(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)
Apparently it’s been well over a year and half since I last did a review of index cards, which I did on the Foglietto Memo Cards x Box, so I thought it was about time to do another one! As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not much of an index card user, and being a Bullet Journaler, my to-do lists live in my Bullet Journal and not on separate cards, but this still looked like a cool product to check out. Much thanks to Pen Addict Slacker, Tommy S., who sent these to me for funsies a couple years ago when he found out that I wanted to find fountain pen-friendly index cards. I still can’t believe our beloved Nock Co. index cards aren’t available anymore (sniff sniff). I wonder how many times I have to repeat this before The Bossman caves in and makes more just to get me to hush up, lol.
The Ugmonk Analog Productivity System is designed to be the “physical companion for your digital tools that helps you prioritize your most important tasks” and its main component is the Analog Card Pack. The pack contains 3 “decks” of 3”x5” (76mmx127mm) cards, and each “deck” contains 50 cards, along with an additional card that explains how to use them.
There are 35 white cards for Today, 10 cream cards for Next, and 5 brown cards for Someday. In addition to the color, the front of the cards also indicate which card it is (Today/Next/Someday) on the upper left. There is also room for the date or other info like project or name etc., as well as 3 small circles that you can use however you like. For example, if you filled in the top circle, these might be your high priority tasks, two filled circles average priority, three low priority. The rest of the card has space for 10 items. The back of all three cards is in small dot grid (approx. ⅛” or 3mm).
The concept behind the system is that you jot today’s tasks on the Today card and use the circle next to each task to indicate progress and/or completion. You can carry any remaining items to a new Today card or move some of them to the Next or Someday cards as appropriate. You can then use the items on the Next card to help you plan either the next day’s Today card or save it for later work. The Someday cards can be used for jotting down ideas, goals, inspiration, etc. You then periodically review the Next and Someday cards and move items to new cards as needed. You can read/watch more about their Analog system here.
Front of the cards, including the instruction card.
Back of the cards in a small dot grid - I appreciate that the dots are visible but not super dark.
The cards are 100# weight, or approximately 270 gsm (the Foglietto Memo Cards I reviewed last time are 260 gsm) so they have a nice feel to them; thicker than the typical index card, thinner than a playing card. The paper is fairly smooth but not glassy. It didn’t feel bumpy or particularly fibrous either, so I was hopeful that they’d work well with fountain pens.
These are the pens/inks I picked to test the cards: Sailor Pro Gear (M)/Kobe Suidosuji Marchais Blue); Pilot Custom 823 (FA)/Robert Oster x Pen Addict Fire on Fire on Fire (for shimmer); Pelikan M800 (Italic Broad)/Diamine Ochre (for a wet pen and a wide nib); Pilot Custom Heritage 912 (FA)/ Van Dieman’s Woollewarre Bennelong (for flex and chromashading ink), OMAS Paragon (M)/Teranishi Innocent Mauve (another wet writer); Pelikan M405 (F); Pelikan Edelstein Moonstone (for a drier ink); Sailor Pro Gear Slim (MF)/Sailor Ink Studio 162 (for finer nib and chromashading ink); Schon Pocket 6 (Fine Monoc)/Kobe Shioya Blue (cuz Monoc, duh); Wancher PuChiCo (Fine)/Diamine Orange (cuz it’s cute and it’s the only other F nib I had inked up); Leonardo Momento Magico (Stylosuite X-Wing Harpoon)/Diamine Meadow (for a sharper flex nib).
They felt nice to write on with fountain pens, but more of my pens/inks feathered than didn’t, which was disappointing. The white Today card performed the worst, with the cream Next card faring a bit better. Wetter inks and pens made the feathering the worst but there was no ghosting or bleedthrough at all. I was surprised that the brown Someday card performed the best. That one was actually FP-friendly and showed no feathering except for the bit of flexing from the Leonardo, and even that was minimal.
The feathering on the Today card was pretty noticeable with almost all the pens. I expected more from the M800’s IB nib but it was less than other pens that had wetter inks (like Kobe or Teranishi). It was ok with a very light, unflexed writing from the Leonardo Momento Zero with an EF flex nib.
The Next card did better with more inks but still feathered with flex writing or wet inks.
The Someday card was surprisingly good. I was expecting the worst feathering and there really wasn’t any!
Aside from the feathering, you can get some regular shading (Van Dieman’s Woollawarre Bennelong and Pelikan Edelstein Moonstone) and the shimmer from FoFoF wasn’t a problem. I did not expect, nor did I see any chromashading (Van Dieman’s and Sailor 162). The ink colors were accurate, even on the brown Someday cards.
Thankfully, standard pens and pencils seemed to be just fine. Neither the Sharpie nor Tombow marker produced any feathering, ghosting, or bleedthrough.
Standard pens (and pencil) used: Parker Jotter BP, Zebra Sarasa Clip 05, Pilot G2 07, Lamy Tipo, Uniball One Gel 0.5, Pilot Frixion; Uniball refill in Spoke Pen; Caran d’Ache 849; HB 3.15 lead in Franklin-Christoph Model 90 pencil; Sharpie (Fine); Tombow ABT Brush Marker.
All standard pens and pencil wrote without any problems. I even did an erase test with the Frixion and it mostly erased cleanly (that’s more of a Frixion thing and not a paper issue.)
Pros:
- The Someday card was FP-friendly. The other two cards need fine FP nibs and drier inks to minimize feathering.
- Standard pens, pencils and markers behaved fine.
- No ghosting or bleedthrough.
- Lightly-colored dot grid on the back is a nice touch.
Cons:
- Today and Next cards are not very FP-friendly.
- Price is a bit steep at $13 for 50 cards, or $39 for 150 cards. A 3-month subscription (one 50 pack per month,) brings the cost down to $10 per pack, or $30 for the three months. For context, a pack of 80 larger Hamelin cards costs $7 and a 100 pack of 3” x 5” index cards from Exacompta costs around $4.
Neutral:
- The Analog system of to-do/item tracking isn’t for me personally but I can see that it can be useful.
- Cards can be sold separately - I like that you can buy additional packs that have all 3 cards or just Today, Next, or Someday cards.
Overall, these cards work well if you don’t plan to use fountain pens with them (or use very fine nibs and drier inks), and while they are pricey, they have fit that neat aesthetic (that my desk definitely doesn’t have), especially when paired with their Analog Wood Card Holder.
(Disclaimer: The Ugmonk Analog Cards were given to me by my friend and fellow Slacker, Tommy. All other products used are my own.)
