Creative Mornings with Aaron James Draplin

Portland/CreativeMornings – Aaron James Draplin from CreativeMornings/Portland on Vimeo.

I watched this 50-minute talk by designer Aaron James Draplin while getting my alignment corrected one afternoon at National Tire and Battery. In the talk Draplin gives his 50 top pieces of advice, a device he uses to tell his own journey from itinerant snowboarder to successful design entrepreneur. Below is a list of my favorite takeaways.

• Enjoy the moment
• Love where you’re from
• Move somewhere wild
• Share what you find
• Work with your friends
• Go wherever they’ll send you
• Lose the crutch
• Exhibit humility
• Stop spending on bullshit
• Be wary of certain business professionals
• Laugh at stuff
• Turn your back on organized sports
• Dream up a plan
• Get cosmic
• Take color seriously
• Say what you mean
• Get it on vinyl
• Be ready when they call you up to the big leagues
• Learn an instrument
• Be the client
• Go by car
• Know what really matters in the end (i.e. help your friends)
• Buy things made in America
• Question stuff constantly
• Know who’s got the power
• Collect cool shit
• Grab your social media by the throat and use it as a tool
• Savor the little stuff
• Support your local rock outfits
• Know all the shades of being professional
• Don’t worry about awards
• Quit saying the word dude
• Make big ass posters
• Go pants-less