---
name: field-notes
description: "Structured taste breakdowns of real products. The format for making taste observations legible and shareable. Use when analyzing products, writing case studies, documenting design observations, or teaching through example."
---

# Field Notes

The format for making taste observations legible.

## How to use

- `/field-notes` Write a structured taste breakdown of a product in this conversation.
- `/field-notes <product>` Analyze the specified product using the field notes format.

## Constraints

### Field Note Structure
1. **Product name, URL, date, category**
2. **What it's trying to be** (2-3 sentences. Not what it does. What experience it's trying to create.)
3. **Three things that work** (specific decisions with principles behind them)
4. **One thing that doesn't** (specific decision with reasoning and impact)
5. **The taste principle** (one sentence: "This product demonstrates that...")
6. **Tags** (principle-based tags for the reference library)

### Writing Rules
- MUST be specific. Reference actual elements, sizes, and interactions.
- MUST connect every observation to a principle.
- MUST include at least one thing that doesn't work. No product is perfect.
- SHOULD be under 500 words. Concise analysis is harder and more useful than exhaustive analysis.
- NEVER write a field note about a product you haven't actually used.

### Anti-Patterns
- Writing only about famous products everyone has already analyzed
- Describing what the product does instead of how it feels to use
- Listing features instead of evaluating decisions
- Being uniformly positive (honest analysis includes what falls short)