My Favourite Design Book
My favourite graphic design book is Pretty Much Everything by Draplin Design Co. Draplin Design Co was founded by Aaron Draplin, a designer from Michigan, USA.
From the start of the book, Draplin makes it clear he has a sense of humour and is very down-to-earth. He doesn’t care about money or fame, he likes to be genuine, get to know people, and most importantly: have fun while doing it.
As you go through the book, he tells his story, from where he came from to where he is now. It made me realise there’s no right way to get into graphic design. He followed a path through college and university, but what really got him into the industry was people connections. It wasn’t a designer or anyone that got him that first job, it was a couple of people working on snowboard slopes. What I take away from this is to get to know as many people as possible no matter who they are, have genuine interactions, stay grounded and people will come, provided they know you design!
Further through the book, hundreds of Draplin’s projects are on display, along with sketches and processes of some of them. What I could see with every project, he follows his own thoughts and see where they lead, he sketches endlessly, and he has fun doing it. If you enjoy the process and have fun, you’ll make better work, and more of it. That’s the key to graphic design, and the fuel pushing designers, nothing matters as much as your own enjoyment in the field — keep that alive and your design will be alive too!
