Back-to-School Essentials 2020
Back to school shopping is even more difficult this year with all of these online classes. We’ve always believed that success in the contemporary world relies on adaptability, and we advocate for using both digital and analog tools together. With so much learning online this year, it’s even more important to give your eyes a break by using analog tools where you can!
Pictured here are a variety of ClaireFontaine notebooks, various colours of the Pilot G-Tec 0.4 pens, a Life! Margin notebook, and a Rotring 800 pencil.
We’ve put together this list of back-to-school essentials with adaptability and a student budget in mind. You can use these products comfortably at home, but they’ll also be great to take with you to in-person classes, whether those will resume this semester, the next, or sometime later. After all, your tools should be as resilient as you are!
Remember, in the spirit of back-to-school, all in stock Leuchtturm1917 planners and notebooks are up to 15% off until August 31, 2020. Looking for more back-to-school suggestions? Check out the “Back to Learning” section on our website! Bonus? Use the code “Study10” at checkout for 10% off your online order.
Whether you’re heading back to high school, college, university, or just the school of life in September, good luck for the year ahead!
TWSBI ECo
The TWSBI Eco, which we detailed in a previous blog post, is an excellent choice for students. Though other classic choices for an on-the-go student pen, like the Lamy Safari or the Pilot Metropolitan, are also excellent for a pencil case, they will run out of ink in half the time of the TWSBI Eco! These pens are budget friendly, hold a huge amount of ink, and write smoothly. They also come in a bunch of fun colours, including the new special edition cement grey, and you’ll never forget to fill up the ink when you’re getting low because of the transparent barrel.
Lamy Bottled Ink
Though we love a good pink or purple ink, a lot of the time you’ll probably want to write your notes in either blue or black ink. We recommend Lamy black or blue (or even blue-black) because Lamy has beautiful, saturated colours without being distracting. These inks also write fairly balanced, so you can flip pages quickly without smearing your writing. These bottles also come with some built-in blotting paper, which is perfect for filling in a tight space like a dorm room.
Pictured here is the Leuchtturm1917 Week Planner & Notebook in the colour Bellini.
Clairefontaine age bag notebook
There are so many student-friendly notebooks in the store that it’s hard to pick just one! We usually recommend Rhodia for students, but ClaireFontaine has the same high quality paper with a different aesthetic. Where Rhodia is a bit more industrial-looking, the ClaireFontaine Age Bag clothbound notebooks look clean and polished without being expensive. They come in multiple sizes to suit your needs, but we think A5 is the perfect size to take with you anywhere while still having enough room to write everything down. You can also choose from lined, blank, dotted, or grid and from a variety of colours.
Leuchtturm1917 Planner
Even if you’re 100% online for your classes, there’s still a pretty significant chance that your life will be a whole lot busier starting in September! The Academic planners from Leuchtturm1917 are perfect for keeping all of your classes, appointments, due dates, and extracurriculars on track. Choose from the Week Planner, which has all the times of the day pre-printed for you to fill in, or the Week Planner & Notebook planners, which have a notes page for each week (so you have lots of extra space to plan ahead, meal prep, track your readings, or anything else you want to keep an eye on).
Blackwing Pencil
Blackwing pencils, a classic we can’t talk about enough, are a great addition to any pencil case for writing down things you might need to erase later on. In store, we sell the pencils individually, and they’re super affordable for the quality you’re getting. Whether you’re drawing, writing, or both, these pencils will make the experience much more enjoyable. As a bonus, they also fit into the Leuchtturm1917 pen loops, which makes them an easy add-on to your planner.
Appointed Eraser
If you’re getting an eye-catching pencil, you deserve an eye-catching eraser. One of our favourite brands in the store is Appointed, and the company’s Classic Gum Eraser is a stylish and affordable option. It works well on all paper types, plus it feels great in your hand! In addition to looking great on its own, it also comes with a cotton carrying bag to keep off pesky pencil shavings and dust that might accumulate in your pencil case.
Pilot G-Tec
Stylish, affordable, and easy for taking wherever you go! Pictured here are the Appointed Classic Gum Eraser, Blackwing 602, Blackwing Matte, Appointed Pencil, and Midori Aluminum Folding Ruler.
The Pilot G-Tec series is an excellent choice for students because of its fun colours, affordable price, and buttery smooth ink. The lines are ultra-fine, and you can get them in 0.3 or 0.4 tip sizes. When you’re finished with them, you can unscrew the barrel from the ink cartridge to replace the ink inside, also saving plastic for a more environmentally friendly gel pen option.
Midori Aluminum Folding Ruler
Whether you’re actually measuring lengths for your program or you just want to make a straight line in your planner, these Midori Aluminum Folding Rulers are just adorable. They fold in half to save space, meaning that they should just tuck away in your pencil case to take on the go. On top of being small, they are also pretty flat, so you could even tuck them in the back pocket of a notebook or planner, like the back pockets in the Leuchtturm1917 planners and notebooks!
What would you recommend for a student returning to class online? Give us your suggestions in the comments!