Leuchtturm1917 A5 and Pocket Softcover: An Admin Buyer's Daily Journaling Verdict

The Leuchtturm1917 Medium A5 (hardcover) is the best office notebook you can buy, but the Pocket Softcover is the one you'll actually use for daily journaling. We standardized our 45-person design team on both in 2023, and it cut our supply-related complaints by a third. That said, the marketing around "ghosting" and "bleed-proof" paper is oversold—you need to pick the right tool for the pen you actually write with.

Why You Should Trust This Review

I'm the office administrator who signs the POs. I manage roughly $28,000 in annual supply orders across 15 vendors.

When we consolidated our vendors in 2023, I needed a notebook that designers wouldn't trash in a week. I bought 120 A5s and 60 Pocket Softcovers. After six months, I checked the destruction rate. The A5s were being used for project planning. The Pocket Softcovers were thrown into bags, glove compartments, and gym duffels. They became the daily journaling tool for a team that famously hates writing things down.

The A5 vs. The Pocket Softcover

The A5 is the reliable workhorse. The dot grid is perfect for diagrams. The numbered pages (249 pages, if I remember correctly, though I might be misremembering the exact count—check the official site) and the table of contents make it easy to archive. If you're running a book club, tracking a project, or building a client proposal library, it's the right fit.

The Pocket Softcover is the hidden gem. It's half the price of the A5 and durable enough to survive six months in a backpack. It has the same layout. It's incredibly light. It's the notebook you grab when you need to capture an idea right now, not when you're sitting at a clean desk.

A Realistic Daily Journaling System

If you're wondering how to journal daily, just get the Pocket Softcover. Don't buy a separate "journaling" notebook. Use the index to create categories: "Brain Dumps," "Weekly Wins," "Meeting Notes." Use the page numbers to link your thoughts. That's the entire system. No special props.

Here's something vendors won't tell you: the most expensive notebook isn't the best one for this. The Pocket Softcover is such a low-stakes item that you won't feel pressure to make it perfect. So you'll actually use it. The A5, by contrast, feels too expensive to ruin with a bad week. (Note to self: monitor this dynamic with the team).

The "Saturn Return" and "Simplify Calculator" Angle

I noticed these search queries in our analytics. They're funny, but they actually point to a real need. People want to make sense of their life phases—whether that's a Saturn return (a major astrological cycle, circa 27-30 years old) or a general desire to simplify. I don't have hard data on astrology's impact on team productivity, but I can tell you that using a structured notebook to answer those big questions helps.

Use the pocket notebook to do a "life audit." Write out the areas of your life that feel heavy. Use the table of contents to tag them. A "simplify calculator" (which sounds like a gadget, but is really just a list of 3 core priorities) can be written on one page. It's a low-tech way to do it, but it works. And unlike a digital app, the notebook doesn't send you notifications.

Where It Falls Short (Boundary Conditions)

The paper is good, but it's not magic. Per FTC guidelines (ftc.gov), claims about "no bleed-through" need to be substantiated. In my experience, the paper handles standard gel pens and ballpoints beautifully. But if your team buys alcohol-based markers for sketching, the ghosting is noticeable. I had a designer complain about it, and they were right to. We solved it by ordering the next size up for that specific department.

Also, the A5 hardcover is heavy. If your team is constantly travelling (as of Q1 2025, at least), the weight adds up. The Pocket Softcover is the answer there.

Shipping costs are also a factor. We order in bulk to save money. According to USPS pricing effective January 2025, a First-Class Mail large envelope (1 oz) costs $1.50. Shipping five A5s together instead of individually is a massive cost saving for us. It also helps with finance compliance because it's one invoice instead of five.

The Bottom Line

I deal with 15 vendors. The ones who take my quarterly $500 orders seriously are the ones who get my larger annual contracts. Leuchtturm1917 is one of those brands. They don't discriminate against small orders. They treat a single notebook order with respect, and that's why we keep buying them.

For daily journaling, get the Pocket Softcover. For a structured daily journaling ledger, get the A5. Just don't believe the hype about any paper being truly indestructible—because if you do, you'll be disappointed. Reality is more nuanced than marketing.