I have always liked using whiteboards. They are a great tool for communicating, but also great for exploring thoughts and stimulating creativity. There are computerized equivalents, and they have their advantages, but I’ve never found them as effective because I get distracted too easily. I can spend more time fiddling with the lines and colours than working on my actual problem.

I like whiteboards so much that I bought a stack of them, and an artist’s portfolio bag to carry them around. I imagined popping out a few drawings at a meeting, or handing boards around for a creative session. I still love the idea, but in more than twenty years I’ve never even taken them out of the house.

These days I use a Rocketbook for most of my creative explorations. I received one as a gift at work a few years ago, and have been in love with it ever since. It looks and performs like a normal notebook, but it’s easy to scan the pages, and the pages can be reused after erasing them with a wet cloth. This is achievable because of some clever design and a specially optimized app.

If I’m working at home, or travelling, the Rocketbook is very convenient. It’s also good when I’m working in an office and need to sketch something. More than just replacing a whiteboard, it can be helpful for notes. Entering notes in a laptop is usually better, but if I have a couple of quick notes, or don’t have a laptop handy, the Rocketbook will do the job.

A whiteboard is still the best tool for an in-person meeting. Having the drawings out in the open where anyone can grab a pen and add to it is very convenient. Online meetings that involve collaboration don’t work very well with a whiteboard, or a Rocketbook for that matter. In these situations I prefer a virtual whiteboard. It does, however, also require some preparation before the meeting to prevent wasting precious time in the meeting.

If you’re interested in a Rocketbook for yourself, I suggest looking at the Rocketbook Fusion first. It has a mix of lined pages for notes and grid pages for drawings. I like the executive size for its portability. The only hitch is that you need a hard surface to write effectively. This isn’t a problem at a desk, but you may want to get a hard cover if you need to take notes on the move. If you’re doing a lot of design work at a desk, a letter-sized Rocketbook Matrix may be a better choice.