11 Jan Avery See-Through Sticky Notes
Like most desk dwellers, book lovers, and frequent note takers, I love post-its and sticky notes- particularly the ones that are lined. In my opinion, they’re one of the best office supply inventions ever, and by far one of the most convenient ways for me to keep up with all things I “shoulda/woulda/coulda.” So when I recently spotted the Avery See-Through Sticky Notes at a local retailer, I thought it was a pretty neat concept and decided to give them a try. But first I had to get over the sticker shock.
After design, the next thing that caught my eye about the Avery See-Through Sticky Notes was the price. At $3 for 50 sheets, I found them to be pricey. Especially considering that at the same store, a 3-pack of standard Avery Sticky Notes with 450 sheets only costs $4. Now I realize that specialty products almost always typically cost more, but in this case I think the price difference is a bit excessive. Never-the-less, I purchased them, and came home and made a few notes.
The packaging suggests that the See-Through Sticky Notes work best with “ballpoint pens, permanent markers, and pencils.” So as part of my initial test run, I tried them all out and included a gel ink pen just for kicks.
As you can see from the pictures below, the Sharpie by far worked out the best. Not only did the ink dry quickly, but the boldness against the paper made it really stand out. The ballpoint pen worked pretty well too, but there was minimal skipping.
The pencil gave me my most surprising result. The pressure from the lead actually scraped the color off the note, giving it a stenciled appearance that was very noticeable and distracting. I initially wrote with a mechanical pencil and wondered if this was the issue, but even a standard #2 resulted in the same look. Finally, coming in last was the gel ink pen. As I suspected (and to Avery’s defense, the gel pen was not recommended) mixing the gel ink and the Note’s smooth surface was a poor combination, resulting in a faded out appearance and smudging.
All-in-all, I’d say the Avery See-Through Sticky Notes do deliver on being transparent, easily removable, and working best with permanent markers and ballpoint pens. But I’d steer clear of using them with pencils. And at $3 a package, they definitely won’t replace your normal sticky. However, they’re a good find for anyone who takes notes in books and other materials where information is obscured by traditional stickys.
