Stenography, or “shorthand,” is a writing system designed to increase speed and/or space-efficiency, most often used in journalism, medical, legal, and business environments to transcribe the spoken word.

THE STENO is 6″ by 9″ with a black Double-O Wiring spiral at the top so it lies flat, open or closed. Inside you’ll find 80 pages of 70# “Bright White” paper Gregg-ruled with a fine, soy-based application of “Double Knee Duck Canvas” light brown ink. The covers are Newark Paperboard Mills 60 pt. “Super Duty Chipboard,” with a screen-printed 1-Color application of “Dictation Smudge” black ink.

The inside covers provide a range of useful information from the history of stenography and an abbreviations guide, to temperature conversions, planetary distances from the sun, a hobo symbol quick reference guide and more. Frankly, we wonder how we ever got by without one open on our desks at all times.

Since Winter 2008, we’ve issued quarterly FIELD NOTES COLORS, limited-edition variations on our classic memo books. The COLORS series explores new papers, printing processes, and colors, sometimes adding special packaging and other fringe benefits. This nifty stop-motion film about the 2008-2009 COLORS editions explains it nicely.

For Spring 2012, our fourteenth FIELD NOTES COLORS release sends us right back to our roots. “The National Crop Edition” is something new, and at the same time, something old. The FIELD NOTES BRAND is based on a long tradition of promotional memo books that, for more than a century, were widely distributed to American farmers by seed, tractor, fence, and other agricultural companies. Read more about this limited edition.

Meet our new red FIELD NOTES notebook! RED BLOODED is printed by hand on a vintage Miehle vertical press at Flywheel Letterpress (Freeport, Ill.) on “Electric Red” Construction cover stock from the French Paper Co. (Niles, Mich.). Each book features an all-new “PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS” list and our standard 48 pages with a light-blue graph, ready to capture your ideas, plans, fantasies, and schemes. Sold in a 3-Pack. Read more about this edition and see the video.

None of us like to think about catastrophe, but when emergency strikes, will you be prepared? Sure, you have bandages, water, dog food, and duct tape, but in a no-internet situation, how will you blog?

FIELD NOTES BRAND stays up late worrying about such things, and we’ve created the perfect solution.

“THE KIT” Includes:
2 – 80-Page Steno Books
1 – Graph 3-Pack
1 – Mixed 3-Pack
6 – #2 Pencils
6 – Clic Pens
6 – Bands of Rubber

Each COUNTY FAIR 3-Pack highlights an individual U.S. state, with one memo book each in the colors of 1st, 2nd and 3rd place County Fair ribbons; blue, red and yellow. They’re printed on 100-lb. linen cover stock and all three feature metallic gold printing and 48 pages of graph paper with light blue/grey lines inside. The back covers feature a bevy of meticulously-researched state facts and figures. Check out Alaska’s cover here (pdf) or read more about this edition.

CHOOSE YOUR STATE: Make your own “Great Lakes Edition” or “Places I Have Visited Set.”

Our second-generation neon FIELD NOTES are available now! We’re offering a special 3-Pack of our kid-friendly “Summer Camp” FIELD NOTES with color-coordinated pencils and our famous FN-09 “Band of Rubber.”

The pack contains three pocket notebooks (fluorescent blue, yellow and green) with “summer sky” blue 3/16″ graph interior pages, and three matching pencils. They look great under a blacklight, and trust us when we tell you they scream “don’t leave me behind.”

Mix and match your own custom Field Notes Road Trip Kit and get an individual “County Fair” memo book for each state you pass through on the way. Each kit includes 6 State books, 1 Field Notes Steno Pad for pre-trip planning, 6 Woodgrain Pencils and more. After checkout you’ll receive an email invoice with a link to select your 6 states.

For Field Notes collectors. A special limited-edition complete set of 50 individual notebooks, one from each state, packaged in a custom box along with a 6 pack of Field Notes Clic Pens. A great gift for kids, for recording your travels or just learning about the U.S.A. Read more on our County Fair editions.