Field Notes

Field Notes is an American stationery brand based in Chicago, Illinois, best known for small-format memo books and related paper goods. The brand was established in 2007 as a joint venture between Aaron Draplin’s Draplin Design Company and the Chicago design firm Coudal Partners. Its central product idea was a contemporary reinterpretation of the inexpensive agricultural memo books historically used by farmers, crop inspectors, and other field workers. Rather than presenting the notebook as a luxury writing object, Field Notes built its identity around portability, durability, straightforward construction, and everyday usefulness. The original memo books adopted a deliberately plain visual language. Early and core editions use kraft-brown covers, compact dimensions, saddle-stapled construction, and a prominent FIELD NOTES wordmark set in Futura. Interior formats vary, including ruled, graph, and blank pages, while the inside covers and back cover carry practical product and production information. This combination of functional structure and carefully controlled typography made the notebooks attractive both to ordinary users and to designers interested in industrial and editorial detail. Aaron Draplin initially produced a small batch of notebooks by hand before the project developed into regular commercial production. The company emphasized domestic printing and materials, reinforcing an image of tangible, locally made goods at a time when many stationery products were increasingly commoditized or digitally displaced. Field Notes initially resonated with design-oriented communities, but its audience broadened through retail distribution, media coverage, collaborations, and a strong direct-to-consumer presence. A major turning point came in 2009, when Field Notes began issuing quarterly limited-edition designs through an annual subscription program. The recurring releases gave the brand a predictable product rhythm while allowing it to experiment with paper, cover stock, printing methods, colors, finishes, themes, and illustrations. Scarcity and variation encouraged repeat purchases and helped create a collector culture around the notebooks. Some rare editions later attracted secondary-market interest, with reports of particularly sought-after examples being resold for prices above their original retail value. Field Notes expanded beyond its initial online and design-community niche into wider retail distribution, including international customers. Partnerships and special editions connected the brand with organizations such as Levi’s, Starbucks, Nixon, Loot Crate, J.Crew, and the United States Postal Service. These collaborations helped translate the basic memo book into a flexible promotional and cultural format while retaining the brand’s recognizable scale and construction. Marketing has typically emphasized the physical experience of using the notebooks rather than abstract lifestyle positioning. Coudal Partners has supported the brand with films, narrative material, and short documentary-style content concerning design, suppliers, printing, and production. Social-media engagement and the quarterly release cycle have further encouraged customers to follow new editions and share collections. Field Notes has also become associated with everyday-carry culture, where compact notebooks are treated as practical tools for lists, sketches, observations, and spontaneous writing. The brand remains distinctive because it combines a simple core product with sustained edition-making, collaboration, and storytelling. Its contemporary appeal rests on the tension between standardized utility and collectible variation: the notebook remains inexpensive, familiar, and usable, while each release can offer a new visual or material interpretation. Field Notes is therefore positioned less as a broad office-supplies manufacturer than as a design-led stationery brand built around analog note-taking and recurring limited releases.

Field Notes emerged from a collaboration between Portland-based designer Aaron Draplin’s Draplin Design Company and Chicago design firm Coudal Partners. The venture was formed in 2007 around a simple stationery concept: produce a modern version of the small memo books historically used by agricultural workers and crop inspectors. Those older field notebooks were valued for convenience and function rather than ornament. Field Notes retained that practical premise while applying a highly deliberate graphic identity and a contemporary brand system. The first notebooks were associated closely with Draplin’s design practice. Draplin initially made a small batch by hand, after which the project moved toward repeatable commercial production. The basic format established the characteristics that would define the brand: compact size, paper covers, saddle-stapled binding, restrained typography, and an emphasis on carrying the notebook wherever observations or reminders might arise. The core kraft-brown version, with FIELD NOTES printed prominently in Futura, expressed the brand’s preference for familiar, durable, and legible design. From the beginning, the company highlighted U.S. printing and materials. This production emphasis became part of its appeal within design communities, where customers often care about paper stock, printing processes, binding, and the provenance of manufactured objects. The notebooks were useful as writing tools but also communicated a particular attitude toward design: functional objects could be carefully considered without becoming precious or overly elaborate. In 2009, Field Notes introduced quarterly limited-edition releases distributed through an annual subscription program. This decision changed the brand’s commercial and cultural trajectory. Instead of relying only on a single evergreen notebook, Field Notes could maintain a recognizable base product while periodically changing covers, themes, colors, printing techniques, materials, and page treatments. Subscribers received a continuing sequence of editions, giving the company recurring engagement and giving customers a reason to monitor future releases. The limited-edition model also encouraged collecting. The notebooks remained ordinary tools in physical form, but the changing designs created differences in availability and desirability. Profiles of the brand described a cult-like following among stationery and design enthusiasts, while some rare editions reportedly reached high prices on eBay. The resulting audience extended beyond people who simply needed a pocket notebook to include collectors, designers, and participants in online everyday-carry communities. Field Notes gradually expanded from direct online sales into broader retail distribution and international reach. Collaborations with companies and organizations such as Levi’s, Starbucks, Nixon, Loot Crate, J.Crew, and the United States Postal Service demonstrated that the memo-book format could function as a co-branded object without losing its basic identity. A 2010 feature in a J.Crew catalog helped expose the brand to consumers outside its original design-focused audience. Coudal Partners also contributed to the brand’s communication style. Field Notes marketing has included films, narrative campaigns, and short documentary-style pieces about design, suppliers, printing, and production. This material made manufacturing and creative process part of the brand story. Social-media participation further supported the release cycle by allowing customers to discuss, photograph, trade, and collect editions. The notebooks became visible in everyday-carry culture, where people assemble compact sets of frequently used tools. Chicago magazine identified MythBusters co-host Adam Savage as a prominent Field Notes user and described the notebooks as part of his everyday-carry kit. Such visibility reinforced the idea that Field Notes was not merely decorative stationery: its core promise was that a small, dependable paper notebook could remain useful in daily life despite the prevalence of digital devices. Field Notes’ history is consequently defined less by a succession of corporate acquisitions or technological breakthroughs than by disciplined development of a narrow product category. The brand combined a stable utilitarian format with a continuous stream of limited variations, then supported that structure with collaborations, retail expansion, and production-centered storytelling. Its lasting distinction comes from making the humble memo book both an everyday instrument and a recurring design object.

