WHOA! I met legendary Graphic Designer, Aaron Draplin. If you don't know who he is, let me fill you in. First off, Draplin is my favorite designer. He's the king of thick lines, simple designs, and junkin. He's created designs for Nike, Burton, Field Notes, Ford Motors, and Obama Administration. Ever hear of those small businesses? He's written an amazing book called Pretty Much Everything, which talks about all of his work up until now. You get an inside look on his past, his design process, and some great advice. He's been featured on podcast after podcast, travels around the country giving talks, aaaaaand has been featured in a documentary called MAKE. And to top it off, he's such a nice guy. Do me a solid and check him out. You won't regret.
Back to today! You guessed it... I was in total fangirl mode. My girlfriend, cousin, and brother went to his Pop-Up Shop in the westside of Chicago. It was held at Field Note HQ. The building was beautiful- Super clean and open, Field Notes on display, people walking around, and BAM, Drap in the center of the room. He was standing by his merch table talking to everyone. There was a line to meet him, so my cousin and I hopped in. We both have his book and were looking forward to getting it signed. Right before go time, my cousin and I were talking about how 1. we couldn't believe he was standing 5 feet away from us, and 2, how nervous we were. IT'S OUR TURN. We stepped up and immediately told him that we were nervous. Smooth. He laughed and said he's just a normal guy who drives a van across the country. We talked for a little bit, he signed our books, doodled over his picture a few pages in, and then we took some pictures! PROOF. We talked a little more about the How Design convention he attended the day before, said our thank yous and our goodbyes. IT. WAS. AWESOME.
After we left the line, we snagged some DDC merch, looked around the HQ, and eventually headed out. All and all it was an amazing day. Being able to meet someone I look up to in my field is huge. It fuels the fire and makes me want to work 100 times harder in hopes to getting where he is professionally someday. I'll let you know if that happens. Until then, back to the grind.
Stay good,
Kelly Ward
