Making it in the little leagues: Aaron Draplin at TEDxPortland
Summary
TLDRAaron James Drain, a 40-year-old graphic designer from Michigan, shares his journey from small-town sports to a career in design. He humorously admits his lack of traditional credentials but highlights his passion for creating, from early snowboard graphics to founding his own design company. Drain emphasizes the importance of inventing your own path, as seen through his work with local businesses like Cobra Dogs and Field Notes. He also announces 'Free Fridays,' where he'll donate his design services to help those in need, showcasing his commitment to community and creativity.
Takeaways
- 😀 Aaron James Drain, a 40-year-old graphic designer, shares his journey and insights in a humorous and candid presentation titled 'Making it in the Little Leagues'.
- 🏆 Despite having no major awards or accolades, Aaron emphasizes the importance of doing what you love and finding success on your own terms.
- 🏞 Aaron's career began in Michigan, moved to Oregon, and then to Alaska for four summers, where he worked menial jobs to save up for his graphic design tools.
- 🎨 Aaron's passion for graphic design led him to create logos and brands, including the popular 'Cobra Dogs', which started as a rescue mission for a friend in legal trouble.
- 💼 Aaron discusses the challenges of working in a professional setting, including the bureaucracy and meetings, which led him to value the freedom of working for himself.
- 🏡 Aaron's company, Dra and Design, focuses on creating unique designs and brands, even when budgets are tight, showcasing the power of creativity over financial resources.
- 🗞 Aaron's work has ranged from designing for big brands like Nike to smaller, more personal projects like 'Field Notes', which he created because he couldn't find the kind of notebooks he liked.
- 🚀 Aaron's career highlights include designing for various companies and bands, such as Coal Headwear, Union Binding Company, and Richmond Fontaine, demonstrating his versatility and love for his work.
- 🌐 Aaron's love for travel and exploration is evident as he shares his experiences of going across America to 'junk' for treasures, reflecting his passion for design history.
- 💡 Aaron proposes 'Free Fridays', a concept where he would use his skills to help others for free, showing his desire to give back to the community and use his talents for the greater good.
Q & A
What is Aaron James Drain's profession?
-Aaron James Drain is a graphic designer.
What is the title of Aaron's multimedia presentation?
-The title of Aaron's multimedia presentation is 'Making it in the Little Leagues'.
What disclaimer does Aaron mention at the beginning of his presentation?
-Aaron mentions that he says what he likes to say and that their legal team has put together something the audience needs to sign off on quickly.
Where is Aaron originally from?
-Aaron is originally from Michigan, specifically Detroit.
What were Aaron's priorities during his teenage years in Northern Michigan?
-During his teenage years, Aaron's priorities were being a skateboarder in the summer and a snowboarder in the winter.
Why did Aaron move west after high school?
-Aaron moved west after high school to pursue a life as a snowboarder in the big West.
What did Aaron do to earn money before getting into graphic design full-time?
-Aaron washed dishes in Alaska for four summers to earn money before fully committing to graphic design.
What is the name of the company Aaron started after working for various design offices?
-Aaron started a company called 'Drain Design Co.' after working for other design offices.
What significant project did Aaron work on that he considers a personal achievement?
-Aaron considers creating the brand 'Cobra Dogs' for his friend Cory Grove a significant personal achievement.
What is the concept behind 'Field Notes' that Aaron created?
-Aaron created 'Field Notes' because he couldn't find notebooks without unnecessary designs like Hello Kitty on them, and he wanted to pay respect to the beautiful, simple agrarian object.
What is Aaron's proposal for 'Free Fridays'?
-Aaron proposes 'Free Fridays' where he will use his skills to help people for free for four to five hours, with the goal of donating the equivalent of his work's value to helping others.
Outlines
🎨 Introduction to Aaron James Drain's Creative Journey
Aaron James Drain, a 40-year-old graphic designer, introduces himself and his multimedia presentation titled 'Making it in the Little Leagues.' He humorously acknowledges his lack of traditional credentials and accolades, setting a candid tone. Aaron shares his Michigan roots, his parents' influence, and his early years in Detroit before moving to Northern Michigan. He discusses his transition from sports to skateboarding and snowboarding, which influenced his move west after high school. His narrative includes his early experiences in Oregon, his time in Alaska working menial jobs to save for a computer, and his decision to pursue higher education at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Aaron's story highlights his passion for design and his unconventional path to success.
