Core77

Japanese Over-Design FTW: The Beetle 3-Way Highlighter

Because monopoint, monochromatic highlighters are for amateurs

By Rain Noe - August 14, 2015

in Object Culture

Never thought I'd have a follow-up post for "Japanese Over-Design FTW: A Highlighter with a See-Through Tip," but apparently the island of Nihon is not through with highlighter design innovation. Pen manufacturer Kokuyo has a model called the Beetle Tip 3 Way Highlighter Pen:

Enter a caption (optional)

Jokes about over-design aside, I could actually see this dual-color model being useful for highlighting figures on a sheet—say, using one color to highlight numbers that have exceeded expectations, another color to tag the ones that need improvement.

On the other hand, the intended functionality of the monochromatic models seems a little iffy to me:

Enter a caption (optional)

Unlike a lot of unique Japanese products, these aren't tricky to find; they can be had on Amazon, nine bucks and change for a five-pack.

That's for the monochromatic ones. The dual-color jammies are $5.80 for a three-pack.

o
1

Favorite This
Q
1

Comment

Comments

Tahl Swieca

9 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

Also pretty sure this came out of Kokuyo's design competition, in which the winning product goes into production. Some great stuff has come out of that - could warrant a whole article of its own.

Unfortunately these look better than they actually are. I struggled to get a thin enough line out of the bulb tip to be useful. Seems as if surface tension is the enemy.

!Report as spam

Share your thoughts

Join over 240,000 designers who stay up-to-date with the Core77 newsletter.
Subscribe
Test it out; it only takes a single click to unsubscribe

Directory Company Profiles

Core77
Industrial Design
Resources

K

{

Welcome

jSign In with Core77 Account

Email or Username
Password Forgot password?
Keep me signed in

Cancel

Don't have an account? Join Now

K

{

Welcome

Create a Core77 Account

jJoin Now with Email

Email Not Public
Username
Password
Confirm Password
Cancel

Already have an account? Sign In

By creating a Core77 account you confirm that you accept the Terms of Use

K

Reset Password

Please enter your email and we will send an email to reset your password.

Japanese Over-Design FTW: The Beetle 3-Way Highlighter

Because monopoint, monochromatic highlighters are for amateurs

Comments

Join over 240,000 designers who stay up-to-date with the Core77 newsletter.

Directory Company Profiles

Core77 Directory

K

Welcome

K

Welcome

K

Reset Password

Join over 240,000 designers who stay up-to-date with the Core77 newsletter.