As 2021 comes to a close, I want to capture my mindset across my areas of interest.

One of the first things I did in January of this year was migrate all of my digital notes into the Notes app, day by day, spanning back to 2013. I got back into the groove of daily notetaking this year, and it feels really good. My notes are a mix of journaling and, well, notes. When I’m learning something online, or reading an interesting piece, or watching a show, I’m taking notes. So far, I’ve taken notes 321 days this year, compared to 69 days in 2020, and only 25 days in 2019.

So I’ve been putting mileage in the Notes app privately. I also made more of an effort this year to let my thoughts and ideas see the light of day publicly. This took many forms, and is still evolving, across Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Arena, Substack, Medium, YouTube, GitHub, Reddit, and more.

Around this time last year, I started looking for the earliest traces of my online self. And I found some gems, like my first blog post. One thing I like about the metaverse conversation is that for many of us, it reaffirms that we have digital lives that are very real. tallneil is my digital identity, and tallneil is online.

I started at Square in January, and then spent the whole year working on the Block brand, which my team launched on December 1. I’m happy with the execution and reception. I spent more time working on the launch than on anything else this year, and now it’s out in the world, and it feels pretty surreal. There’s still a lot of work to do, but in my experience, that’s as close to closure as it gets.

Because of my mixed skillset, I often question what my role really is. My official title is Interactive Designer L5. I used to call myself a designer/developer, then for a while it was UI designer, then for most of last year it was Neil Shankar designs websites. It’s just framing, but it does affect how I think of myself and my role. So earlier this year I started using digital designer, because I think that most directly describes what I do. No buzzwords, no UI/UX. Just, digital designer. A term anyone can understand.

Virgil Abloh’s death hit me pretty hard. May he rest in peace. For a lot of guys like me, trying to build creative careers, Virgil was the blueprint. 

I was featured in Creative Boom in 2018, and then this year I did an interview in Lovers Magazine. It’s a tough balance to strike in that, when I shared these interviews on my social media, both times, this year and in 2018, the most enthusiastic responses were from people who aren’t in design, aren’t in tech. And it’s cool that they can engage with my work, and I really appreciate their support, but like, I don’t want to put stuff out that only impresses people on the outside. It means a lot more to me whenever I get the attention of people in my circles, people I admire and want to work with.

In the past, I was more incentivized by client projects than by personal projects. This year, hand in hand with posting more content publicly, I tried to pursue more of my ideas, and I did. There were 5 or 6 projects that I built out and shared publicly, including an NFT collection that I’m pretty happy with.

There’s a lot of snake oil, but on paper, it’s a good fit for me. I believe in the value of digital assets, I have strong design chops, I like alternative investments, and I’ve been a lifelong collector. I used to go to flea markets as a kid and look for rare coins. NFTs have that spirit, and I’m paying close attention to the space.

Tall Neil, Inc. is the S-Corp I created in 2019. Nonsense will be a web3-focused subsidiary that I’m hoping to launch in early 2022. It’s a project that I’ve been super excited about for a few months, and it’s almost ready to share publicly.

Early Humans was meant to be an editorial side project, like an online magazine, but now it’s just a train of thought that I carry with me. It’s influenced by the CW show The 100, Sapiens, Hardcore History, and Balaji’s writing. The idea is, in the long run, we are early humans. All history is recent history. I used to think that we lived in a very old, very developed world, and that, idk, Cleopatra, or Genghis Khan — they were the early ones. Now I think, we’re all early. We’re still in their era, the early days of humanity. I feel motivated by that.

Early Humans as a thesis captures a worldview that I have. The second thesis is Life Style, and I’ve been working on this one for about 6 years. It all started with a quote from the book Life Style, by Bruce Mau: “We are interested in recuperating and reinvesting the term ‘life style’ so that it speaks of the designer’s role in shaping the lives we lead and the world in which we live.”

