Editing The Pen Addict 547/transcript (section)

== Discussion on orange ink and its appeal ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' On the list of things you're not going to get me to argue about is orange ink. That's probably number, that's number two on my list, right? Blue, black, orange. Like, I'm good. If I just had blue, black, and orange inks, I'm covered. Like, I genuinely believe that. Like, I love other colors like purples and magentas and yellow greens. But, like, if I just had blue, black, and orange, I'd be pretty happy. There's quite a bit of range.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You know, there really is so many oranges. It's a great, it's just a great ink color for me. I've always been a fan.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Orange ink makes me happy when I see it put down on a page, you know?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I think we should have, like, little stickers made or something like that. Because Brian in the chat, it reminds me of this. We could just have, like, a little sticker that's a hashtag never red, right? Like, red is never the right choice when you have orange available, right? Like, I'm on team never red, which I'll probably get some mail about that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I've never met a red ink that I like. Yep. I've tried.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. It doesn't work. Hashtag never red, I think, is the correct decision. It's going to be orange or another alternate color. So, all right. As I'm sitting here thinking about, like, what I'm, like, really, really passionate about, about stationery. So, we have graph paper. We have blue, black ink. The next one, Myke, I wrote 192-page hardbound A5 notebooks. I love that notebook. Because there's a reason. Like, it's, I mean, there's, okay, there's not a reason. There's not a reason that this should be, like, the canonical notebook. It just ended up being that way somehow. I don't know who first made this size, shape, dimension. But it's the right format. It's the right shape. It's the right structure. It's the right thickness. It's the right everything. Notebook. Size. Shape. Page count. Like, when you think notebook. Like, if you are on, you know, a movie set team. And you needed to have, like, you know, these aesthetically appealing notebooks. This is the size that you're just going to end up with by default. Like, this is the default, like, journal type notebook for me. Like, I'm not talking about a school notebook or anything like that. And I'm not talking about maybe something you use at your office. But when I think about, hey, what does a journal look like? Or what does a hardbound notebook look like? This is the picture I have in my head. And it's very generic, right? If your next question is, Brad, tell me who makes this notebook. I mean, I couldn't list off but maybe two or three people, right? Leuchterm.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Maybe some of the Rhodia ones do. It's just not very, very common. And despite it being a very basic. Because you know what, Myke? Everyone thinks they can do it better.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Like, and I'm talking to you. And spoiler alert, you can't do it better. That doesn't mean you don't make a good product.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm surprised that you say that because, you know. I just wanted to get a little rise out of you.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You know, my take on smart sizing and all that stuff. Like, hey, other notebook sizes are great. Like, I'm looking around, though, at my desk. Okay. Like, sitting on my desk as I'm podcasting with you, I have an A5 pad, an A5 journal, and an A6 Hobonichi. That is literally the paper on my desk. So, the A5 journal is this 192-page hardbound A5 notebook. And I didn't even think about that when I was writing this. But that's literally what's on my desk right now. The other pad, A5 graph pad. Shocker that I love these things. That I have these things on my desk that I love. Funny how that happens. So, I didn't even intend that. But it's just kind of, like, second nature to me, all these things. So, I mean, I'm not going to, you know, go to the mat for this is the only size notebook that should exist. Of course not. Like, I love my weird-shaped notebooks. I love, you know, tall, skinny notebooks especially, right? Tall, skinny, and, like, landscapy-type notebooks. Like, keyboard rest type of notebooks. Or vertical type of notebooks. Like, I like, the further away from traditional, the more I like it, right? But if you're going to go A5-ish, like, I'm just going to go, come on. Let's just make it A5. It'd be okay.

