Choosing
Choosing the pen, the ink and the paper
The pen is the decision most people do not know they have. Here is what each one does, what it will not do, and which stock it needs.
Ballpoint on uncoated stock is the default and suits most campaigns. Rollerball, gel and fountain pens are all available where the piece warrants one and the stock supports it. Any pen has to suit the stock it is writing on, so we test the combination on your actual stationery before a run is scheduled and tell you if it will not hold up.
The pens
Ballpoint · our default
Even line, minimal show-through, and the look of an everyday pen because that is what it is.
Suits: Most campaigns. It is the most forgiving across stocks, the fastest to write and the least likely to surprise anyone at volume.
Limits: Little line variation. On a heavy textured stock the line can skip.
Rollerball
Darker and wetter than a ballpoint, with a softer edge to the stroke.
Suits: Pieces that want more presence than a ballpoint without moving to a fountain pen. Good on smooth uncoated stock.
Limits: Needs longer to dry, so it is slower per piece and show-through is more likely.
Fountain pen
Genuine line variation, a wet dark stroke and the small pooling at stroke ends that only a nib produces.
Suits: Invitations, prestige and low-volume pieces where the stationery has been chosen as carefully as the words.
Limits: Requires a suitable uncoated stock and is slower to write. It feathers on the wrong paper, so it is always tested on your actual stationery first.
Gel pen
Dense, opaque colour that stays legible on darker and coloured stock.
Suits: Coloured or kraft stationery where a standard ink disappears.
Limits: Dry time sits between a ballpoint and a rollerball.
The stock decides more than the pen
Uncoated paper takes ink into its fibres, which is what makes a written page feel written: you can read it from the back of the sheet. Coated and gloss stock holds the ink on the surface, where it sits in a flat line, smudges, and reads as printed however good the pen is. That single choice does more to the finished piece than any other.
Weight matters next. A heavier uncoated stock takes a wetter pen without showing through, which is why a fountain pen and a premium card go together and a fountain pen and ordinary copy paper do not.
Bring us the stationery you have in mind, or tell us what the piece is for and we will suggest something. Either way the combination gets tested on the real materials before a run is scheduled.
Letters, cards and envelopes each have their own constraints, and the calculator prices any combination without asking for your details.
We will make the recommendation
You do not have to arrive knowing any of this. Tell us what you are sending, who it is going to and roughly what you want it to feel like in the hand, and we will come back with a pen, an ink, a stock and a format that suit the job and the budget - and say why.
If the answer is that a plain ballpoint on ordinary uncoated stock is the right call for your campaign, that is what we will tell you. The expensive option is not automatically the better one.
Questions about pens and paper
Which pen do most campaigns use?
Ballpoint, on uncoated stock. It is the most forgiving combination across papers, the fastest to write, and the one least likely to behave differently on piece four thousand than on piece one. Unless something about your piece argues otherwise, it is what we will recommend.
Can you really use a fountain pen?
Yes, on suitable uncoated stock and after we have tested it on your actual stationery. A nib lays down far more ink than a ballpoint, so on the wrong paper it feathers into the fibres and shows through the back. It is slower to write, which matters on larger runs. Where the stock suits it, nothing else looks like it.
Does the pen change the price?
The pen itself does not. What can change the price is the time: a wetter pen writes more slowly and needs longer to dry, so a very large fountain-pen run costs more in production time than the same run in ballpoint. We will tell you the difference before you choose, not after.
Can we supply our own stationery?
Yes, and plenty of customers do. Send it and we will test the pen against it before the run is scheduled. If the combination does not hold up we will tell you what will, rather than writing the job and letting you find out.
What about coloured or kraft stock?
A gel pen is usually the answer. Standard inks disappear into darker papers, where a gel ink stays dense and legible. The same testing applies.
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Not sure what suits your campaign
Tell us what you are sending and who it is going to. We will recommend the pen, the ink and the stationery, and price it before you commit to anything.