The Ambassador’s edit – our top four Zebra pens for summer 2024
“When the right pen hits the right paper, there’s a little bit of magic.” – Marshall Fine, journalist
Finding your feel-good pen
Putting your favourite pen to paper – it’s one of life’s ultimate feel-good moments.
When the right pen meets the right paper, writing feels effortless. A favourite pen can be a creative ‘lightning conductor’ – channelling insights and emotions almost as fast as you can think them.
Whether you’re starting a new term, a new job or a new journal come this autumn, you’ll want to make sure you’ve got a fabulous selection of pens at your fingertips. So, we asked our Zebra Pen Brand Ambassadors to share their top Zebra pen choices this summer, in time for you to stock up on old favourites, or experiment with something new.
Here are their top choices for summer 2024.
Mildliners – the headline highlighters
“My absolute studying must-have! I always restock my most used colours during back-to-school season – I can’t get enough of marigold and lemon yellow!!” – Sophie
Five stars from so many of our Ambassadors for this Zebra classic, celebrating its 15th birthday this year in Japan. One of the original slimline highlighters to fit snugly in every pencil case, Mildliners are both stylish and practical. “They make my lecture notes look so much better,” says Amber, “which really motivates me. My notes would be a scribbly mess otherwise!”
With their trademark double-ended combo of chisel tip for highlighting and fine tip for detail, Mildliners are the go-to highlighter for people who like to organise and plan. Whether you opt for a 5-pack, a 10 or a 15, your colour combinations are endless. “Try layering one highlighter on top of another to create a unique shade” suggests Amanda, our gifted bird illustrator.
“Mildliners are great for both bold and muted colours and I can blend them so easily.” They’re perfect for creating colourful and memorable study notes, or colour-coding topics. Chloe, a primary school teacher, has been using Mildliners with her pupils too. This term, “They’ve been learning about space, and the Mildliners were a top fave when colouring the planets!”
Mildliner Brush – for creative master strokes
“Mildliner Brush pens are a perfect match with the Mildliner highlighters. I use them to create stylish, standout titles for all my notes!” – Sophie
There’s something intensely satisfying about the sweep of a Mildliner Brush tip across the page. It’s almost like ‘stroking’ the paper. Like the original Mildliners, the Brush pens are double-ended with a fine tip for detailed illustration, plus a brush tip. Addictive for fans of calligraphy, or for embellishing headings and title pages. And those super fine bullet tips mean you can annotate notes in minute detail.
Follow the official global Mildliner account on Instagram for more ideas on how to use your Mildliners. And check out our new Mildliner Gentle palette here.
Z-Grip Smooth and Z-Grip Gel 0.7
“Super-smooth ink makes these just lovely to write with! With their 0.7mm nib, Z-Grip gel pens are perfect for my study notes!” – Peach
No pencil case, handbag or top pocket is complete without a Z-Grip Smooth – the pen you’ll use every day – whether you’re writing a dissertation, or a diary entry. It’s our go-to retractable ballpoint, available in a pack of five colours, and in black-only packs – ideal to kick off that new term. If you need to get your ideas down on paper quickly, a Z-Grip will keep you smudge-free, smear-free and stress-free!
Z-Grip Smooth pens are also available in a range of different barrel designs, from polka dot to pastel; animal print to marble; floral or rainbow – there’s a design to suit every mood or occasion – you can even coordinate with your pencil case or outfit. Look out for limited edition designs and retailer exclusives to add to your collection.
Our Z-Grip Smooth is now available in a gel form too, which will give all your work an extra edge of professionalism. You’ll find the new gel Z-Grip in-store at Asda, so add it to your back-to-school checklist: ‘iPhone – air pods – bus pass – Z-Grip’!
Sarasa Clip gel pens – feel the difference
“A black pen is an essential item for my journalling and my favourite is the 0.5 Sarasa Clip gel pen.” – Alex
This is another go-to pen of our Ambassadors, and when you hold one in your hand, you’ll feel why. Because it’s a blended mix of ballpoint and gel pen, a Sarasa clip gives you the precision of a felt tip with a finer nib – you’ve a choice of 0.7 fine, and 0.5 super-fine – ideal for making neat, legible margin notes, or journal entries.
“It’s so smooth to write with and just the right size nib for adding to my pages,” says Alex. “The Sarasa Clip is the pen I must find before sitting down with my journal.”
Plus, a Sarasa is designed to write on almost any surface, dry in seconds, and it comes with a moulded clip, so you can ‘click-clip-and-go’ if you’re dashing between lectures or meetings.
To celebrate summer, we’ve launched a limited-edition Sarasa Clip ‘Stripes’ range.
Available in five assorted colours with a 0.7 nib and easy-hold rubber grip barrel, this fun design, can be purchased on Amazon.
According to fashion psychologists, a love of stripes is a sign of a multi-tasker, so we can totally relate!
Matchmaking your pen to your task
“When I’m ‘memory keeping’ in my journal, I need a comfy pen that can keep up with the flow of my thoughts – like the smooth gel Sarasas.” – Lois
Selecting just the right pen to bring your creative designs to life can free your imagination.
“I’ve got two favourite Zebra pens – the Sarasas and the Mildliners,” says Peach. “I love the minimalistic dual tip of the Mildliners and that gorgeous smooth ink of the Sarasa pens.”
Lois agrees, “If I need to get something done that I don’t want to do, I pick my favourite pens to motivate me – a Sarasa purple 0.7 and a Mildliner combo!”
Finding the perfect blend of person, pen and paper
Your perfect pen should feel beautifully balanced in your hand and a pleasure to write with. But most importantly, it should make you feel proud of everything you create on the page, from your monthly bujo page to those lecture notes, or a to-do list.
After all, everything’s achievable, when you’re using your favourite pen!