Last week we had the pleasure of attending a talk by Aaron Draplin (thanks to Northern Army and Steve St. Pierre for organizing). Draplin is a very talented designer from Portland, Oregon, and the creator of Field Notes and the Draplin Design Co. (DDC). He spoke for about an hour and a half about his life (rest in peace Gary the dachshund), good design, and doing good work for good people.

Though it was a design-focused talk, I feel like marketers can take a *lot* away from a chat with Draplin. Namely, these two things to live by:

One: Don’t half-ass work that you’re releasing to the world

In short, this is just pollution. There is a very great chance that the work you’re doing will be seen by lots and lots of people, and that it will be around for a while. As creatives, we have a sort of responsibility (think of a Doctor’s oath…we need one of those) to put all of our energy into our work and make it the best we can possibly make it.

Watch this clip from the upcoming Draplin Project for more on this topic [warning: strong language].

Two: “Do good work for good people”

This should especially resonate with freelancers, because you decide who you work for. When you do awesome work, you get to be in a position where you can take on the most interesting of projects - not just to do it for the paycheque. Draplin spoke about firing clients, and when it’s a necessary step sometimes.

I highly recommend following Draplin’s blog, and reaching out to him if you can. He’s an extremely down to earth guy who absolutely loves what he does, and loves to talk about it. Learn from him.