Aaron Draplin's Life And Accomplishments

Aaron Draplin is a witty graphic designer was born in 1972 in Detroit, Michigan. When he was 19, he moved out to Oregon in pursuit of his love for snowboarding and graphic design. His first role was producing a design for Solid snowboards and the rest was history. His business, Draplindustries Design Co., took off, in a mild-mannered way - he produced several local advertisements for various business inside Bend, Oregon, where he resided for five years until moving to Minneapolis to finish up a design bachelor's degree. As well as owning his own design business, Aaron has produced work for Nike’s skateboarding department, the computer software program Lookout, Target (creating their LGBT digital gift card design), AOL, Red Wing, Ford Motors,

His mother weaved baskets and his father would make beautiful creations out of wood. Although, Draplin was conflicted, initially, on what he wanted to do after high school. Much like an average young adult just receiving their diploma, he was torn between moving out west to start a life, becoming a snowboarder with his friends or to stay home and eventually figure things out. He decided though, at 19, to move out west with a few buddies. At first, he was headstrong on focusing on snowboarding - only working small jobs, like being a pizza boy, at night after snowboarding all day. He’d find himself sneaking into local community colleges to use their design machines to produce small business cards for himself and friends. In 1996, he moved to Alaska and spent an entire summer working as a dishwasher. Although, he brought back ten thousand dollars to Oregon and that’s when his business took off. He dubbed himself a designer - adhering to local business design needs. However, he wanted more. Draplin decided moving to Minneapolis to receive his bachelor's degree in graphic design. He attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and learned to weld, screen print, dye photos, etc. He’s taken his work to new heights, working with the likes of the Obama Administration and producing a book that hit stores in May of 2016 - a 256 page showcasing of his work, inspirations, road stories, and advice. His work is minimalistic, a mix of pop art and constructivism and his word of advice for upcoming artist is “keep this