No. 4

From the Mailchimp years. Sent from San Francisco, October 2020.

I was just remembering reading the news on March 16th that San Francisco would be entering "a lockdown" (whatever that meant). And I remember thinking, "Ok, fine. How long can this really go on?" Hello, October. What insane circumstances we're all dealing with. But, in very small ways, there are things that have been positive about the lockdown.

For instance, separated from work and casual socializing, it seems to have really gotten us all to think about the state of our personal situations. Maybe it's the coming to grips with the undeniable reality that we can only control so much. Dunno. But, I've had SO many conversations with people who are experiencing very real "if not now, when?" moments. My family and I sure have. But more on that in a moment.

For now, let me catch you up on a few recent things:

Even though I hate doing few things more than this I did it anyway. I made a new personal website. Figured I had the time. But this time, I tried to come at it a little differently. Instead of hating every aspect of the process like I usually do, this time I tried to take more pride in it. I tried to see if a personal site could also convey a sense of my actual personality. Successful? Who knows. Done? Yes.

If you have any burning design, advertising, or communications aspirations that you'd like to address shoot me a note. Between what I do and what my creative department for hire (Monday and Partners) does, I'm sure we can offer some help.

I started working with The Arhoolie Foundation about a year and a half ago. If you're not familiar with them, their mission is to celebrate American roots music of all kinds, specifically through the incredible work of their founder, Chris Strachwitz. After spending so much time working on big, corporate clients it's such a breath of fresh air to work on a brand whose mission is so down to earth. The work has included building their new website (arhoolie.org), helping them launch their Working From Home artist performance series, getting the newly launched En Vivo YouTube program up and running, and a million little projects in between.

It's been truly enjoyable work. And with this year being their 60th Anniversary, look for more good stuff in the coming months.

Our daughter, Sabine, is not looking forward to the end of lockdown. From the very beginning, her days have been filled with hikes, trips to the beach, kayaks, wildlife in the park, dinosaurs, art projects, TV (don't judge), and LOTS of time with mommy and daddy. She really doesn't understand what everyone's complaining about. Lockdown is AWESOME.

I'm 100% positive that we'll look back on this summer and the time we all spent together as special. In the meantime, I'll be searching for new episodes of Peppa Pig on YouTube.

We're moving to London. How's that for burying the lede? Like I was saying above, the lockdown has had us all considering our own "if not now, when?" moments. This is ours. We've been (annoyingly) talking about a move like this for years and we finally just got tired of hearing ourselves say it. So yeah, after so many awesome years in San Francisco (and America, for that matter), we're selling all of our stuff (nearly), packing whatever's left, and moving to the UK. It's a little weird for me as it means moving BACK to the UK where I didn't have the smoothest experience the first time. I'm looking forward to doing it better this time around.

Lots more to this story, obviously, but suffice it to say that we should definitely stay in touch. Please introduce me to your friends in London. Drop me a note to share your recommendations for great cycling routes, pubs, hidden attractions, day trips, or just to say hi.

Ok, that's it for now.

I hope you're able to stay healthy, and that you're finding some positives in our upside down times.

Cheers,

Dylan DiBona
Creative Director + Art Director + Co-Conspirator