Making your promotional pens stand out can be a tough task because the idea is to make the pen stand out from the crowd in a classy way, not in a garish way. So for example you will probably not want to go with the colors yellow, brown, lime green and orange. There are several ways to do this, however the absolute best way to make your promotional pen stand out from the pack is to design a classy pen that would look good on anyone's desk or pencil holder.
There are three main concerns when designing classy promotional pens that will stand out from all the other promotional objects vying for attention; color, lettering and physical pen style. None of these attributes are any more important than each other, and in fact all perform a necessary role.
The promotional pen color is the main design aspect responsible for grabbing peoples attention and making the pen stand out in any potential mess or clutter. As stated earlier do not choose a shocking color just to make the pen stand out in an outrageous way as this will more likely turn people off. Use fluorescents sparingly, and as a rule keep it limited to promotional pens geared towards products or services aimed at young people. Jewel tones, and primary solids are always attractive options and lend them selves well to almost any application. Care should be taken with pastilles, one would think that a pastel is a safe bet; however these can be just as tacky as fluorescents so use with caution (and never mix with black lettering or caps).
The lettering on promotional pens is pretty easy to get right, simply keep it legible and in plain letters, no scripts or funky fonts necessary. The color of the script should also be simple and easy to read; choose a color that complements the background well, but contrasts enough to be easily legible. People are not going to take the time to decipher an unrecognizable slogan or phone number, so do your self and your future customers a favor here and keep it simple.
Lastly thought must be given to the physical style of the promotional pens. The main casing options usually found are the classic ballpoint, and the more stylish roller ball. Ballpoint packages will be fine for 95% of applications, however the roller ball promotional pens will really kick it up a notch for those important clients you are trying to land. There are also options for more exotic promotional pens, like embedded lights, or fiber optics; these must be evaluated on a case by case basis, and are generally not meant to serve the same mass promotion campaigns that the more inexpensive ball point promotional pens are.