🚀 Aaron's Entrepreneurial Adventures and Creative Triumphs
Aaron details his entrepreneurial ventures, starting with his design work for a snowboard company and his subsequent move to Southern California to work for Snowboarder magazine. He reflects on the corporate environment and the creative challenges it presented, leading to his decision to return to Oregon. There, he worked for the CCO design office and later started his own design company. Aaron shares the story of how he helped his friend Cory Grove, who faced legal issues over a design, by creating a brand for him pro bono. He also discusses the creation of 'Field Notes,' a project born out of his inability to find simple notebooks without unnecessary designs. Aaron's narrative emphasizes the importance of creating opportunities and the joy of inventing one's own work and clients.
🎸 Celebrating Art, Music, and Personal Passions
Aaron expresses his love for art, music, and various cultural elements that inspire him. He talks about his admiration for vintage design work and the restraint and creativity of artists from the past who worked with limited resources. He shares his experiences of traveling across America, rescuing and collecting vintage items, and his passion for bands like Richmond Fontaine and The Flaming Lips. Aaron also discusses his work with various brands and artists, including creating logos and designs for local businesses and musicians. His narrative is a celebration of personal interests and the joy of working on projects that are close to his heart.
🛠️ Aaron's Commitment to Community and 'Free Fridays' Initiative
Aaron concludes his presentation by discussing his commitment to his community and his work. He shares his philosophy of working hard and making the most of his time, proposing a concept called 'Free Fridays.' This initiative aims to use his design skills to help those in need by offering his services for free. He envisions using the income generated from this effort to support others, reflecting his desire to give back to the community. Aaron's closing remarks emphasize the importance of using one's talents to make a difference and his willingness to experiment with new ways of contributing positively.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Graphic Designer
💡Making It in the Little Leagues
💡Analog Pursuits
💡No Budget, No Problem
💡Field Notes
💡Rescue Efforts
💡Invent Your Clients
💡Multimedia Presentation
💡Cobra Dogs
💡Free Fridays
Highlights
Aaron James Elhai, a 40-year-old graphic designer, shares his journey and insights on making it in the creative industry.
He humorously acknowledges his lack of traditional credentials and accolades, emphasizing his unconventional path.
Aaron's early life in Michigan, influenced by his parents' love for music and his own passion for sports, shaped his early years.
His move to Oregon at 19, driven by a desire for adventure and a career in snowboarding, marks a significant life change.
Aaron's first paid design work for $300, which was a snowboard graphic, symbolizes his entry into the professional design world.
He discusses the importance of hard work and the sacrifices he made, including washing dishes in Alaska for four summers to afford his design tools.
Aaron's educational journey includes attending the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, which influenced his design philosophy.
He shares his experience working for Snowboarder magazine in Southern California and the corporate environment's challenges.
The story of 'Cobra Dogs', a local business he helped rescue from legal troubles, showcases Aaron's commitment to community and creativity.
Aaron's philosophy on inventing your own clients and life, rather than seeking external validation, is a central theme of his talk.
The creation of 'Field Notes', a project born out of personal need, demonstrates his entrepreneurial spirit and love for design.
Aaron's love for vintage design and his efforts to rescue and champion forgotten design elements are highlighted.
His work with various brands and companies, including Coal Headwear and Union Binding, showcases his diverse design portfolio.
Aaron's 'Free Fridays' initiative, where he offers his design services to help those in need, reflects his desire to give back to the community.
He concludes with a call to action, encouraging others to use their skills to make a difference and support their communities.
