The kind of person who uses Field Notes
I have a few of them, the Field Notes journals. They are small and have just enough pages to scribble in.
In college I used Moleskine notebooks, the pocket sized ones with the stiff black cover and blank pages. We all thought they were the thing to draw in because they were the kind that the real artists used. I still have some laying around, I use the pocket inside to store my Mars Volta concert ticket stub.
Field Notes didn't exist yet.
The pocket Moleskine was $ 10 back then, they retail for $ 20 now. Field Notes are currently 15-20 bucks for a 3 pack, depending on the flavor of the cover. They have less pages, the paper is nice but doesn't handle fountain pen ink. These are two wildly different products.
I would buy a Moleskine and be scared to draw in it because the idea was "dumb" and I didn't want to ruin the fancy paper with dumb drawings. Field Notes are cheap enough to "mess up" with silly things but still nice enough to not just throw out when you finish one.
Field Notes gives you the impression that they have been around longer than 2007 by using a logo made of wide kerned Futura bold. This gives it an old government document look, or the signs on an office door from the 60's. This makes the books look like they have been a staple in 1950's post war space race national park rose colored marlboros in McDonalds Americana. And it works.
As far as the size goes, the Field Notes pocket notebooks can go in anything. They come in bundles so you can use one for meetings, one for journaling, one for recording measurements or whatever. They fit in any bag and if you wear mens jeans they will fit in your pocket.
But there are better notebooks. Cheaper ones too. The Pen+Gear paper used in Walmart's store brand takes fountain pen ink like a champ. People make handmade versions of Field Notes with cold pressed French paper and all that. There are tons of Japanese notebooks that wildly popular with other pen users. The A6 Campus notebook is currently one of my favorites and you can get them at Daiso or online for cheap.
So by having a Field Notes notebook in your bag signals a few things. You are probably more of a ball point pen type person. You might be more likely to want to show off that you are using one. I see so many EDC (Every Day Carry) photos on instagram where someone is carrying a bunch of expensive little things that all must be from the same brands and limited edition sets as everyone else in the EDC community. (Don't go down the Ranger Eye rabbit hole, I don't need them but I want them all.)
It looks nice to have a stylish and expensive notebook in your leather bound or zip up tactical journal pouch that holds your pens, mini flash light, and lighter. I have a large leather one for my Leuchtturm notebooks (way bigger/thicker for longer form writing) and a tiny passport sized zip up one that holds a top spiral memo pad. If an EMP hits I can still write down a grocery list or write a novel. My bases are covered - in style. :D
But that's the thing, if I want to draw or write on nice paper I have the Moleskine and Leuchtturm. If I want to take quick notes or scribble something I need to rip out and leave for someone else to read or send a message I have the Campus or memo pad. The Field Notes sits oddly in between these two uses. You can't tear the pages out of them and there aren't very many pages per notebook.
But if I was trying to stage a desk setup to sell pens I would absolutely use a Field Note notebook somewhere in the shot. I would want the viewer to instantly get the idea that the pen I was selling was high quality or used by influential people with style. Someone who was important enough to take notes and did so with proper supplies.
In a real life office setting, most of my note taking was done on giant yellow legal pads. A t-shirt logo would be sketched out on a page next to a list of inks that we needed to re-order. My desk was a folding table at 3 different companies. We had coffee in foam cups with a bag of Cheetos for a snack.
But if I were setting up a photo of a guy doing work in a coffee shop I would make sure he was wearing a Patagonia beanie, Airpod Pro's, a nine dollar coffee, and beside him would be a Field Note notebook holding a Meisterstück pen in an Omega Speedmaster strapped hand. Whatever work this dude is doing is so important that he gets paid enough to use all these things in his daily workflow.
It gives the impression of seriousness to something as simple as note taking. A FAANG company would give you a branded one on your first day at work. You might never use it. It might go on eBay after they lay you off, but it sends a message.
It's an art project that normal people can afford. They have limited editions, custom bundles, lines - dots - grids, variant covers and collaborations. You can collect them or give them as gifts. You can write in them, but you don't need to.