Why does the pen you use for daily
writing need to be good?
The pen you use daily matters. A lot.
What type of pen do you
use daily? A disposable cheap ballpoint pen, a refillable expensive ballpoint pen,
or a fountain pen? Or maybe something in between?
Well, it turns out the
pen you use daily is quite important, and can say quite lot a lot about you,
and can define the impression your reader has about you. In this article I’ll
focus on presentation. How is your handwriting? Horrible? Or Angelic? What if
(for now, let’s imagine this), that maybe your handwriting isn’t really quite
horrible but it’s just a matter of the pen you use?
Actually this figment
of imagination can actually work! The better the overall writing experience of
the pen, the more your handwriting will improve in the long run. The definition of a good pen can differ from
person to person. Some people will like rough, thick and embossing pens, while
others prefer soft, medium tip, smooth flowing pens (par exemple, me). I have found this exceptionally true in some
of my friends who use cheaper pens.
The switch to a more
appropriate, better writing pen can immediately visually enhance your writing.
In fact, most of the enhancement in your writing lies in the visual appearance!
Your piece of writing should have a good look to appeal to your readers and
also, this better looking piece of writing can also help you get more
satisfaction out of yourself. I believe this is a key factor to better writing.
To have better writing, you should have a good idea of your abilities and weaknesses. This can potentially help you improve your handwriting, but
this time, not just visually.
So,
what kind of pens can you use?
Now that you know you
actually make horrible, ugly, and not-very-perfect handwriting actually good by
the use of proper pens, you wonder, what kind of pens can you really use?
Mostly, this depends on you.
You’ll need to head out to a proper stationary store and test out potential
well-writing pens.
Step 1:
Start out by selecting the type of ‘tip’ or ‘nib’ you like. 0.7mm? 0.5mm?
0.38mm? Or 0.28mm? Yep, these, and many more sizes are available out there. (But
if you’re going with a fountain pen, the least size you can probably get
is 0.5.) Try each of the shops options, and make a well-decided choice. For
more general use I’d go with 0.5 or 0.7, which I found is the most
popular type of nibs.
Step 2: Then,
choose the type of fluid that you prefer. ‘Carbon’ ink (commonly referred to as
‘Ballpoint’? ‘Gel’ ink? Or normal fountain pen ink in ‘Rollerball’ format? Or
just fountain pen ink to use with your fountain pen? It’s up to you. Here, I’d recommend Gel ink. I find it the most reliable and best looking
of the other options, and most Gel inks are waterproof nowadays.
Step 3: Now,
once you have finished choosing your proper nib size and type of fluid you’re
free to choose a pen of choice. Beautiful metal bodies, artistically engraved
nibs, really high prices; this stage is totally up to you. Just make sure that
the pen you choose matches with the choices you made above.
My
personal recommendations for your consideration
Okay, so
maybe you don’t want to start straight from scratch. Below I’ve compiled a small list of Pen
models that I’d personally recommend to you. They're arranged under the titles of
Ballpoint, Gel, Rollerball, and Fountain. Most of the pens I’ve listed come in
many different nib sizes, and so this won’t pose a threat to your selection.
One thing that will, however, is whether you like the design of the pen. Also,
it’s worth mentioning the pens I’ve listed don’t usually pass the $25 mark. So,
it’s your turn; make a choice!
Ballpoint
1. The Parker Vector, Jotter, (and some
other low end pens by Parker) offer great, smooth, uninterrupted writing.
Although the refills are a bit on the pricy side, they don’t finish very
quickly, so this a good viable first choice.
2. Some offerings by Papermate.
Papermate offers great writing pens for low end prices. They have a multitude
of offerings, from clicker pens, and ‘stick’ pens, so you can’t go wrong with
Papermate.
3. The Staedtler Stick. This is another
option where you can’t go far from wrong. You’ve probably already seen this
with other people, and have probably even owned it, so you know that this is a
great reliable pen in the ballpoint pen category.
These were my recommendations for pens in the ballpoint
range. Personally I don’t much prefer the visual appearance of ballpoint pen
inks, but if this is what you’re looking for, you can’t make the wrong choice
with the above pens. But before you choose these, check out the other ballpoint
pen options offered by some other manufacturers, given that you might have to 'fish around for more dollars' for some of them. But if you really can’t decide
just yet, check out the ‘Gel’ pens below, which offer great writing for a
somewhat less period of time than ballpoints, but are more visually pleasing!