Transcripts
all right all right all
right complete Command of the crowd
right all right
everybody my name is Aaron James drain
I'm 40 years old I'm a graphic designer
doing whatever the hell it takes to make
a living in this town and I prepared a
multimedia presentation today called
making it in the little leagues all
right hello tedex multimedia come on
everybody come
on
okay okay you have a disclaimer for the
crowd I say what I like to say I try to
you know do that all my life you know
and uh our legal team put together a
little something you guys need to sign
off on real quick thank
you thank you okay warning what
no time any coders in the crowd any any
web developers great great uh be
any Siri what's for lunch no I
sorry okay the hard truth I shouldn't be
up here you guys come on serious this is
embarrassing I have no credentials no
professional accolades Google that
good
luck I've never won an award I've never
tried for an award door stop
uh I don't have a book to sell
yet I usually don't wear pants so we
wash the 501s for the big day okay our
history I'm from Michigan Right Michigan
yeah right I was born in Detroit my mom
and dad were into the MC5 right a lot of
hair in my dad was a steel worker four
years old we go up to Northern Michigan
where a lot of terry cloth and feathered
hair growing
up riding bikes swimming in the in in
the lakes and Northern Michigan until
you're about 12 when all the cool kids
start becoming cool and all the kids
you're all in that small town you're
only it's sports or nothing I tried my
hand at
basketball okay 14 years old I go to
Travers City Michigan there's 60,000
people and I get to pick what I want to
be I'm a skateboarder in the summer my
priorities are straight snowboarder in
the winter right and this is when I move
west After High School you know I get my
little tiny associates degree and I go
out west
or where my life began so 19 years old
because here's what Michigan or the
Midwest or whatever told me it said
you're going to hate your job art you
won't make a scent and bigger is always
better right that's what they tell you
right right so I come to Oregon 93 with
all my buddies six of us and we come out
here to be snowboarders in the big big
West right right Jackson Hole we're up
and down the West Living Like
Animals the whole time I'm doing analog
Pursuits you know I don't have a
computer yet you know I'm sh letter in
futon covers
I do my first snowboard graphic for 300
bucks 300 bucks and I I need a computer
to like you know go and work so I got to
go I go to Alaska for four Summers I go
up there to wash dishes princess tours
four Summers beautiful Alaska and while
you're enjoying your lives down here in
Portland four Summers of this
if you look real close sleeping in
between shifts some dick put a mosquito
on my
lip four Summers to get my tools okay
then I go back to school because you got
to go to college and right right so
I go to college I go to Minneapolis
because they pick me as much as I pick
them I go to this Minneapolis College of
Art and Design and I go there because my
heroes these crusty bands from the 80s
that no you know no one knows about
they're from there and working designers
are from there and I start making logos
and thinking about my work and what I
want to do with my job and my life
screen printing this is called famous
alcoholics and uh I get my degree and I
get my first job down in Southern
California and I throw it all away this
incredible gritty North uh Midwest and I
go down to this prehistoric ferns Orange
County and I'm down there
working for Snowboarder magazine where
these are my you know the mega I read
growing up I couldn't say no two years I
do that I meet a bunch of guys get back
to Oregon in 2002 and I get to work for
the CCO design office my buddies in town
I looked up to him and I get up here I
get a job there I'm a senior designer I
had a card got to work on Nicks and
watches making ads designing and watches
all cool stuff but you know I also got
that first taste it's no fault to Sino
this is what happens when you're
professional emails about emails
meetings about meetings and all the
stuff that you go you know you
know I was a good midwesterner if they
asked me to go late I went late but I
jump out I jump out because it tipped I
could make more cash going home 24th in
Hawthorne after 9:00 than I could wantan
to be on the clock during the day right
so I bought a little house in 67th I got
an attacked dog Gary
and I trick out my basement to my spec
no pants allowed
right or where I got free so that's 2004
right and I become this dra and design
company right just one of us now this is
where I got down to work now if you look
here
multimedia
right I've been busy I've been making
logos one of them I got paid 25 Grand
one of them I got paid a
burrito that was good that was actually
good which leads us into this no budget
no problem we're all told to go for the
big jobs the big dollars whatever what
