Changes are being made on the DDC Factory Floor.

We’re excited/proud/a-little-bit-sad to announce the “putting in” of a “30 Day Notice™” to my superiors at the CINCO Design Office.

After 25 months of kinetic design action, we’ve put a plan in order to lead us down a new path on the graphic design trail.

Our time at CINCO has been an amazing chance to build alliances, learn valuable tools, witness “how to do things proper in the big leagues”, produce work-we-are-proud-of-and-stand-behind-100%, guide a client, “win” an account, split a hair, hone skills, get my ass kicked then picked right back up, travel up and down the coast, sweat in the SoCal sun, fund a little Portland life and win a ton of money off Nakamoto.

So, we’d like to offer up a Pacific Ocean of thank you’s and handshakes to Kirk, Goo and Gary for the opportunity to work with an amazing group, in an amazing space, for “more than ample” wages…for clients who have allowed us to do amazing work…for things like support, “believing in me”, exotic travel, good computer boxes and air conditioning in the hot summer months. CINCO is on a serious path upward. CINCO is growing…seems like a new face is being added every month. My contribution will hopefully continue to rattle those who have been unlucky enough jump into the ring with us.

Thank you to CINCO. Thank you.

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So we’re gonna try a new approach.

Here’s the thing: We’ve got to make a living. We’ve got big mouths to feed, a car to keep filled with octane and a new house that is slowly being transformed into a NE Portland castle.

Plans are in the works to team up with GRENADE GLOVES to help out with “all projects that comes down the line” as they slowly–inch-by-inch, insulated-finger-by-insulated-finger–wreak goddamn-fucking-apeshit havoc on the snowboarding world.

COAL Headwear is gonna keep us around too. Very proud of the new ad campaign. Wow.

SNOWBOARD Magazine has more that enough pages for us to lay out. Our first issue will launch sometime in August. Good team, good shit, fresh look, new challenge.

RIDE snowboards has been gracious enough to throw me some work from their 2005-2006 board line. Wow. Special thanks to Styk and Fank for being “gigantically kick ass.”

Other projects are being negotiated with good companies and colleague design firms, as well as the usual, hairy, ugly onslaught of projects from friends, industry colleagues and DDC website passerby.

Here’s to a good Fall and Winter.

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We aim to “keep ourselves busy” with work that we’re proud to help out with, with new sets of challenges, that allows us to keep the bank account well-stocked. So bring it on.

Plus, you fuckers, we’re gonna take Fridays off! That day is going to be devoted to carving, garage sale-ing, sleeping in, drawing, walking around town aimlessly, working on the house, courting beautiful dames, volunteer work, wrestling, getting the hell out of Dodge, exploring the junk stores around town, listening to music and bugging my rotgut buddies on the clock.

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THINGS WE ARE GOING TO MISS AT CINCO: Goo, Nakamoto, Dean, Ben Munson, Edgar “All Smiles” Morales, Chris Soli, Josh Nelson, Kirk, Aaron Lee, Sunny, Gary V’kemper, Montagne, Matthew, Cristin, Shari and Danielle, as well as furry, long and mean Tyler.

OTHER CINCO ITEMS THAT WILL GENERATE A TEAR, WHEN THINKING OF THE GOOD OL’ DAYS: Birthday cakes, nice desks, the air conditioning, gambling debts, long-winded conference calls, an array of eager Salt-of-the-Earth™ vendors, amazing color work, CINCO’s woodwork (goddamn, I’ll miss that trim.), the color printer, the gigaflop server, the spacious shitter (A man needs to stretch out.), crazy-ass Aeron chairs for my crazy ass, big words, champion metaphors, cold water, Nakamoto’s mobile, Goo’s colorful array of “um” and “dude…” annd “uh, yeah…” outbursts, leaving for lunch, CINCO parties, field trips, the smart people who attend the parties and Rosco the FedEx guy who used the shitter daily, like clockwork.

OUR CLIENTS, OUR BLOOD: Nixon watches of Encinitas, Matt “Brass Balls” Capozzi (“Guys! It’s perfect! Best ever. Here are the changes.”), “Big” Chad Dinenna, Peter McBride, Andy Laats, Will Redd, Hopher, Yo, Meg, Niki, Turtle, Tom Faux-Kasha (Man, I’m gonna miss you real bad.), and of course, the watches themselves (You little bastards.).

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Real excited.