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Aaron Draplin - Graphic Design Iconic By Ric Getter | Images Courtesy of Ric Getter and Aaron Draplin Of all the visual artists, graphic designers are likely the least appreciated, even though their work is a far greater part of our everyday lives. We don’t usually find it in a gallery or on the wall of some affluent patron, but on the covers of the books we read, the packages of the products we use, even stamps we stick on our mail. There is an artist behind those creations. Artist/designer/entrepreneur Aaron Draplin does his to get noticed, particularly if you’re an up-and-coming artist looking for inspiration and a bit of motivation. Draplin Design Company is headquartered in a quiet Portland neighborhood. Aaron and his staff (his wife) have a commute of about fifteen steps from his back door. DDC’s ground floor headquarters contains their corporate offices (his wife’s desk) along with shipping and receiving and Aaron’s library and studio. One wall is lined with a huge collection of record albums, a carefully curated collection of his favorite music representing his eclectic tastes in rock. Another wall is a bookcase filled many of the best titles in graphic design. Big, burly, and a bit outspoken, Draplin is more the quintessential Northwesterner than one’s typical image of an artist. He’s more likely found at the local burger joint than in a quiet corner of a Starbucks. When he met me at the door, he was attired in a flannel work shirt, logo baseball cap and sweatpants, about how he appeared on stage at Adobe MAX. Aaron Draplin has many interesting traits. Pretentiousness is not one of them. That can also be said of his work. In it, there’s an abundance of simplicity: thick lines, bold, solid colors, a few surprises, but an essential sense of “yeah, that’s the way it’s supposed to look.” A lot of his products are driven by functionality. One of his favorite lines every listener is bound to hear from him at least once is, “I want to build stuff people can use.” At MAX, he showed off a business form he designed early in his career, possibly the only such a graphic appeared on the MAX stage. He had put a lot of thought into making it easy to understand and complete. He's still proud of that.