In the Age of Screens, the Pen Still Matters: How Stationery Rediscovers Emotion, Design, and Life

1. Times have changed, but the pen remains.
Smartphones, tablets, AI typing, voice input...
Nowadays, writing seems to be a "retro" thing. We sign on the screen, communicate in the chat box, and record inspiration in the cloud.
But the strange thing is that when people thought that "pens" would be eliminated, stationery brands did not disappear. Instead, new vitality appeared.
We found:
The pen is not just a writing tool, it represents people's obsession with "expression".
This obsession is also the starting point for established stationery companies to rediscover their future.

2. From “tool” to “emotional symbol”
Among some of the stationery brands Boyi has come into contact with recently, what impresses us most is not their history, but their transformation.
Some brands have begun to make "sentimental stationery" - designing pens that people want to touch and collect;
Some brands have extended digital stationery products** - such as handwriting pads and virtual signature pens with real pen touch;
Some brands simply give up on functional competition and turn to culture and gift lines, making stationery an extension of identity and taste.
All this means:
When words become light and airy, touch and emotion become the rarest value.

3. The meaning of design is not just “good-looking”
When we provide visual design for these brands, we feel a common proposition:
Design doesn’t just make the brand “more modern,” but makes it “understandable” again.
For example, when a pen brand with a history of several decades did not use a high-tech silver-gray style for its new packaging, it chose a warm paper texture and slow-paced white space.
We help them retain the "ritual sense of writing" so that consumers can feel the "impulse to write" when they see the packaging.

4. Future direction: Let stationery become a “lifestyle”
The stationery of the future is not just a tool, but a symbol of a way of life.
It can coexist with digital life, or it can become a gentle rebellion against digitalization.
The mission of the stationery brand is no longer to “sell pens”, but to remind us again——
Some ideas only truly belong to you when they are written down.

5. Conclusion｜About art and stationery
Boyi has been cooperating with a number of established stationery companies. We have seen that they are changing but also persevering.
They began to think about the combination of vision and touch, the relationship between brands and human emotions, and even redefined the meaning of "writing".
In an era when everyone is typing,
We still believe——
Everyone who is willing to pick up a pen deserves to be treated gently by design.