Lately I’ve been obsessed with checking out people’s planners and agendas on Instagram (just check out #plannerlove or #planneraddict). I’ve noticed quite a few people showing off notepads that they found in the dollar section of Target.
They’re pretty cute-looking notepads, but I was curious about the quality.
- Would the paper be too flimsy?
- Would ink bleed through?
- Would it even be tough to lay ink down on the paper?
I figured some of you might have similar questions, so I did a little test with different types of pens.
The Arsenal
Paper Mate Write Bros
Pilot Precise V7
Paper Mate Flair
Pilot G2
Paper Mate InkJoy 300 RT
Sharpie Pen
The Test
- With each pen, I wrote on the first page of each list pad to see how the pen looked on the paper.
- Then, I turned the page over to check two things:
- Can you see the ink on the other side of the paper?
- Did ink bleed through to the second page of the list pad?
Here’s What I Found
On laying ink down:
- The light colored pads performed the best: the paper was smooth but took the ink well.
- The blue notepad had a bit more trouble getting ink to stick to it, especially with the pink pens.
- The kraft paper was tough on the ballpoint pens, not smooth at all; the gel pen worked the best here.
On see-through:
- Ballpoints and felt tips were the least offensive. You could probably get away with using this type of pen on both sides of the page.
- The paper was too thin in most cases for rollerball or gel ink and you could still see the writing from the back.
On bleed-through to the second page:
- No issues here.
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of these “cheap” notepads. I’ll have to keep an eye out for future designs to add to the collection.
Hope that was helpful to you guys! Let me know in the comments if you’d like to see more posts like this!
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Photos edited by RadLab. (Affiliate Link)
