Danny Chapman’s #remotelife at Ad Hoc

I’m Danny Chapman, Creative Director at Ad Hoc. In my current role, I assist other design teams where I’m needed, and advocate for good design principles in all of the work we do.

Setup

There aren’t too many places in our house where I can buffer myself from the rest of the family, so I’ve taken over our front porch, since it has both a door and windows. Both are key for me! It’s a little bit unorthodox, but I love the views and natural light. I use a basic IKEA standing desk. I tend to stand more in the mornings, and sit for a good portion of the afternoon. I use a 13" MacBook Pro connected to an Apple Cinema display, which gives me the best of both worlds in terms of portability and desktop screen size. I try to keep my desk clutter to a minimum, with the exception of a bobblehead Stitch toy, who’s kept me company since my very first job out of college.

#oceanstate

I live in Rhode Island, and our family recently moved to a 1920’s home that is very close to our local bike path, and is also a short run from a fantastic local beach. I love that after a good work day, I can quickly get outside, or take a run to the beach and catch the sunset before the day is done.

Favorite parts of #remotelife

I really appreciate the flexibility to do things like pick up my kids from school before the work day is done, or carve out time when I need to for other obligations, then pick up the work day either early in the morning or in the evening.

Working remotely definitely creates some challenges, not least of which is cabin fever. I generally try to combat this with lunchtime workouts at the Y, co-working, or coffee shop work in the afternoons (always good to interact with other humans). Good headphones, recommendations from our #music channel, and extra lighting go a long way too, as does co-working. It’s fun learning from other people in the company, and how they tackle #remotelife challenges, and fold in their own personal routines.