happens when your buddy comes to your
Cobra dogs my buddy Cory Grove my
brother in town here and comes to me and
says hey man I'm in trouble I took that
Cobra Commander logo you know gi. Joe
had cut you a mustard dripping off that
and put on a sweatshirt so to the
wrong kid he takes it home his dad's
some big Hasbro lawyer we get a big big
stack of CE and desis saying what are
you doing Cory comes to me and says I
went to the cool place in town with the
wax mustaches and oh yeah you know
those guys right I
know thank you for coming fellas you
know
sorry so he goes there and they're not
going to do that job there's no budget
you know there's no money so I'll take
that job sure this isn't about money now
this is about rescuing him getting him
out of litigation or applying my little
mouse finger to his life and we get to
round every corner there's no account
Andrew's here breathing down my neck
Bean cting whatever you want to call it
right we subversively make him a real
brand for fun for love right and if you
go to Government Camp you'll see Cobra
dogs eight years now going go get a
cobra dog all over the West he's been
franchising and going and setting up Sho
and doing this when I look back at my
life the last 10 years I got to hit one
out of the park for Nemo design here in
town pinch hitting for my my friends
over there and you work on the big Nik
thanks for doing this Nik by the way h a
company you got uh when you work on Nike
when you're this you get to see this I
traveled I get to see it in Munich pic
circus London uh New York and LA in 12
days right but I look back at my last 10
years three months after I made this big
thing the next hot was out there
and our little thing we toiled over was
dead and so it goes right when I look
back at my life I want to have Cobra
dogs I made his mom happy I made his mom
happy okay okay you can invent your
clients you can invent your life I made
a little thing called field notes just
because I couldn't find without
yeah I couldn't find ones that didn't
have Hello Kitty on it you know I I
powels you know on the super highway
from America you know America from
Michigan to Oregon I've been collecting
these things out of junk drawers and
estate
sales and I kind of want us pay respect
to this beautiful agrarian you know
object that are dead they're gone
everyone used to Old-Timers used to have
those in their pockets that's how they
was a currency of how they would predict
things I made this company we've
exhausted the whole French paper line
putting dots on a map putting dots on a
map all over America I'm just here to
say thank you whoever's buying them
thank you but remember we can do this
ourselves right we can do this we can
invent we're hired by someone smarter
than us to go pay us at half our rate
because it's a down economy sure
sure for someone else what if you do it
for yourself because every dollar we
make on these little cool things it
tastes so good you know a couple years
ago I got to help my mom and dad buy a
car that's pretty cool right that was
pretty cool so think about inventing
your life inventing your clients
inventing your dayto day right whatever
you call it I'm doing pretty good up
here huh yeah okay okay see it's very
surreal a lot of sweat going
on Rescue efforts what do people do for
fun they go a wine tasting or
uh farmers markets and I don't know
I don't
I go across America junking got a van
right die in that van live in that van
going to stuff like this like my friends
are saving to go to India it sounds
incredible but I go to Indiana
right and I've been with my camera
around my neck rescuing Treasures
because I know about the big guys man I
know about the big guys I wrote papers
about them I got to meat MIM velli and
when I see that stuff in the world
that's incredible but I'm kind of when I
pick design
I based on my height weight and face I
was told I was going to be a plumber
right 1991 so it's like you pick and
it's like small engine repair uh uh uh
VCR repair bounty hunting you
know Commercial Art I picked art
man cuz that's how those guys picked it
I think 20 30 40 years ago and the work
they did I collect and rescue and sort
of champion this stuff because I don't
want to go away the work they did was
beautiful to me cuz it was it was had
restraint had one color and yet at one
1,000th of the power we have in our
Mouse finger they did incredible stuff
back then and I don't want to go away
what have people Ed their social media
for I know pictures of coffee huh the
little leaf yeah I know oh H sorry
okay go play with this stuff go look at
it
no complaining on the job because they
did incredible stuff and yet you know we
have a million typ faces and a million
colors and a million reasons why it was
due yesterday right and I go look at
this stuff and it just kind of chills me
out you know to remember that these are
each a centimeter big I bought them uh
the little guy on the right 135th and
whatever out in the East you know and
