Which pen is right for you?

In our range, the most common pens you'll encounter are fountain pens, rollerball pens and ballpoint pens. You'll also find some mechanical pencils, and multi-function pens that offer more than one way of writing. Let's start with the basics first, and find the one that fits you.

Most pens you come across in everyday life will be ballpoint pens. Using an oil-based ink that's pressed onto the page by the ball tip that gives the pen type its name, ballpoints are instantly familiar and easy to use. The ink dries quickly and writes easily on lots of surfaces, which makes a ballpoint a great option to keep in your bag so you're ready to jot something down at a moment's notice.

A lot of ballpoint pens are disposable, which not only means a poor writing experience, but they're also awful for the environment. You don't need to break the bank or the planet to enjoy a well-crafted, durable ballpoint pen, though. As with all pens in our range, every ballpoint pen at Milligram offers a smooth, reliable experience, and can be refilled for life-long writing pleasure to make sure you get your money's worth and more.

Rollerball pens have a lot in common with ballpoints, and it can be hard to tell one from the other (we've got a full explainer article here if you'd like to know more). The quick answer, though, is the ink – though both pens use a ball to deliver the ink to the page, a rollerball pen's ink is water-based, and flows more freely than a ballpoint's ink does. That greater flow of ink translates to thicker, more vivid lines on the page, and the extra ink also helps the rollerball pen to glide more gracefully over the page.

That extra ink can take a little longer to dry, so rollerball pens can smudge more than a ballpoint when writing quickly, but the expressive lines add a vibrant feel to your handwriting that's perfect for letters, cards and gifts.

As the name implies, fountain pens have a generous flow of ink that offers a kind of elegant, exquisite handwriting that other pens simply can't match. The fountain pen's internal chamber of water-based ink flows down to the pen's metal nib, allowing the pen to dance across the page in style. Different nib options will offer more or less ink flow, and can even change the shape of the nib to create striking calligraphy, but no matter which you choose, the experience of writing with a fountain pen feels impossibly smooth.

Like rollerball pens, all that ink on the page can lead to smudging, and you'd be wise to pair your fountain pen with high-quality paper, but the sensation of using a fountain pen is something every stationery lover should try. It may seem too fancy, and maybe even too tricky, but beautifully designed fountain pens like LAMY's safari teach you how to hold it without you even noticing, and in an instant your hand can be dancing across the page.

Ballpoint, rollerball and fountain pens are the most common types, but maybe those aren't quite right for you. Maybe you're doing lots of sketching and designing – a mechanical pencil uses a slim graphite rod to offer all the subtlety and nuance of a traditional pencil without needing to be sharpened, making it an excellent option for mess-free work that's easy to erase when you've worked out the right angle. (We've also got top-quality, old-fashioned pencils too, if that's more your speed).

Or if you're torn between pen types, a multi-function pen might be the all-in-one solution for you. Whether you want a single pen with more ballpoint colours to choose from like Hightide's 4 Colour Pen or a combo of ballpoint pen and mechanical pencil like OHTO's MULTI 2+1, a multi-function pen opens up your options without taking up extra space in your pencil case.

Choosing a pen is as much about style as function, though, so if you didn't see the pen that screamed 'you' already, great news – we've got a huge range of pens to suit every taste, so take a look, and find the perfect pen for you.