'''Myke Hurley:''' A5-ish would be mine here. Like, it doesn't need, it can be A5. It can be around A5. I just think that that size, like, that's what I like in a notebook. I just think the size is just right. Like, A6 is too small. A4 is too big. Like, A5 is the Goldilocks. Yeah. I'm not as particular about standards as Brad, obviously. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, again, like, I'm looking at this from, like, a passion. Like, I love of products. Why do I love certain products? Next on my list, Myke, is fineliners. Not ballpoint pens, not microtip gel ink pens, not fountain pens, but the good old fineliner. That is a stationary product that I love so much.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You know, microtip gel ink pens are why the pen addict started. You know, 15 years ago is my discovery of microtip gel ink pens, like, sub .5 millimeter gel ink pens. But before that, it was fineliners. Like, specifically the Pilot Razor Point, which nowadays is actually a terrible pen. I'll go ahead and say it. But back in the early 80s, that pen I would buy by the dozen. Not because, like, I wanted to make sure I always have them, but because they were, like, technically flawed. You would wear down the tips pretty quickly and you actually needed replacements more frequently than ever. But what fineliners give you is this really sharp edge line, which I love, until the tips break down with the aforementioned razor. I was very, very guilty of that. But that technology has improved over the years. You can get pens like the Secura Pigment Micron, Statler, Statler Fineliner, Statement Pigment Liner, excuse me. And anything in that category, my favorite, the Kuretake Zig Mangaka is one of my favorites because that point retention has been mostly solved. Whereas I needed a box of a dozen Pilot Razor Points. If I'm buying microns for, like, a project, like, if I was an artist, you know, I would buy, like, two or three, right? I don't need to just jump into the dozen because I'm going to get more use out of a singular pen. They're going to be structurally stronger. But why I like those pens so much is because the lines are very clean. The ink is usually very dark. And those pens have almost an immediate dry time. So they're different than something like a rollerball or a gel ink pen where you might smear or smudge them. They're almost instantaneously dry when they touch the page. So that's a really, really great feature. So I get as much joy of opening a fresh fineliner as I do any other stationary product, any other writing instrument. You know, if you give me a new pen or a new fountain pen, like, I love all of these things. But, like, starting up a new fineliner, like, that's something I will always find just, like, completely romantic about stationary in the way I look at stationary personally.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Broad nib fountain pens.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Incredibly impractical.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Just a ton of fun. It's enjoyable. Like, it is the most enjoyable. It gives me all of the things that I like about fountain pens, right? Like, smooth, thick lines, tons of ink. Like, it just looks great. It is not, you know, if I counted up all of my nibs, I would definitely have more mediums than anything else. But I really love broads. You know, I like stub nibs too. But broad fountain pen nibs is, like, just, again, that, like, sweet spot of the fun part without being completely unwieldy. Like, I am using a broad nib pen today. I'll mention in a minute which one it is because it's part of another pick. And it's just a joy to use.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. I don't discount the love for broad nib pens. They're just so expressive. You can put a lot of ink down on the page. I could probably count the broad nibs I own on one hand, but I just inked up one last week, and I'm enjoying using it. So, for something different, I definitely like it. All right. Next on my list. This is a simple, straightforward one, Myke, and it's note cards.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Is there a more useful stationary product on the planet?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I mean, I don't think there is. I mean, these are kind of sticky notes are worse to use, right? Like, I enjoy using note cards. I use sticky notes out of spite, right? I was like, fine. I need to stick this thing right here for right now, but, boy, I'm not going to enjoy writing on it. That's generally how sticky notes go. Usefulness, sure. Like, they're very useful. But just a note card is just – can be used anywhere, anytime, for anything. And I just, like, I love note cards. Like, I think anyone who knows me at all knows what I think about note cards and using them, even if I don't use them every day. Like, they're stuck in a book somewhere, or they have some random note on there somewhere, or I've done a little sketch on there and have a little stack of product designs on note cards. Things like that. So, I just – I love note cards.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And this is probably a whole little group between fineliners, note cards, and this next one, Myke, freshly sharpened wooden pencils.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's hard to beat. I know you're not a pencil guy at all. But even, like, back in school times, like, doing, you know, your schoolwork and going to sharpen your pencil and getting that fresh point and getting that smell of cedar wood. Like, yeah, okay. I'm pretty happy. I'm pretty happy with a freshly sharpened wooden pencil. Now, like, pencils in general, just, like, wooden pencils in general are really, like, a romantic item to me as far as stationery goes. Like, they bring a smile to my face even if I don't necessarily use it at the time. Like, if I see one and pick one up, just the feel of one, like, they feel really cool. Like, I love how wooden pencils feel. So, I don't use them as much as pens. Like, never have, never will. But when I do use them, every time I use them, I'm like, ah, this is fantastic, isn't it? So, they just don't come in as handy as some of my pens. You know, I don't have that type of writing set up for that. But when I do, it's hard to beat a good wooden pencil.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Landscape notebooks.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. I don't agree. I don't disagree with this whatsoever.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I like notebooks that sit on my desk in front of me. I like those. Things that are always open, ready for some kind of note to be added, you know? I like that kind of style.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I've always said there should be more of that style of notebook. And I'm not saying this because I know things that you're working on. But this has been a stance I've had for a long time since, like, around the Pano book time came out. Yeah. And before that, if I could ever have that type of option for, like, a desk pad, I would choose that 100% of the time over, say, like, a traditional bound notebook. Like, I was talking about my traditional 195-page A5 side bound notebook, right? Like, for certain situations, nothing beats a landscape notebook. And I will use other notebooks I have in landscape format just because I like that aesthetic.