Highlighter Review: Kokuyo Mark+ Dual-Tone Highlighter Marker

August 10, 2024

T.G.S. readers don’t just accumulate their stationery, they use it, so it doesn’t surprise me that one of the more in-demand product categories for reviews is quite practical: The highlighter marker. It’s somewhat difficult to find quality highlighters in the U.S. market. Those available at big-box stores tend to have oversized chisel-tip points, with ink that can pool on the page and bleed through most paper.

I’ve experimented with many different highlighting and annotation techniques over the years, ranging from avoiding highlighters entirely by underlining with colored pencils or gel pens, to using refillable Platinum Preppy markers with specialty “highlighter inks”, to highlighter pencils designed to work on even the thinnest onionskin or Bible paper. I’ve also discovered a subset of specialized stationery: Dual-tone highlighter markers that allow for color-coding and precise annotation.

Kokuyo Dual-Tone Highlighter all color samples with ballpoint ink — Five different colors over ballpoint ink, which does not smear at all. I appreciate that these are dry-ish liquid highlighters.

The specific highlighter markers pictured here are the Kokuyo Mark+ Dual Tone Highlighters, which are notable for their distinctive double tip. While each marker has a specific color (purple, yellow, pink, green, blue, or grey), there are technically two different options in each highlighter: a darker shade and lighter shade of the same color. The dual-tone tip allows for a lot of versatility, as you can easily delineate between important ideas and very important ideas, or you can use the darker color to highlight headers, main concepts, etc., while using the lighter colors to call out quotes and longer passages. The ink is very easy on the eyes, as the muted colors are less eye-searing than other ultra-bright fluorescent highlighters.

Kokuyo Mark+ Highlighter Dual-Tone Colors — The five colors included in the standard 5-pack. All of these are available for purchase individually, along with a grey color that’s not included in the assortment.

Some have commented on one potential drawback to the Mark+ Highlighters: the relatively narrow chisel tip is set at a precise angle and you have to be somewhat careful to ensure a clean line. For me personally, that’s more a feature than a bug: not only do I enjoy the narrower tip (perfect for highlighting small-print legal documents), but without some friction in the process, I tend to go “highlighter happy” when I’m reading. If I’m not mindful of what I’m highlighting, I can end up with large portions of highlighted text that defeat the purpose of a highlighter, which for me is to allow you to easily jump to the most important takeaways and ideas. This added friction is also why I love highlighter pencils and leadholders - the fact that I have to sharpen them periodically forces me to focus by using the highlighter more sparingly on only big-picture concepts.

Kokuyo Mark+ Highlighter Writing Samples — The yellow highlighter over a few different writing samples, from top: (1) Ballpoint pen ink with zero smearing; (2) Caran d’Ache HB pencil lead with zero smearing; (3) Ohto Gel ink with moderate smearing (to be expected); (4) Uni HB Mechanical Pencil lead with zero smearing; (5) Schmidt .7mm Rollerball Refill with fairly significant smearing (also to be expected - hardly anything highlights rollerball ink with out smearing); and (6) Platinum black fountain pen ink without any smearing at all, which surprised me the most. I’ve not had any issue with these highlighters smearing inkjet or laser printer ink.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

The Kokuyo Mark+ is an excellent highlighter for those who require additional versatility in how they annotate, and who regularly work with smaller text that requires a more precise tip. It’s still a liquid ink highlighter marker, and your mileage will vary in terms of how these function on specific types of paper, but overall I’ve had a very good experience using these markers on cheap copy paper and even thinner book papers. As you can see above, they work well for highlighting handwriting in most ink formats, and even where there is some smearing with smudgy inks, the writing remains legible.

In addition to our range of highlighter pencils, I’ve decided to offer these specific highlighter markers for purchase in our own shop. You can buy specific colors individually, or purchase a pack of five.

Kokuyo Mark Plus Highligher 5-Pack — The 5-Pack of the Mark+ Highlighters come with a convenient resealable pouch that has held up well over the nearly two years I’ve owned these.

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program.