Gel
1. First and foremost, the best Gel pen
I’ve ever written with; The Pilot Frixion! This is one pen you can never write badly
with. And hey, even if you do, just erase it! This pen offers a great,
consistently good writing experience and is truly a pen you can fall in love
with. Add to that the ‘party trick’ like ability of this pen, the ‘erasablility’!
Yep, you can actually erase what you’ve written, with the pens built-in eraser.
So as long as you don’t use it on legal and official documents (which is strictly not recommended due to security issues), this is a good-looking,
reliable pen that also writes in a way that makes your writing just plain nice, any-time, even though the ink is a bit on the ‘light’ side.
2. The Pilot Hi-tech V point pens. I
enjoy writing with these liquid-gel pens. They are consistent, smooth and come
in several color options to choose from. The ink is bright and stands out,
which means it looks good on the paper. But don’t drop it tip first or you’ll
regret it.
3. The Mitsubishi Uniball EYE. Wait,
what? The company that makes your neighbor’s Outlander also makes pens? No. Seriously,
no. In fact the Mitsubishi Pencil Company is COMPLETELY unrelated to the car
company. Weird things happen. Nevertheless, the Mitsubishi Uniball EYE is good pen. There was a time
when I was obsessed with the Uniball Eye. And rightly so. The Uni Eye is a nice
looking pen which offers great writing and good reliability. It comes in many
different colors and has a professional look, so this is a great choice for
anyone looking for a nice pen. But again I warn you, do not drop it.
4. Zebra Sarasa Clip. This pen comes in
a variety of nib sizes and a different colors. It writes smoothly and consistently.
(I’d like to add that my dog also likes to have this pen between his teeth. Yes,
that’s what happened to mine. Recommended by my dog ‘n’ me!)
5. Mitsubishi Uniball Signo DX. This pen
comes in variety of nib sizes including some unbelievably fine nibs, like 0.38,
and 0.28! Gorgeous pens. Like all the others, yes, they’re smooth and
consistent.
There you go! My top five recommendations for Gel pens! These
are pens I write with on a daily basis, and I can surely say they’re reliable,
write smoothly, and have a good visual appearance on paper. But wait! These are
not the only gel pens out there! There are tons more of options and the whole
world is out there for you to choose from! Even brands like Parker, Cross and
Faber-Castell make gel pens and even though they are a bit expensive, they are
there if you like them. This issue of price brings me onto the biggest
disadvantage of expensive gel pens. The duration of the refill. Gel pens don’t particularly
last long. With a nib like 0.7 or 0.5 and daily writing (for example, at school
or college) they will probably last about 2 weeks at most. That’s why I recommend
you opt for a cheaper option like the ones above. But for pens like the Frixion, you can buy
refills for about half the price of a whole pen, which is nice option. Sadly
though, as far as I know, you won’t find refills for the others in the list.
But then again, they aren’t very expensive are they?
Rollerball
(Note: The rollerball I refer to is traditional fountain ink
in body type)
1. The Parker Rollerball range. Almost
all the Parker Pens are offered in rollerball, and in different nib sizes. It’s
up to you here; all the rollerball refills are more or less the same.
2. Pilot V-Ball Grip. A non-refillable rollerball
pen by Pilot which writes neatly and looks nice.
3. Pentel Energel Rollerball. Another
good rollerball pen by Pentel which is in surprisingly, but deserving, good
demand nowadays.
You really
can’t choose the ‘Best 5 Rollerball Pens’. Most pen companies that make
fountain pens also make accompanying rollerball pens. Rollerballs are great
pens if you are someone who likes how fountain pen inks look but can’t give the
care and love traditional fountain pens need.
Fountain
Pens
1. The Lamy Safari. My all-time favorite
bargain fountain pen. If you are into fountain pens and want a good one, the
Lamy Safari is a great choice. It writes great, quite reliable, and cheap
enough to throw away if it breaks. But if you’re thrown off by the teenager
looks check the next in line.
2. The Parker Vector Metal. My first
proper fountain pen, and one that I can recommend to anyone who wants a cheap,
good looking, no-nonsense fountain pen. The professional metal build can look
good anywhere, school or work, and gives the pen a valuable look.
There are
not many great branded fountain pens that the ‘professional’ look that you can
use anywhere. Then again, if they do have the ‘look’ then they don’t have the
cheap ‘price’!
So in this section you’ll have to do some searching and find out
a proper pen for yourself, because it is quite hard to ‘pinpoint’ a perfect
cheap pen that retains both value and quality.
Conclusion
So there you
go! I hope this will help you improve your handwriting and also help you chose
a proper pen to reveal the inner you (who, maybe, actually had good handwriting).
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Happy Pen Picking!
