Outside Lands and Dropbox bring new collaborations to life

But when you find enough common ground, sparks can fly despite the distance. That’s why we’re fascinated when artists from different backgrounds come together to create something new.

Inspired by the success of last year’s experimental mash-ups, we’re returning to Outside Lands to pair up people from different corners of the creative world and see what they can make together.

But does it go to 11?

Indie rock heroes Portugal. The Man and designer Ricky Watts are friends who’ve been looking for a chance to work together for a while. So what’s kept that from happening? Ricky lives in California. PTM make their home in Portland, Oregon.

Lucky for us, we get to help bridge the distance by giving them a place to collaborate. Using Dropbox Paper, the band and Ricky worked on a new amplifier design, sharing ideas at every stage of creation, and revealing the final artwork onstage during PTM’s performance at Outside Lands.

Check out how Dropbox Paper can help get your team on the same page

Chocolate bar, raised

Chocolate’s collaborations are legendary. Its controversial work with peanut butter is debated to this day. But how long can it rest on its laurels? In the face of fierce competition from the ever-morphing gummy bears, we think it’s time for chocolate to get in shape. It can be so much more than flat bars and Easter bunnies.

So we asked designer Sam Ushiro and chocolatier Amy Guittard to co-create a festival-inspired dessert. Though Sam lives in New York and Amy resides in San Francisco, the two have been cooking up ideas in Dropbox Paper to figure out the best way to sculpt Guittard Chocolate into something Willy Wonka would envy.

If you’re at Outside Lands this weekend, stop by the Guittard Chocolate trailer in ChocoLands and check out the chocolate architecture they’ve concocted.

Bossing up from down under

Sometimes a song is so strong, it can pull people together from different ends of the earth. Take Lizzo’s “ Good as Hell,” for example. Its anthemic lyrical hook is inspiring a new mural from Australian Gemma O’Brien and Brooklyn-based It’s a Living.

In the days leading up to the festival, Gemma and It’s A Living worked out their plans and logistics using Dropbox Paper as their collaborative workspace. During the festival, the two typographers will combine their creative energy to make murals live at the festival—and Outside Lands fans will get to watch the artwork from first brush stroke to final reveal.

These are just a few of the co-creations happening this weekend. Come see them for yourself if you’re attending Outside Lands.

And follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for behind the scenes action showing how the collaborations come together.