Field Notes Ambition Gilded Pages

The Field Notes Ambition Edition (via Field Notes) is the newest Colors Edition for Winter 2014.  The two things that make this set unique are the gilded edges and the fact that each of the three journals in this set have different formats.  The three different page formats for the pages are a weekly calendar, grid, and a general ledger layout.  For easy identification you will also see that each different format has a different color cover.

Field Notes Ambition Colored Covers

The three different colors for the covers of the Field Notes Ambition Edition are burgundy, olive, and chocolate and are specific to the page format found inside.  The burgundy version has the grid layout, the olive version is the general ledger format, and the chocolate cover is your weekly calendar layout.  Each of the three has gold print on the inside and outside of the cover for all of the additional branding and other printing.

Field Notes Ambition Fountain Pen Writing Sample

Inside each of the Field Notes Ambition edition journals you will find “natural white” paper adorned with light gold rulings and markings which match the gilded edges, the gold print on each cover, and the gold staples for the binding that you will find a picture off a little later on in this review.  The writing sample above was done with Pelikan Edelstein Aventurine ink in a Lamy Safari with an EF nib. Looking back at that very old Safari review makes me think I should probably retake those awful pictures.  Fountain pen ink can be hit or miss with Field Notes journals, and in this case after doing my writing in the journals, I’d say the Aventurine is a little too dark for these pages.  Although the paper handles the ink well on the front with no feathering or spreading, it shows through a little too much on the other side of the paper in order to be considered truly fountain pen friendly in my book.

Field Notes Ambition Weekly Calendar

I really like the weekly calendar format in the Field Notes Ambition Edition since it isn’t specific to any particular year or month.  You can simply fill in the month at the top and the date along the left hand side (and bottom for weekends) and it doesn’t matter when you use these or if you skip a week or two between uses.  In this example above I found that it might be a helpful way to help plan my schedule of reviews for the blog instead of what I normally do which is put it in my other planner and that can get to be too much sometimes when combined with my personal to-do items.

Field Notes Ambition Ledger

Although I don’t really have a use for the general ledger format in the Field Notes Ambition Edition, I wanted to share a quick close up of the format for those that aren’t familiar with that format which is generally associated with accounting transactions and tracking.  I’m sure that other creative uses can be found for this such as expense tracking such as for a work trip, or even some to-do list tracking since you can plug in a start date in the left columns and maybe use the right two columns for a check box or date complete.

Field Notes Ambition Editon Gold Staples

As I mentioned before, this Field Notes edition has gold staples to match the gold rulings, gold cover print, and gilded edges.  Although I do really like the contrast of the gold on each of these colors (meaning the burgundy, olive, and chocolate) these definitely feel more like fall colors to me than winter colors.  For me the “Ambition Edition” being the Winter 2014 colors edition seems like its off by a season, but clearly these are still pretty cool, but its just something I thought I’d put out there.

Field Notes Ambition Writing on Inside Covers

Initially I was concerned that the inside covers of the Field Notes Ambition Edition would be difficult to write on…or more accurately I guess I should say hard to read any writing on since they are fairly dark.  This concern was clearly proven wrong as you can see from the samples above, although I wasn’t too worried about the olive color the burgundy and especially the chocolate surprised me with how easy it was to read the writing on even with the somewhat dark Aventurine green ink.

The Field Notes Ambition Edition (via Field Notes) is definitely worth picking up if you have a practical use for each of the different formats.  The Field Notes quality that you are used to as well as the great design and aesthetics will make a nice addition to your field notes collection.  Below are a few additional pictures of these that didn’t fit in with the rest of the review, just click on a thumbnail to flip through the larger versions of each one.

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