Workflows: Resources and Recommendations for Working from Home

October 24, 2020

During the past several months, one of the most common requests I’ve received has been to talk more about my workflow. Now that I’m working from home nearly full time, what tools/products do I use and how do I effectively balance digital and analog in terms of actually getting stuff done? Well, to be honest, I’ve been avoiding the question because I don’t really have a good response yet. Things changed so quickly that I’ve adapted reactively rather than proactively, and my workflow is a mess. In fact, I’m not even sure that I can say that I have one. This past week I actually delved back into my own archive of work-related posts to see if I could figure out how to get myself back on track.

Strategic Paper Replacement. The biggest culprit? File organization, namely what to save on paper and what to save electronically. If left to my own devices, I’ll always print something out and work off a hard copy with pen or pencil, but unless the project requires deep concentration or is especially complex, it’s unnecessary. Moreover, I’m left with a ton of “junk paper” that needs to either be filed or shredded. My solution? I’m going back to the iPad Pro/Apple Pencil, and trying to be more mindful of what I actually print out. Sure, it involves an up-front investment, but now that I’m having to purchase my own printer toner and printer paper (and lots of it), not to mention dedicating my own personal space to storing physical files, it will eventually be a wash.
Workspace Organization. In the “before times,” my home office served primarily as a library/hobby space, but became a combination law office/library/stationery store/file closet overnight. For the first few months I had piles of notebooks, notepads, journals, binders, printed out legal briefs and exhibits, and more stacked up on the desk and floor, in addition to products for the shop, products for review, and my own collections of books and stationery. Over time, I’ve streamlined my desk setup to a core set of items, and it’s actually turned into one of the most pleasant workspaces I’ve ever had. But in order to further reduce the clutter, I don’t have much of a choice other than to “go digital” in strategic areas.
Planning My Time. A couple months ago I wrote about using a planner to structure my days and stay focused, which has helped me in that I actually complete one task before I pick up another. Otherwise half-finished projects start to pile up, adding to the clutter (both mental and physical). Incorporating a timer into my work routine has also helped, though I opt for a gentler hourglass/sandglass timer as opposed to more jarring buzzer or phone timer.
Apps. I’ve never actually written at length on things like apps and productivity software, partly because what I use isn’t exciting. I work primarily in Office, PDF Pro, Dropbox, and Apple’s suite of stock apps like Mail, Notes, TextEdit, and Calendar. Sure, “better” options likely exist, but people get so wrapped up in finding the “ideal” tool for the job that they spend all their time (and money) switching between apps and don’t get any actual work done. I do have a couple of specialized writing apps that I’ve used for years, such as Scrivener and iWriter Pro, and recently I’ve experimented with using the powerful (and free) Notion to manage my content calendar for this site. The challenge for me is to mindfully choose these tools when it makes sense, especially for things like notetaking and annotation where I instinctively reach for a pen.

I’m a work in progress, and fixing my workflow has been more of a struggle for me than it probably should. I love working with physical media, and my brain definitely functions better on paper than on a screen. But at the same time, new systems need to evolve where the sheer volume of documents and information we’re expected to process makes this unmanageable. My goal has always been to choose the best tool for the job, and I’m slowly coming to realize that the best tool for a specific job may not always be my preferred tool.

I’ve been advised that the “Fun iPad” is no longer work appropriate.

If you’d like to hear more about these and similar topics, let me know. I’m definitely open to delving deeper into the intersection between the digital and analog areas of our lives, and for a while I published a newsletter, Digital Divide, addressing these issues. I’ve considered bringing it back, but I’ve never asked the readership. Meanwhile, what work from home challenges are you experiencing? Have any of you had success addressing similar issues transitioning to full-time remote work?

Strategic Paper Replacement: the iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil

December 30, 2015

It's a daily struggle for me to balance my love for stationery and “analog” tools with the convenience and practicality of today’s digital world. As much as I enjoy writing and editing by hand, it’s not always practical, and there are certain circumstances in which it makes absolutely no sense to generate paper that’s only going to end up being thrown out within the week (or even the hour). Case in point: most of the writing that I do for my day job. I take lots of notes on printed copies of PDFs relating to conference calls or meetings in which these documents are being discussed, so at the end of the day, a lot of trees die needlessly because most of this work product isn’t stuff I want to keep around indefinitely. In some cases, I can’t retain it because of confidentiality concerns.

