Inferno

This man is Aaron Draplin owner of Draplin Design Company. He’s 38 years old and he’s a no-nonsense kinda guy based in Portland, Oregon.

Rather ignorantly I didn’t know too much about the guy we were going to see last night. However  I had seen this video and was mighty impressed by Aaron’s passion, personality and swearing. We were prepared to learn more from him, but NOTHING could have prepared us for the journey he then took us on. Imagine if you will adding another  two hours to the above 3 minute video, then you’ll be somewhere near understanding how great it was.

We arrived in the deepest depths of East London (close to Shadwell DLR) station. We found a doorway and a poster.

Through the doorway was a set of stairs and after ascending all the way to the top we reached the 4th floor studios. A very cool and different kind of venue. Exploring the unknown just to find the venue was part of the fun. We hung around drinking, listening to a DJ and at one point casually chatting with Aaron himself, before heading through to the lecture room.

Here’s the poster which DDC designed for the UK visit. Mike luckily had cash on him and took home a signed copy (Number 002/100).

If I were to sum up Aaron’s personality in two slides…

Aaron’s career in design began doing Snowboarding related decals and merchandise. He  then ended up working as a pot washer on a tourist a train in Alaska. It was “a horrible job in the most beautiful place ever” and his design mind came into play yet again. He turned the shabby merchandise available to tourists on the train into desirable stuff. Doing this for 4 consecutive Summers then meant he’d earned enough to take a couple of years out.

During this time and a rise towards bigger things, a personal project of Aaron’s called Field Notes suddenly became a big idea in itself thanks to one of his more business minded friends. Aaron had used Moleskine and similar products as notebooks on his travels but in the States there was nothing but “Hello Kitty and that kind of random shit” in terms of notebooks. Rather than just hand out the locally sourced note books (as Aaron had been doing) it was decided to make a little more of the project, creating a larger range of designs and charging for them. Today Field Notes is beyond huge. After being drawn back to Minnesota from Alaska by his heroes of music and design he joined a”highfalutin art school paying $18,000 per year. I learned how to make when I was there”.

It was clear how much Aaron cares about homely things like his family and friends. During this point in time even though he was working on corporate projects as big as the first ever Nixon Dork watch, he invested as much time in ‘free’ projects. In this case helping his mate come up with a logo for his company ‘Cobra Dogs‘ – “often this kind work gives you freedom, it’s interesting and you can enjoy it more”.

When Aaron visited London a couple of years back he was down at Piccadilly Circus and talked about seeing a logo he’d worked on years earlier for a small shoe brand called Nike. The Air Max 360 logo was up in lights and for any designer that’s a huge achievement. Interestingly Aaron talked about his Nike logo vs his Cobra Dogs logo and said he’d choose the Cobra Dogs logo every time. “With all of the politics of a brand, i’d left the company before I even knew there’d even been sign off on my work. You lose the emotional connection”.

Towards the end of the talk Aaron offered some tips to the youth and upcoming designers of London. Besides his story he touched upon his influences like Saul Bass & Paul Rand. He then offered many of his own tips for success. Remember “photos are free”. His idea of a perfect Saturday is rifling through drawers in some random derelict building. He was a very proud guy who talked at length about hopping in his van, driving and looking for cool shit, “I’ve been to 49 of the 50 states. I’m not too bothered about Hawaii”.

We’ve said it so many times in the last 20 hours and to the organiser directly, but wow. Aaron was a truly amazing speaker. The best we’ve ever witnessed. The audience laughed, Aaron actually cried (more than once) and everybody left completely buzzing. We just hope the guys in Manchester turn out in force for the same tonight, you’re in for a real treat.