I read the book in the summer of 2015, and painted the quote on the wall of my fraternity bedroom. I’ve been thinking about a Life Style tattoo ever since. The idea is pretty similar to Roman Mars’ thinking behind 99% Invisible, that our lives are shaped by invisible decisions made by generations of designers. That helps me understand my purpose as a designer and the productive role that I play in society.

There’s a second part that’s been on my mind this year, and that has to do with quality of life and Maslow’s hierarchy. Ramy summed it up perfectly in a GQ interview: “Kids of immigrants, that’s our job. Our parents did all that survival stuff. Now we’ve got to optimize… we’ve got to make shit dope.”

In other words, lifestyle sits above basic needs. An American life was built for me through generations of hardship. So just as lifestyle is my privilege, as a creative, it’s also my obligation.

Everyone’s doing well. Sheila is doing her Ph.D. in social work, my dad is coming up on retirement, and my mom took a sabbatical. In total, I spent around 4 months at home in 2020. This year, I didn’t go home as much, but I was able to see my family about once every other month, which I’m thankful for.

There are trips I’ve definitely enjoyed, but generally, I’ve always had a hard time with travel. As covid has made air travel more dangerous, difficult, expensive, and unpleasant over the past 2 years, I’ve really solidified my stance that long distance trips are not how I like to spend my time and money. With my family being spread across the country, it isn’t easy. I’m still trying to find a solution.

Knock on wood, but I haven’t gotten it. I’m vaccinated and boosted. For most of 2020, covid was a daily stressor for me. The first vaccination put my mind at ease, and I haven’t really been stressed about it since then.

I’m healthy, the family is healthy, praise God. Earlier in the year, I was exercising a lot, cooking a lot, eating clean. Then around the time the work on Block ramped up, I lost some of that good momentum. Now I’m trying to get back into it. I’ve kept up with yoga pretty consistently.

Despite Block, this has probably been the least stressful year of my adult life. With living alone, and my team having healthy boundaries, I’ve been able to unwind a bit. That helps me prioritize my health.

I moved back to Berkeley in April, into a 1-bedroom apartment like a block away from my freshman dorm. There were a lot of reasons behind the move, including being ready to live alone. Another part of it is, I’m not done here. There’s something about Berkeley that feels to me like, ok, I could do this for a while longer. The move was definitely a milestone in my life. And for 2 or 3 months, I was putting all of my free time into making the apartment nice.

Amazing, brother. Pop off only on occasion, brother. When I moved into the new apartment, I had some things going on, things I’m still cognizant of, but for the most part, I’m good. I got lost in the sauce for a hot minute. My takeaway from that whole experience is that therapy is not the only therapy. We’re getting to a place socially where therapy is celebrated, and that’s amazing. It works for a lot of people. But I think that also creates this false equivalency between mental health and therapy. For my mental health, I’ve found that therapy is not the thing that’s missing, and that’s been pretty contentious for a few close people in my life. A long walk in the sun with my Airpods in does a lot more for me. I’m curious to see if my stance has changed by this time next year.

Moving out of the city shook up my social life a bit, but it’s all good now. I’m happy. This category is one of the biggest parts of my year, but I don’t wanna go into detail on main.

I did a lot of hiking this year. Something I didn’t do enough of the last time I lived in Berkeley. It’s good exercise, especially when I wear my weight vest, and it’s done good things for my mental health.

I keep tabs on things. I could see a future where I’m more vocal about my political views. For now, I like to keep it offline.

I started volunteering with Berkeley Mutual Aid this year. Honestly, it’s hard to make time for it when I feel like I don’t have enough time for my own stuff. I’m trying to keep up with it, and also continue making informed charitable donations.

I’m fortunate to be receiving equity for the first time in my career. This year I’ve tried to shift my focus away from spending and towards longer term financial goals, like buying a house and retiring early. Market volatility, especially in crypto, really puts daily spending into perspective.

I turned 25 in October, and it felt big. I’m still wrapping my head around it. I do feel my age now, which I haven’t always. I used to feel older.

I’m excited for the New Year. This time of year always has a pretty specific optimistic feeling.