Still, I’m torn about going paperless. The guilt at wasting paper has always been outweighed by my inability to "think on a screen". For as long as I can remember, my personal workflow has relied heavily on handwriting. Many ideas and revisions to thought-intensive pieces such as longer briefs or articles only come to me when I’m curled up in a chair with a pen or pencil and a printed draft (and, depending on the time of day, a cup of coffee or a whiskey). Many of my colleagues can edit documents electronically in Microsoft Word using the "track changes" function. I can’t. My work product when I use this kind of workflow is, frankly, 100% crap. There’s something about taking a pencil or pen to a physical copy of a draft piece of writing that’s almost irreplaceable to me. I say almost, because the combination of the recently released iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil strikes the perfect balance for certain kinds of work.

Justification

I didn’t need much convincing to pick up an iPad Pro the week it was released. It was a relatively expensive purchase, especially once you take into account the keyboard case and the Pencil, but I can honestly say that in my 10+ years of work life, this is the computer product that I’ve been waiting years for: a legal-pad sized electronic clipboard that has a usable handwriting function. I tried this a couple years ago and failed miserably (no thank you, Dell Latitude XT), but I suspected that Apple, of all companies, would get this right. One caveat: as I’ll discuss, the Pencil is what makes this product work for me. Pencil availability has improved since launch, but if you can’t get one, I’d recommend waiting if your needs are similar to mine.

Honestly, which would you prefer to carry around with you?  iPad Pro is shown here in the Logitech Create case, which at launch was an excellent external keyboard option but since iOS 9.2 launched I've found it to be buggy (i.e., missed keystro… — Honestly, which would you prefer to carry around with you? iPad Pro is shown here in the Logitech Create case, which at launch was an excellent external keyboard option but since iOS 9.2 launched I've found it to be buggy (i.e., missed keystrokes and a lot of lag). Lately I've used the Moko Ultra Slim with an Apple wireless keyboard.

Performance

To justify the expense, I needed the iPad Pro to do two things well: (1) let me extensively annotate PDF’s in small, legible handwriting; and (2) allow me to take legible handwritten meeting notes at the same pace that I could if I were writing with pen/pencil on paper. So far, I haven’t been disappointed.

I’ve used two apps for PDF annotation: iAnnotate, which is one of the first iPad Apps that I ever bought, and PDFExpert. Both are great, but of the two, I prefer PDFExpert. The latter has better Dropbox integration, the annotation functions are more intuitive, and handwritten comments are more legible. I can’t gush enough over how the ability to mark up and circulate draft documents directly from iPad has has improved my work life not only by saving me time, but by eliminating waste. I’m a pretty organized person, but for years I’ve felt like I was drowning in a sea of scrap paper. The iPad Pro has eliminated a lot of that junk, and those critics who always used to carp at me for dumping handwritten comments on them are somewhat less vocal, now that I can quickly e-mail them an electronic document reflecting my changes, rather than attempt to legibly scan comments that were written in fountain pen ink that's bled through cheap copy paper.

PDF Annotation using the iPad Pro, the Apple Pencil, and Readdle's PDF Expert 5.

For handwritten notes, I’ve lived mainly in Apple's Notes app, though I’ve also played around with Microsoft OneNote. The Pencil works well in both apps, though I’ve found that the pressure sensitivity and line variation work best in Notes. I’m thinking about experimenting a bit and moving certain research and planning-intensive projects (both work-related and personal) over to OneNote, because its a very powerful tool for organizing large amounts of information, but for taking notes on one-off meetings and conference calls, Notes works just fine. (Especially since I can e-mail notes to myself and file them away in Outlook on our corporate e-mail system. Due to security concerns and an archaic network structure, this is pretty much the only way to sync anything to the system from phone or tablet apps.) Either way, the benefit to me is the same: I no longer have multiple project-specific legal pads or notebooks stacked up on my desk, filled with information that doesn’t warrant long-term retention, that’s not easily searchable, and that I’ll likely end up shredding anyway due to secure storage considerations.

