#HTE

Draplin’s Book and the Hand-Eye Release Party

Draplin. 

“Household name” is hardly a stretch. Neither is calling him one of the most influential graphic designers and speakers in the country. For the past decade, Aaron Draplin’s been inventing his life, his clients, and he’s been telling people why it matters.

He’s made so much stuff now, he can fill a book—a big, beautiful, classic, badass book entitled Pretty Much Everything. It comes out in a few weeks, and we’re stoked to have him here Wednesday, May 11 at 6 PM for an early release, a book signing, and “30 minutes of yammering” from the man himself. 

There’s enough on the web already about how radical and refreshing this dude is, so I’ve just pulled a few of my favorite Draplin quotes here for your enjoyment. Give them a read, revel in his expletives, and come by for a beer, some original talk, and a little Draplin hang. See you then…

ON HIS PRODUCT DESIGN:

“Check out the fun details because we hide fun shit from time to time. If I did that at some big company, I’d get my ass fired.”

ON THE DEPARTURE OF SIMPLE, EFFECTIVE DESIGN:

“Now when you go to a Home Depot, it’s just heartbreaking. Like, it just sucks. Imagine what a fucking hardware store would look like 50 years ago…to see just a wall of that.”

ON THE CHANGE IN GRAPHIC DESIGN:

“Sometimes I feel like such a cake decorator…I mean, I am. Back in the day, you really got the feeling this was like a trade…it wasn’t about just trying to outdo whatever was on some cool design aggregator’s site in the morning. It was about the most effective way to use one color on some old crappy thing. I might be delusional, but the logos were better then.”

ON PEOPLE GETTING AWAY WITH BAD WORK:

“No history, no respect for this great little motor lodge…and I wanted to go right to that sign company and just fucking rip that kid’s head off and say, ‘How can you charge that kind of money for garbage like that?’”

FROM HIS TEDxPORTLAND TALK:

“Think about inventing your clients, inventing your life, inventing your day to day.”

PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING 

BOOK RELEASE PARTY

WEDNESDAY, MAY 11 at 6 PM 

Hand-Eye Supply // 427 NW Broadway, Portland, OR 97209

Talk starts at 6 PM, merch sale and signing to follow. Also: Ft. George Beer