If you are like me, you may have probably wondered for a long time why blue pen seems to be the most popular ink colour and why most people, institutions, and the likes prefer it to other colours.
Let’s settle this once and for all, what is so special about blue pens, why are other colours of pens not as popular, are there any logical explanations to justify this? or any special features or characteristics?
So, why are pens blue? Yes, there are other colours of pen, blue pens, however, have somehow managed to become more popular than other colours of pen.
Except for black pens, blue pens are likely the most widely used colour of pen worldwide. The reason for this is well-rooted in the history of ink development as well as the contrast of the colour blue on white paper and the ease with which it can be scanned or photocopied.
You may have asked yourself at some point about how come we never tried other colours such as green and violet, how come blue and black seem to be the standard and how did people come to settle for these two colours.
Why some may try to dismiss blue-coloured pen as being the most common and widely used ink colour, research and statistics speak differently.
Contents
Why blue pens are the most common
Before getting to where we are today in terms of the modern type of synthetic pigment used in today’s pen, different types of ink preceded the era of breakthrough.
One of the most outstanding and remarkable fronts in the history of ink development is the discovery of “iron gall ink”.
This was around the 19th and 20th centuries when the Europeans were able to make an ink whose most prominent feature was its ability to stay on longer than other types of inks available.
This was the “iron gall ink” which was formulated from a combination of “iron salts” and tannic acid. The tannic acid was derived from a vegetable known as oak galls.
This gave the ink its name- “iron gall ink”. Unlike previous inks, this could stick to parchments better than “carbon-based inks” and be also waterproof, that is, could not be washed off with water. This made it more permanent than other types of inks.
“Iron gall ink” hard a dark blue to black colour when it dries up. However, it may turn brown after a considerable period. The ink seam does not have any limitations or drawbacks except for the fact that tannin, one of its components were corrosive, making the ink degrade the parchment after a while.
Later on, around the middle of the 20th century, different types of inks were developed to overcome the corrosive drawback of “iron gall ink”.
Some of these non-corrosive inks were waterproof similar to “iron gall ink” while others were not. They were made in various colours unlike “iron gall ink”.
However, due to how popular “iron gall ink” had become, it remained in use, especially by government officials for government documents, and could not be toppled over by these new inventions.
One of the primary reasons for this was its feature of permanence, this made it relevant irrespective of its drawback. Most historians have linked the wide usage of blue or black ink pens to this history of “iron gall ink”. Now you know why pens are predominantly blue or black. This came from the colour of the “iron gall ink.
Why this is an acceptable explanation, it still does not explain why even after the discovery of other pigments, some of which looked fancier on paper than blue or black, we are still stuck with blue pens.
To answer this, it is important to mention that the essence of writing is for it to be read later on either by the writer or another reader. Therefore, readability or legibility is central.
The other types of ink colours such as green, violet, and others are not as readable as blue pens. Also, when a document is originally written in blue pen, the original copy can easily be differentiated from its photocopied copy. For this reason, blue is a preferred ink in many instances over black. This does not mean there are no instances where black is preferred over blue.
Before the advent of coloured printers, the then available old printers could only print in black colours, this meant that documents appearing in black inks were generally considered printed, while those in blue inks were seen as handwritten. Therefore, if a handwritten document is done in black, it could easily be mistaken as a printed document.
With coloured printing, some of these issues have now been resolved, however, given that human beings are “creatures of habit”, most people to date stick to this norm and refuse to bulge.
Differentiating handwritten documents from the printed types or a photocopy from an original copy is crucial in certain instances such as in legal practice where this has legal implications.
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The psychology of blue pen
Before this time, I never would have believed the type of pen one uses had anything to do with psychology or tells anything about the individual’s personality.
Well, it turns out I was wrong for thinking so. It turns out the preferred colour for school students had some psychology behind it and this colour was not just chosen randomly.
Certain colours have been shown to influence the brain’s learning process, there are colours that reading, learning, and memorization are easier, hence they are prescribed for students and people in research fields.
Remember how you feel whenever you see a sunflower, it gives the feeling of a nice warm summer day on the beach with fresh air blowing on your cheeks and being in complete peace with nature. This tells you that colours do have a massive effect on your psychology.
There are lots of researches out there which have shown that the colour of pen you write with can affect your mood, that is make you feel better or worse, brighten up your name the same way as seeing a flower does, help you to remain focused and attentive to what you are reading or studying and helps improve higher brain cognitive functions, such as helping you understand better.
Pen colours somehow how much you remember from what your read, it affects how you perceive the information that is being presented in the write-up.
It is for similar reasons, presenters take their time when preparing a PowerPoint presentation, ensuring that the slides are designed with colours that keep the audience’s attention, ease their understanding of the presentation and make the presentation look elegant and well presented.
Some have explained the reason behind blue pen popularity based on this psychology. Blue colours have a calming and soothing effect on the human brain.
A write-up in blue is soothing to the eyes and calming on the brain. This enhances your mood as well as your comprehension abilities. Aside from pens, blue colours are also used to paint office walls following their role in increasing productivity.
Aside from blue, other colours also impact certain types of psychology, black for example is generally considered an elegant colour, writeups in black look more elegant, and sophisticated than those in blue and also paint a more formal scenario.
It makes it easy for information to be retained, hence it is also one of the common pen colours in most formal education settings.
Red pens are known for drawing attention. Whenever the colour red appears in a document, readers are quickly drawn to it and the point to be of significant value and worth the attention.
Red pens are usually associated with danger, failure, or error signals. It is for this reason school teachers use it to assess tests and exams administered to students.
Similarly, while typing any work on Microsoft, errors are usually underlined in red lines, drawing your attention to mistakes made while typing.
How blue pens came to become the standard ink
Before this time, say sometime around 1200 B.C.E, inks were been produced from soot and oil in China, later on around the 4th century in India, charred bones and tar were being used to produce ink. Black inks became the commonest because of the ease in their production the fact that is a “neutrally occurring colour.
it was until the 20th century that the world finally understood how to mass-produce other types of ink of different colours.
However, based on familiarity from the use of the blue-black coloured “iron gall ink” people got accustomed to blue and black ink and made them the gold standard.
This was further reinforced by their application in legal practice and the limitation of the printers and scanners of those days which could not print or scan other unusual colours properly.
What the colour of the pen says about your personality
Those who love to make use of blue pen may not realize it, but the colour of the pen you prefer to write in could tell more about your personality than you could ever have imagined.
Blue pen users are most sensitive and have a warm and welcoming personality based on some studies. There are mostly outgoing and caring and are best suited for careers such as nursing.
Black pen users are usually the conversation type, hide their emotions and think with their heads. Loves authority and prefers to take the lead.
Red pen users are most likely attention seekers, loves to be the centre of attraction, and are usually “emotionally passionate.”. While this may not apply to everyone, it sure applies to me and some other persons around me.
Pen colours and where they are applicable
Most job application forms require the applicant to fill them up in the black pen, ensure to read the instruction properly.
The blue pen is preferred in credit card applications and the signing of books, and checks, black may raise suspicion of fraudulent intentions.
Legal handwritten documents are preferred in blue while government officials mostly write in black. Blue is required in some instances while black is required in others.
Why Are Pens Blue – Conclusion
Readability, historical familiarity, psychology, effects of color on personality are some of the reasons blue pen has predominated other colors as the standard to this day. let’s hear from you what you think about writing with a blue pen.
