Entry
Looking for a better marker

Some people love sharpies...

I have a hypothesis, that a lot of design is induced by a sharpies smell. Differently than water based markers, sharpies are alcohol based. This solvent makes a sharpie a permanent marker and allows it to write on a lot of materials, where a water based marker does not dry fast enough. Water based markers are also easily washed off again or easily erased by touch.

While I dislike the smell, it's not the main problem I have with markers and a lot of pens in general. Pens just generate a lot of waste and plastic. They are often not refillable, and if they are it's not easy to get the ink. Examples for the latter include Stabilo Boss markers or copic markers (both can be refilled, but where to get the refill...).

Pens matter

The choice of pen matters. While I prefer certain pens and dislike others, it's not the really the brand of pen that matters, but the fact, that I use pens every day when designing. I didn't count the amount of pens I used over the years - still the plastic waste is a thing that buggs/bugged me and I startet looking for more sustainable alternatives.

Pens I'm currently using

• Brass Kaweco sport fountain pen. This still uses ink cartridges as everybody tells me that the converter alternative always generates a mess (the cardridge is refilled over the nib). The pen is very small when closed. Used with black ink for wireframes and basic designs.
• Other fountain pens (mainly metal or older models). Using different colour ink cartridges for annotations, primary functions, decoration...
• I also use pencils for drafts.

Some things are hard to replace

Some pens are harder to replace than others, due to the nature of the pen. Brush pens are nearly impossible to be replaced unless going back to gouache and brush again – something, that does not work in a client setting easily. Luckily I don't really use these in day to day work.

The simple marker or felt pen however, is a completely different problem.

Looking for marker alternatives

The sharpies mentioned above, and their siblings from other brands, are used in workshops all the time, filling post-it's with ideas and thoughts. Writing on post-its needs something with lots of contrast, preferably in black, not to thin to make it visible when standing far away. Ideally, the marker does not melt in your hand, make a big mess, is easily portable (or can even be put in your pockets).

Over the last years, I've been trying to find a marker alternative that can be used in workshops. The following are alternatives I've been checking.

Kaweco Sketch up pencil 5.6mm

This pencil is really heavy and uses a 5.6mm lead. Sadly, the pencil lead is not really visible in a workshop setting. It comes with a very soft lead with 5B, alternatives are harder to find than I thought due to the thickness of the lead. There are colour replacement mines, that I want to try, but I couldn't find them in shops so far (apart from a white option, that does not really promise contrast on yellow post-it's). It's still a nice pencil for big sketches though, but it's a bit messy with the sharpener and adds a lot of graphite to the hands.

Viability: not a good option with the basic lead.

Sakura Coupy Marker

Found in Japan, these "Markers" look more like a pencil for children. They are advertised as replacement for highlighers and seem to make an easily visible mark. Not sure, if they should be put into a pocket, or if they melt in the hand during a workshop. They seem to come in 3 different colours, different sets have different options. I couldn't find a black one, even though it should be available (based on an interent research).

Viability: to be verified.

Adventures in Game Design