XOXO was a really neat festival that met at the intersection of art and tech. It’s always been something I’ve been interested in, but it’s slightly adjacent to my work so I never made it to one in person. But the talks that came out of there are incredible.

Another cool thing about XOXO is Field Notes always made a special edition 3-pack to commemorate the festival. If it’s something Field Notes is perennially involved with, you know it’s pretty cool.

An aside: I’m pretty ardent that I am not a Field Notes collector, but a Field Notes user. I don’t want my Field Notes to sit on a shelf on display - I intend to fill every single notebook I own before I die (unless of course I reach an untimely end1).

But some editions interest me more than others, and if I see an XOXO edition, I usually get it. So at the Field Notes Holiday Market, I saw a 3-pack for the 2019 XOXO Festival and I couldn’t resist2.

For a few hours, I thought I had completed the set - every XOXO edition made (notice I didn’t say collection!). It was kinda cool, kinda scary, and what inspired me to write this post. After a bit more research, I ascertained that I have every edition from 2015 onwards, missing 2012 and 2013 - the first two festivals. Somewhat a relief, somewhat a let down.

I don’t think these editions were ever sold on Field Notes’ site, I think they were only given away as swag to XOXO attendees; and so few were probably produced I’ll probably never own these editions3. And that’s OK!

Anyways, since we’re already this far into talking XOXO editions, let’s run through the ones I do have, because they’re dope and are worth showing off.

XOXO 2014 - Glitch Edition

I’ve eyed these ones for a while, missed out on them when they first came out (they may not have been for sale at Field Notes at the time). There were available at last year’s Field Notes Holiday Market at their Rarities table, and I couldn’t say no.

XOXO 2015 - Brendan Monroe

These was the first XOXO edition I picked up. I think a limited number came on sale on Field Notes’ site and I nabbed em. These might be the first collaboration Field Notes I purchased, it was still early-ish days for me and Field Notes at that point. The artwork is stunning!

XOXO 2016 - Mark Weaver

These ones are unreal. The marbling and the colors are super intense. Very dope, I want to use another one of these soon!

XOXO 2018 - Shawna X

Very cool and abstract. Reminds me of like jazz and the opening credits on old Poirot episodes.

XOXO 2019 - Maja Dlugolecki

These are the ones I just picked up. I think initially the design didn’t jump out at me, but that changed when I saw them in person. The texture of the cover is really cool too, kinda course like a watercolor canvas.

XOXO 2024 - Ellen Wilde

It’s either these or the 2016 ones as my favorites. The design is stunning and it’s such as a cool concept. Just good stuff.

  1. I did nearly get run over by a distracted Mercedes driver whilst on a run last weekend, so you never know. ↩

  2. Somehow I didn’t grab these back in 2019 when they were available at Field Notes online shop, but I think that was around the time I was having concerns with buying more notebooks along with the Colors subscription and I couldn’t justify purchasing more Field Notes that year. ↩

  3. oh, but they’re gorgeous ↩