Our Favorite Study Tools
I've been very fortunate to spend a lot of time over the last few months studying - which sounds like an odd thing to say, but I absolutely love learning. Whether it's a new language, or things for project management, or even strategies for playing my favorite games, I take lots of handwritten notes to help remember things. I've got my own thoughts on strategies for continued learning, but for this post, I wanted to focus on some of my favorite tools I've been using.
The first I'd like to touch on, is the Nahvalur Triad Fountain Pen.
I've been a big fan of Nahvalur products for a while, and this introductory model is no different - it has the same awesome in-house steel nib that's standard on their higher end model, but housed in a much more affordable, travel-friendly ABS plastic body. The triangular shape of this pen (for which it takes its namesake) makes the body of this pen easy to hold for fountain pen newbies and die-hard fans alike, and folks have options of medium and fine for the nib. I've been using a fine nib myself, and the default Nahvalur black ink that comes with this pen and have been very happy with the quality. The fine nib feels more like a European fine, in that it is a thicker line than I'm perhaps used to - but it's smooth action on even rough paper and the seemingly never-ending cartridge (seriously, this single cartridge has been going since December of 2025) I've put in more than makes up for that. I've noticed no ghosting or bleed-through on paper, making the default ink a nice choice. The price point is also a big selling feature of this guy - at $22, it's not the cheapest entry point on the market, but it is one of the nicest and has a more substantial feel to it than most pens at this price point.
My second recommended product, is the Nakabayashi Logical line of notebooks - These threadbound fountain-pen-friendly notebooks lay perfectly flat, making them a great writing choice for any studious note-taker. I'm a big fan of the way Nakabayashi lines their notebooks as well - the standard ruling includes additional dotted lines between lines, allowing you to divide a page into fourths, thirds, or in half. There's also grid-lines, allowing you to create charts where need be (please enjoy my video game raiding notes below that show how I take advantage of these lines to make charts and images).
The final product that I want to touch on is a favorite of many: The Zebra Mildliner. These wonder-highlighters come in a broad array of colors that are light-fast, and soft on the eyes, making sure your content is the focus of your notes - not the highlighter. These pens are dual-tipped, coming with a bullet point marker tip that's great for free form doodles and coloring, and a chisel tip for block highlighting. These pens also don't bleed through, making them perfect for thin paper books like Bibles and Japanese-style planners.
Looking for other options?
Zebra Sarasa Vintage Color Gel Pens: these pens are hands down our favorite gel pens, with archival quality, water resistant, smudge-proof ink that works great with highlighters of all types. The different colors make them great for color coding various notes, and making studying fun!
Kokuyo Campus Notebooks: With convenient color coding options and enhanced durability, these are the notebooks to use for school. Kokuyo's campus notebooks feature a special film, which allows for heavy-handed ballpoint users to go to town fast jotting without risk of tearing. These notebooks also feature triangular reference points like Nakabayashi's Logical line which allows for drawing of precise vertical lines to make graphs as needed.
ZIG Clean Color Real Brush: Looking for something with "oomf" for your notes? Need to doodle? We love ZIG's clean color real brush markers for their highly pigmented colors and real brush feel. These make for great calligraphy tools, or coloring in line art.
Word to the wise though, the highly pigmented nature of these pens may create bleed-through on thin papers, and they take a while for your next art piece to dry.
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