Just a Real Nice Gal

A few weeks ago Chris and I packed our bags, loaded Mr. Mika into the car and headed down to sunny Charleston, SC to hear a talk by Aaron Draplin. If you’re not familiar with him, you should be. His work is iconic and bold with a no-bullshit attitude. He’s also one of the masterminds behind Field Notes.

His lecture hit on many points, outlining his modest beginnings in the Midwest, poking fun at himself along the way while also acknowledging his successes. Draplin’s vulgarity-laced talk was one of the most authentic and down to earth lectures that I’ve ever heard.

Unlike lectures I’ve been to in the past I left feeling not only creatively inspired but also inspired to do more for the community and to change my thinking overall. A few points that have really stuck with me:

1. “*&#@ clients!”
It’s easy to become frustrated with clients and blame everything on them when in reality most projects go sour because of our own lack of salesmanship. Sometimes though, you just get stuck with a really close-minded person and you end up having to do some really soul crushing design involving curlz. We should revel in projects that go well, rather than focusing negative energy on projects that head south. Do what you have to do to finish it up and do the best that you can. If you find yourself doing work that you hate, do work that you love off hours and do it a lot.

2. Be inspired by history
I’ve always loved old design. Old brochures, stickers, labels, branding—hell I even love old music. The limitations of the time forced designers to think intelligently about what they were doing, each element had to be carefully cut and arranged. A lot of type was done by hand, it’s laborious and beautiful work. We take for granted how easy we have it as designers today, surrounded by millions of fonts and software that grows more and more (dangerously) intelligent and helpful. There’s something beautiful about clean design, not just design that’s white but design that is concise, intelligent and beautiful. It’s a skill that the modern designers are quickly losing. Less truly is more.

3. Share what you love
This is something I know I struggle with. In your portfolio, don’t just show everything you have, show the best work. Even if it made you no money and is for a no-name client. I have some work that I’ve done for big brands that I just don’t show. Design by committee rarely has a good outcome. I want to show it, because I’m proud of having worked with that particular brand, but the final product was just not so great. Truth be told, some of my best work is stuff I did for fun for friends or non-profit clients. I think this is especially true for students and recent grads, they don’t have much to show being straight out of school so they just show everything they ever did in school. Do good work on your own and only show what you love.

The hubs and I have been itching to get out of town for a while, so a three day weekend/mini-vacation was in order. The beach bum in me desires to shove toes into sand and splash about, so we made our way down to Charleston for a Double Feature! First, on Friday night we had the pleasure of hearing the ever-so-talented Aaron Draplin give a talk on design. I left cursing up a storm, all inspired and shit—a personality like his is liable to rub off on just about anyone. More on that though on my Friday post. Second, we spent some time at the beach. Last time we visited Charleston we made the mistake of trying to go to Folly Beach… on 4th of July weekend. This time we hit up Sullivan’s Island which was much more our style. It was quiet and it was gray—storm clouds hovered ominously and there was the occasional sprinkle of rain but it was a nice way to spend a Saturday. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Also, I should probably just rename this column “Pictures of my husband and dog.” Seriously, but I can’t help if they’re so photogenic!

First off, I am woefully bad at photographing people. I have no idea how to give direction, and when I try to make my subject laugh… well, I just end up making baby noises at them until they cry-laugh. In general, I avoid photographing people unless they ask me to. I always say yes, because lord knows I need the practice. Then panic sets in and I spend hours rifling through photography blogs trying to find inspiration.

Thankfully, my husband is one person I’m pretty comfortable photographing—so when he asked me to take some pictures of him for his new website I wasn’t too concerned. He’s pretty photogenic if you ask me, but I might be ever so slightly biased.

The last shot is some graffiti that was inside the abandoned house we shot around. It’s lyrics from a Bright Eyes song.

You can view the fullsize images on my flickr.