Two reviewers test the Field Notes Chicago Look 6x8 notebook against bullet journals, checking paper quality with a Blackwing Palomino pencil and Pentel pen. They show how the square-grid layout works for their GAP and WRAP weekly planning method and discuss whether it replaces the classic smaller Field Notes.
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Today I'm going to show you the Field Notes Chicago Look notebook. Now this is a special occasion. I haven't done a review video in a while because I use bullet journals so extensively and Field Notes, but this is special because this is the biggest Field Notes notebook that has ever been produced, and I wanted to show it to you. This Field Notes edition is a 6x8 notebook, which is significantly larger than the 3.5x5.5 they've popularized over the years. As a bullet journal user for over a decade now, I'm a fan of this larger notebook. Personally, I like that Field Notes released a larger notebook like this. I don't think I would want them to do a lot of these because I like Field Notes for what they are and the size that they are. Fit very nicely into the back pocket, backpack, bag, whatever you're using. But I do like that they have something a little bit larger. I don't know if this would replace the bullet journal for me, but I do like that it's something that I could play around with a little bit more. I would actually love if they did do a dot grid version of this size notebook. But let me go ahead and show you what it looks like, some of the stuff that's inside. I'll write and draw draw on it a little bit just so you can see, like, what the bleed is like and pencil versus pen. We're going to get into it. Thanks for watching this video. Here we go.
Okay, here's our look at the Field Notes Chicago Look notebook. This one pays homage to the golden age of sign making. Let me show you what makes this notebook unique in the Field Notes collection. First, let's talk about the design. The Chicago Look features a square grid layout throughout. I personally prefer dot grid because of my bullet journaling experience, but this square grid is in my opinion much better than just like standard like notebook grade school horizontal lines. So I'm glad it doesn't have that. But what's really cool is how they've incorporated some of their like vintage sign painting tools into the design, into the COVID I've always really liked these details about Field Notes, this attention to the little things. For like this, like one for example is this notebook includes its print date. This one was printed on February 20th, 2025, and I just love seeing that a little bit of things. Okay, a little bit of size comparison. The Chicago Look is 6x8, making it slightly wider than a standard A5 bullet journal. So while it's thinner than a bullet journal, it still has a nice, uh, substantial feel. And just for quick reference, let me show you how it compares to classic Field Notes, uh, pocket size, which is 3x5 inches. Both notebooks share the Field Notes signature attention to detail. I've already mentioned that a little bit, but gives you complete facts about paper type, printing information, uh, inside of each back cover. And this Chicago Look Edition uses high-quality paper that handles different writing tools really well. And I say different writing tools, you know, pen and pencil. But speaking of that, I tested this notebook with both my Blackwing Palomino pencil and my go-to pen, the Pentel EnerGel 0.7 metal tip. The paper quality is excellent. There's minimal bleed-through, even for this like liquid ink pen. And for comparison, this paper performs similarly to their other standard notebooks like the Harvest series with this cream-colored pages.
One thing to remember is my gap and wrap weekly planning method works really well in any size notebook, really any kind of tool that you want to use. You're just looking at and putting at the top of the page, hey, this is the goal that I have for this week, these are the actions that I need to complete in order to achieve my goal, and then this is the time that I'm going to protect to work on those actions. To achieve the goal. Okay, so it works kind of backwards and forwards that way. And then the wrap is, were the wins, what were the results? Am I in alignment with the kind of work that I want to be doing, with the kind of goals that I have? And then the P in wrap is for pivot or continue to progress with the work that I'm already doing. If you want to watch more about the gap and the wrap and how you could use it in the Chicago Look, in Field Notes, or just in a bullet journal, go ahead and look at those links in the description below.
If you're looking at this and you're wondering about my naming convention for notebooks here, this is just my simple system. It's FN for Field Notes followed by some kind of unique identifier about the notebook and the year. So for example, FN Pumpkin 25 is the Harvest Pumpkin Edition that I used in 2025. It's not necessarily when it was printed. The 25 for me is when I used it. Overall, I'm really impressed with this notebook. While Field Notes typically releases new designs quarterly, I'd really like to see special editions like this that are different size, like say every 12 to 18 months, maybe every 18 months, not, not every single year have one of the quarters be this,, but every year and a half would be cool. If you're looking for a larger softcover notebook with excellent paper quality and design, I highly recommend the Chicago Look. I can see using this for conference, sermon, or school notes, and the size is also great for larger sketches and mockups.
Check it out. If you wanna see why I love using notebooks, especially pocket-sized field notes notebooks, as a way to replace some of the infinite scrolling, doom scrolling that can be so tempting on a phone, I want to make sure that you check out the video right here. You can also see more of my notebook reviews specifically for Bullet Journal X right here. Thanks for watching.
