Tall Tales From a Large Man
Last week I had the pleasure of attending a talk entitled “Tall Tales from a Large Man” given by designer and entrepreneur Aaron Draplin. Draplin is a Michigan native, but now resides in the Pacific Northwest where he runs his very successful design firm Draplin Design Co. I hate to admit it, but I was not too familiar with Mr. Draplin’s amazing catalog of work until my buddy Nate clued me in. After watching this video and browsing through his portfolio, I knew this talk was something I could not miss.
The event was held at 1515 Broadway in Detroit and the setting was quite intimate. There were a few more than 100 people in attendance, including 17 members of the Draplin family! Before Aaron took the mic, he had his father come to the stage and tell some jokes. At this point, I knew we were in for something great. Aaron then loaded up his beautifully designed PDF presentation on the projector and he shared many interesting stories, discussed his work, and gave some great advice.
The two messages that really struck a chord with me were these: 1) keep things simple and 2) do cool projects with your friends. I have no shortage of cool friend projects in my life, so I’m all set there, but I could not help but focus in on his message about simplicity. He shared many photographs of his workspace where he had collected and organized many old samples of packaging and other objects found at yard sales and vintage shops across America. While digging through old stuff does not sound like my typical design process, I had to appreciate the simplicity that can be found in old packaging designs and advertisements. Draplin has found a way to take the simplicity of the past and give it a creative, modern edge in his designs, which would explain the great success he has had with Draplin Design Company. I learned a lot during the 90 minutes he spoke, and look forward to following Mr. Draplin’s work more closely in the future.
To see more photos from the Aaron Draplin lecture visit the AIGA Detroit flickr set.
About the Author
Matthew Rossana is a web designer at Cengage Learning. He has been designing for over eight years and spends way too much time in front of his laptop. He has a labradoodle named Dorito.
All images courtesy of Rebecca Goldberg.