bought it from this little tiny rivet
box and it's this big and here it is
100t and that's what Paul ran taught me
right illustrator Photoshop whatever it
won't it won't teach you that okay we're
moving right along what's next for the
DDC 10 years with the coal headwear
company 10 years with the Union binding
company my brothers my brothers got to
do the logo for sizzlepie I got to go to
do the poster for Sasquatch and we got
to go could care less could care less
about Vampire Weekend
but I love tame
andala FX Skillet my buddy Mike started
the skillet company in town invented his
world Dr the logo and help out with the
box and stuff for my buddy
Mike made a sh made a a poster for the
space shuttle right I'm a child of the
Space Shuttle you are too made a logo
for the sun might as well go big
right four record set atto records
coming out in a couple months
here did some graphics for a Target
Aspen house you heard of
Target uh the new new record from the
old97s I love this band in the '90s
April 29th new think I mean I got to
make it I got to meet the band
good-looking bunch of guys guys uh this
all over the nation I've been going
everywhere saying this right right
look at this like who goes to
Saskatoon I was there last week two
nights it was great and I got a personal
trainer
now party's over Portland Oregon that's
right here I am 500,000 people web hi
Mom right and I'm going to I'm getting
small man cuz you know part's over
perfect things am my life the things I
love perfect things my mom right my dad
my family my gal my
G Gary little Gary what's good for his
mouth is good for
mine my nephew Oliver Oliver Oliver
Oliver all right we'll see you this
afternoon America America I love the
man I love autumn bit of a hot summer
last summer a lot of Gold Bond lot of
Gold Bond
I love guitars I love records I love
ghost signs love sweatpants man my
favorite Portland Band for 15 years
Richmond Fontaine I love Richmond
Fontaine I get to do their records now
Will's a
buddy futur bold working man's font
right old
signs my buddy's in Red Fang coil get
home soon we miss you
coil Legos I love
Legos my favorite band of all time The
Flaming Lips right if these turkeys
could do it here I was in Oklahoma two
months ago saying you know thanks to
Wayne yet again if they could do it any
one of us could do it my favorite band
of okay that's not even close to
perfect
okay a little secret okay number one Kid
Rock I'm from Detroit and it this is
yeah s sandals at a wedding bad signage
a raging epidemic in Portland
Oregon Master Chef jacqu strap is
preparing some meal up on
whatever no decimal points on that you
can't read the menu and it's an upcharge
if you want ice in your glass Portland
Oregon everybody all right okay here
multimedia this turd was a little
tracking for you guys is curing here
can't quite get this right when you
watch that big multimedia show that guy
right perfect right
no hips are just Gish guys poaching
wires hanging out on SP okay sorry
s okay where the Net's out at I love
what I get to do I support my family
with this I paid my house off on
67th with graphic
design I donate loot to people who need
help I get to do that and I did it
working with my buddies thank you
Portland right and I don't have to wear
pants when I'm
work and finally some arithmetic okay
here's here's my idea listen I work all
week long I work you know everyone's
moaning they have to go home they have
to weekend off I work on Saturday and
Sunday I strike when the iron's hot I'm
from I'm from Michigan and yeah you know
you work all week long you know and just
I'm rewarded with a paycheck and I throw
out so much time I get rewarded with
some cash but I'm kind of tired of
throwing those hours away I don't get
those back so I'm going try something a
little different just kind of just move
I've been doing this anyway what if we
do this thing called Free Fridays and I
use my little mouse finger to help
people I don't know you know I'm going
to try it and for the next bunch of
Fridays moving forward
here four to five hours you know 150
bucks Studio rate right Wilderness Dave
and goo
right 500 bucks on an afternoon if I do
that for the next five years just going
for it that's 150 Grand I would donate
to helping people with my mouse finger
right right think about that my stupid
little mouse finger just think about
that CU it's cool making money but I'm I
throw away so many
hours helping people because I think we
could do a little more of that right
right now listen I don't know this is a
big declaration we're going to do the
Free Fridays I'm going to try it the
idea of like saying I'm on Craigslist
and there's Hank's long here I throw a
dart and I say Hank come on in I'll help
you full force the DDC make you a
good-look business card right get them
out of there I'm going to try it it
might work it might not that was the
same I was feeling when I came out
here in 1993 so all right thank you
thank you
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