The top portion of this writing sample was written with the Adonis Jot Pro, probably the best of the pre-Pencil iPad Styli that I tried, and the one that had the finest tip.  Compare with the Apple Pencil and note the obvious difference in hand… — The top portion of this writing sample was written with the Adonis Jot Pro, probably the best of the pre-Pencil iPad Styli that I tried, and the one that had the finest tip. Compare with the Apple Pencil and note the obvious difference in handwriting legibility.

I'm a decent artist at best, so if you want to see what the iPad Pro can do as a digital sketchbook, go here.

The Apple Pencil is well-balanced--about the length of a woodcase pencil that's been sharpened two or three times--making it a very comfortable length for writing.  Myke Hurley wrote an excellent piece for The Pen Addict, in which he discusses … — The Apple Pencil is well-balanced--about the length of a woodcase pencil that's been sharpened two or three times--making it a very comfortable length for writing. Myke Hurley wrote an excellent piece for The Pen Addict, in which he discusses the construction and build of the Pencil in more detail.

Handwriting on the iPad Pro

Just how good of a “paper” replacement is the new iPad? The best that I’ve experienced. My problem with every other tablet styli I’ve tried has been the absence of line variation in my handwriting, as well as horrific palm rejection technology and latency (which refers to the lag between making a mark on the tablet with the stylus and the tablet registering your input). While neither are perfect on the iPad Pro, the experience is good enough to remove the mental blocks to working on digital paper. If you’re like me, you know what I’m referring to—the inability to get lost in whatever it is you’re doing because you constantly have to pay attention to the position of the stylus, whether you’ve lost any of your words/lines due to latency issues, etc. Previously, this inability to focus on whatever it is I was doing far outweighed the convenience of having digital notes. I’ve been using the iPad Pro and the Pencil since November, and once you get past the novelty factor, it’s possible to forget that you’re no longer writing on paper. I wouldn’t choose to write a novel or anything long form using the tablet (mainly for ergonomic reasons), but for meeting notes, brainstorming, and mind mapping, it’s perfect.

The Importance of the Apple Pencil

The Pencil is central to my iPad Pro experience. Without it, you could safely say that the iPad Pro is, in effect, nothing more than a bigger iPad. A very powerful iPad to be sure, with a gorgeous retina screen, but without the Pencil and the added handwriting functionality it offers, it wouldn’t serve any need of mine that my existing iPad Air 2 or MacBook Pro couldn’t meet. It bothers me that Apple released the iPad Pro with the Pencil in such short supply.

The Pencil essentially takes the iPad Pro and creates a different product category. Using the Pencil, I’ve been able to streamline my workflow in a way I’ve dreamed of but never been able to do before. It replaces pen and paper, to a certain extent, but it also works well enough with an external keyboard to serve as a reliable laptop replacement: I sold the MacBook Pro. (I haven’t gone entirely Mac-less: I have an iMac at home that I use for heavy photo editing and photo-intensive blog publishing, some writing, and remote access into the computer system at my office. Otherwise, however, there’s very little a laptop can do for me that the iPad Pro can’t.)

I don’t regret shelling out the cash for the iPad Pro and its accessories. Lately, for me it’s all been about simplifying my work life and workflows by eliminating unnecessary clutter—even analog clutter—that no longer brings me joy and creates mental blocks. For large chunks of my workday, generating excess paper by writing certain things out by hand in the traditional sense left me feeling stressed and constantly overwhelmed. The iPad Pro has helped me significantly in that regard, and if you have a similar need (and can find a Pencil), I can give Apple's latest iPad entry my wholehearted recommendation.

DISCLAIMER: This post contains affiliate links, through which I may be compensated a small amount if you make a purchase from certain sites linked to in this article. While I'd greatly appreciate it if you use these links to purchase something you are interested in, you are, of course, under no obligation to do so. Many thanks!