• 2010

  J.Crew catalog feature broadens exposure

  [1]Field Notesen.wikipedia.org

  A feature in a J.Crew catalog helps introduce Field Notes to a broader consumer audience beyond its initial design-oriented following.

• 2009

  Quarterly limited editions begin

  [1]Field Notesen.wikipedia.org

  Field Notes begins issuing quarterly limited-edition notebook designs through an annual subscription program.

• 2007

  Field Notes is established

  [1]Field Notesen.wikipedia.org

  Aaron Draplin’s Draplin Design Company and Chicago design firm Coudal Partners establish Field Notes as a joint venture focused on compact memo books inspired by agricultural field notebooks.

• Retail and collaboration expansion

  [1]Field Notesen.wikipedia.org

  The brand expands beyond direct online sales through wider retail distribution and special editions associated with multiple commercial and institutional partners.

Design-led, practical, American-made-feeling stationery centered on compact memo books, everyday use, and collectible limited editions.

• Memo books · 2007

  Field Notes Memo Books

  The core Field Notes product is a compact memo book designed for portable everyday writing. Standard editions use a straightforward paper-cover format, saddle-stapled binding, and a deliberately utilitarian visual language. The familiar kraft-brown version uses the FIELD NOTES wordmark in Futura and draws conceptually on agricultural field memo pads. Books are sold in packs and may contain ruled, graph, or blank pages. Interior covers commonly include structured informational and production text.

• Limited-edition stationery · 2009

  Quarterly Limited Editions

  Quarterly editions extend the basic memo-book format through changing themes, cover designs, materials, printing techniques, colors, and page treatments. The releases preserve the portability and functional construction of the core notebooks while introducing scarcity and variation. Their recurring schedule, supported by the annual subscription program, has made them a central part of Field Notes’ business model and a major source of collector interest.

• Co-branded stationery

  Collaborative Editions

  Field Notes has produced special or co-branded notebook editions with commercial and institutional partners. Reported collaborators include Levi’s, Starbucks, Nixon, Loot Crate, J.Crew, and the United States Postal Service. These editions adapt the recognizable Field Notes format to another organization’s identity or campaign while retaining the small memo-book structure that defines the brand.

• 2010J.Crew Catalog Exposure

  United States

  A J.Crew catalog feature presented Field Notes to a broader retail and lifestyle audience outside the brand’s original design-community niche.

  Outcome. The feature contributed to wider visibility for the memo books.

  Source
• 2009Quarterly Limited-Edition Subscription

  United States · International customers

  Field Notes introduced a recurring program in which subscribers received quarterly notebook editions. The program transformed product variation into a continuing customer relationship and made each release an anticipated event.

  Outcome. The release cycle became a defining feature of the brand and contributed to a collector-oriented following.

  Source
• Production and Design Storytelling

  United States · International online audience

  Coudal Partners supported Field Notes with films and narrative content concerning the brand’s design, suppliers, materials, printing, and production processes.

  Outcome. The content strengthened Field Notes’ identity as a design-conscious physical-goods brand and made its manufacturing process part of its marketing.

  Source

• 2009

  Adopt a recurring limited-edition release modelStrategy

  Background

  Field Notes had established a simple, utilitarian memo-book format but needed a way to create continuing interest without abandoning the core product.

  Action taken

  The company began issuing quarterly designs and offered them through an annual subscription program.

  Aftermath

  The program created a predictable cadence for new products and helped drive a collector following around different editions.

  Source

• Expand from direct online sales into retail and collaborationsStrategy

  Background

  The brand initially developed within design-oriented communities and direct sales, limiting its exposure to broader stationery and lifestyle consumers.

  Action taken

  Field Notes expanded retail distribution and produced special editions connected with partners including Levi’s, Starbucks, Nixon, Loot Crate, J.Crew, and the United States Postal Service.

  Aftermath

  The brand reached wider audiences while continuing to use the memo book as its central product format.

  Source

1. 1Field Notesen.wikipedia.org