For a short while (one year), I went to art school at Minneapolis College of Art and Design in Minnesota. During my time there, I knew this character Aaron Draplin, he was a friend of my roommate. Back then, I would say me and him had very different opinions on graphic design and our approach to it, but it was all in good spirit and laughs. The same could still be said today. Although I still respect his work and its clean and niche approach, its just not how I would do things.
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Today I came across this video of him chatting, seems someone is working on a short documentary with him? Watching this one clip, I see he is still a big bearded guy, wearing hats and loving the Pacific North West of America. He is also still very opinionated on graphic design, and on this topic in particular I can agree with him. While I do agree with how bad this typical technique in America is, I am not so sure I get as upset about these things. Just goes to show though, you can’t buy good taste, not even for over $10,000.
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At the same time (always taking the chance to bash on Google), who says bad taste won’t take you to new heights or intense stock values?
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blippo-bold! hahah
man i love this dude so much.
A recent interview with Aaron Draplin is here at http://www.themarmaspot.com
As much as Aaron’s red hat likely represents how hot under the collar he is about bad design, I’d have to agree with him. It’s sad to see well designed, nostalgic artifacts just disappear.
Progress is one thing. I understand some things need to be torn down in order to make way for improvements, but it’s certainly sad to see a gorgeous old sign like that get torn to pieces only to be replaced with some terrible Halogen back-lit gel with horrid design.
We’re running into much the same problem here in Chicago. There is a strip of Motels on the north side of the city, along Lincoln Blvd that are slowly closing and being converted into something else. Either another Motel / Motor Lodge, or something new entirely. And along with the change, comes the destruction of these signs. Very sad.