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Jerry's Maps x
Loops™ Notebooks

A collection of notebooks made from the work of Northern Michigan artist Jerry Gretzinger. Part art object, part everyday notebook—and a new way to carry a small piece of Jerry's ever-changing map with you.

I started as a collector.

I first encountered Jerry’s work at the Dennos Museum Center about five years ago. I fell for it pretty much immediately.

Since then, I’ve accumulated dozens of Jerry’s individual map panels and had the chance to help install a much larger presentation of the work at the Strongheart Center.

Along the way, I’ve also spent a lot of time thinking about Jerry’s Maps from the perspective of my other work—as a digital strategist working with artists and arts organizations.

How do you introduce more people to something this unusual? How do you help extend the reach and life of a body of work that’s already been evolving for decades?

For a while, I assumed the answer might be digital. Eventually, I became much more interested in something physical.

A LOT OF PAPER LATER.

A notebook is a fairly simple object. Making one that feels right is considerably less simple. We made prototypes. Then more prototypes. Different sizes, different grids, different papers, different bindings. We changed proportions by fractions of an inch. We wrote in them, folded them, carried them around and put them into binders. Then we brought them to Jerry. Jerry and the crew at Jerry's Maps wrote in them, handled them and told us what they liked—and what they didn't. Some papers disappeared from the pile. Others kept coming back. Eventually, one particular grid did too. Sometimes product development looks less like a design meeting and more like someone writing “I like this paper best” directly on the thing. That's probably better anyway.

MADE TO BE USED.

Each notebook begins with an individual panel from Jerry's Maps, reproduced across the cover and wrapped around an interior selected through our prototyping with Jerry and his team. No two panels tell quite the same story. Roads arrive and disappear. Borders collide. Cities, systems and imagined geographies continue beyond the edge of the notebook. Inside, things get quieter. We chose a simple grid paper that feels particularly at home with Jerry's work: structured enough to draw, diagram and organize; open enough to ignore completely. The notebooks are made in small editions and finished by hand by Neon Yellow. Loop staples along the spine allow each book to be carried on its own or filed into our clear ring binder—turning a stack of individual notebooks into an evolving archive. Use one until it's full. Add another. Rearrange them. Pull one out. Keep the covers long after you've filled the pages. Jerry Gretzinger retains the copyright to the original artwork. Neon Yellow licenses selected panels and turns them into the objects you see here. The map remains Jerry's. What you do inside is yours.

8.5x11 Standard Sizes

HALF Loops™ Notebooks

Standard Dimensions: 5.5"x8.5"

TIERCE Loops™ Notebooks

Standard Dimensions: 5.5"x8.5"

QUARTER Loops™ Notebooks

Standard Dimensions: 4.25"x5.5"

SIXTH Loops™ Notebooks

Standard Dimensions: 3"x5.25"

EIGHTH Loops™ Notebooks

Standard Dimensions: 2.75"x4.25"