Last night I had the privilege of hearing unsung design hero Aaron Draplin of the DDC speak at the Salt Lake City AIGA gathering. I’ve been following Draplin’s work over the past few years, and as a fellow displaced midwesterner, admire his blue collar design sensibilities. As always, Draplin gave an inspiring presentation and I’m happy to report back with a few of my takeaways.
- Get Cosmic – Design is cool, but in the end we’re particle matter floating in space. Stepping back to ponder and get lost in the many mysteries of the universe is a great way to maintain perspective on life.
- Do Good Work for Good People – It’s too easy to get stuck punching the clock pumping out work we don’t care about. While this may be part of life and essential for paying the bills, we should also find time for work that excites us. Field Notes is an excellent example of how passion can turn into profit.
- Say Yes More – I struggles with this one. Design is a valuable resource and as such, designers should be compensated fairly. However, I don’t think Draplin is advocating that we work for free or for minimal wages. It’s important to get paid, but sometimes helping out a friend or taking on a job simply because it’s awesome is important too.
For those of you who were in attendance, I’d love to hear what you came away from the presentation with. Big thanks goes to the big man, Aaron Draplin as well as Salt Lake AIGA for making it happen.