Highlighters and colorful pens can help ADHD brains because they make information easier to scan, sort, and return to.

When studying or reading, the page can quickly become a wall of sameness. Paragraphs blur together. Key ideas hide inside supporting details. Important terms look just as loud as examples, side notes, and filler. For ADHD brains, that can make review harder because nothing visually tells the eye where to land.

Colour can create landmarks. A highlighter can mark the main idea. A coloured pen can circle a question. Another colour can underline definitions, dates, examples, or action items. The point is not decoration. The point is visual navigation.

This can help with studying, note-taking, reading comprehension, planning, editing, and reviewing information. Colour gives the brain a quick cue: this matters, this connects, this needs review, this is confusing, this is an example.

The catch is that colour systems can get out of hand. If every colour means something different, the system becomes homework. If half the page is highlighted, nothing stands out. If the notes look beautiful but cannot be used later, the colour has become theatre.

The best system is small: two or three colours, clear meanings, and enough white space left for the important parts to actually be visible.

I understand the urge.

Everything seems important while reading. So I highlight everything. Then I return later and discover I have created a glowing rectangle of regret.

Colour helps when it makes decisions easier.

Main idea.

Confusing part.

Need-to-remember detail.

That is enough.

I do not need a 12-colour legal code for my notebook. I need future me to open the page and immediately know where to look.

The goal is not pretty notes. The goal is usable notes.

Pick one reading, lesson, article, chapter, or set of notes.

Use only three colours:

One colour for main ideas.

One colour for details worth remembering.

One colour for questions, confusion, or “review this later.”

Do not highlight full paragraphs. Mark words, short phrases, or single lines. At the end, look back at the page and ask three questions: can I see the main ideas quickly, did the colours reduce confusion, and would this help me review later?

If yes, the colour system may help. If no, use fewer colours or highlight less.

Highlighters and colorful pens can support ADHD learning by turning flat information into visible structure. They can make key ideas easier to find, help separate details from examples, and create useful review cues.

But colour only helps when it stays intentional. Too much colour becomes noise. Too many rules become friction. A simple system beats a beautiful one nobody can maintain.

If highlighters and pens help you scan faster, remember what matters, and return to notes without starting from scratch, they have value.

Sometimes better studying is not about writing more. Sometimes it is about making the important parts easier to see.