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Subject:Re: The Ideal Pen Color From:Niall Johnson <niallj -at- CI -dot- COM -dot- AU> Date:Fri, 19 Aug 1994 08:57:22 +1000
Over the last few years I have used
pencil - allows you to change your mind!
but can be hard to see (advise a soft pencil, e.g. 2B)
red - strong colour (for most)
but negative connotations for some people
stopped using it on student papers (when I was still marking)
green - better connotations than red
but can be difficult to find a strong green
(have one now - a Pentel Hybrid)
purple - a bit soft but distinctive
can be hard to get any purple pen let alone a good one!
(shame I'm no longer at WLU - purple was a school colour
so they stocked purple!)
blue/black - try and avoid them as people/printers write in
blue/black so to put corrections/editing marks in the
same colour means they 'disappear'.
yellow - too weak
orange - different, can stand out well (e.g. Pentel Hybrid)
highlighter pens - can be OK; but fade relatively quickly.
So what do I use? Well on my desk right now I have:
black Parker - my personal hand-writing pen
red felt tip - for rough'n'ready marking
orange Pentel Hybrid \
} used for marks for clients/writers to see
green Pentel Hybrid /
I also have a couple highlighters when I need to differentiate something.
The Parker and the red are for my use/eyes only.
The Hybrids are used on material for others to see/review/use.