For this week’s LitMag/Paper Tiger interview, we talked to esteemed designer Aaron James Draplin. Whether or not you realize it, odds are for you have seen something designed by Draplin. He has worked for clients such as Nike, Burton Snowboards, Field Notes, Ford Motor Company, the Obama Administration, and countless others.
After moving from Detroit to Oregon to pursue snowboarding, Draplin began working with sign lettering and logo design. He then returned to the Midwest which he so loves to attend Minneapolis College of Art and Design. After graduating, he moved to Southern California, where he quickly rose to the position of art director at SNOWBOARDER magazine. In 2000, for his work at SNOWBOARDER, Primedia named him “Art Director of the Year.” Draplin was then hired as a senior designer at the Cinco Design office in Portland, where he worked on Gravis, Helly Hansen, and Nixon accounts. In 2004, he founded the Draplin Design Co., based in Chicago. Draplin has run the DDC ever since, and just last year published a book titled Draplin Design Co: Pretty Much Everything. Below are his answers to our questions regarding his work, heroes, and the dovetailing of technology and design.
Image: Draplin Design Co.
Due to your work designing state-specific logos, I must ask, have you been to all 50 states? What has/will that be like for you?
I’ve been to 49 of 50. Hawaii’s the only one I haven’t conquered! I did this before I was 30 years old! Just was excited to travel and drive and see things. Exploring is the best, and nothing beats an American road trip.
Do you think the world will ever evolve to handwrite absolutely nothing?
Nope. Sure, computers are getting more and more efficient and omnipresent. But as a species, we’ll always savor the written word. Or the magic of holding a baby, a first kiss or the pain of saying goodbye to someone you love. No app will ever reproduce that. Plus, a stick scratching around in the dirt will alway work for communicating…just like it did in a cave eons ago.
Image: Draplin Design Co.
How have literary, art, and pop culture figures inspired and/or affected your work?
My heroes are usually crusty rockers and artists. People who buck the system and do things their own way. Take Wayne Coyne from the Flaming Lips. Aside from loving their music, Wayne has taught me that age doesn’t mean shit. You can be 57 years old and still be creative, wild and kick the world’s ass. And I have felt little bits of inspiration from the likes of novelist Cormac McCarthy, astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson, filmmaker Michael Moore, poet Maya Angelou and a million other folks who blow my mind.
