Going analogue with mechanical pencils

Most of my charts start with a pencil sketch. I burn literally through piles of paper when designing a presentation (a good use of those 1-sided print outs you do not need anymore). So what are my favorite pencils?

When I started at McKinsey, the Pentel P205 was my initial favorite. Per pencil, it is actually very cheap. That was exactly the problem, people considered it cheap enough to borrow it all the time. I kept on buying new ones.

I experimented with various much more expensive pencils only to discover that these are actually pieces of jewelry rather than sketching instruments. Beautiful to look at, but not very useful. Check out the site of Joon Pens in New York to see some examples.

Recently I discovered Lamy pencils as the perfect in-between. Two pencils are my favorite. First there is the classic Lamy 2000. Designed at the end of the sixties, and still in production pretty much unchanged. A beautiful minimalist look, very light and a nice, almost wood-like feel. People say that over time the mat finish will wear off at those spots where you hold the pencil though.

I use a 0.7mm pencil for regular writing. But when it comes to sketching a wider pencil is much better. The Lamy Scribble comes in a version with a 3.15mm fill. It has a very nice grip and is beautiful to let your creativity go.

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