OUT TODAY: Our 6th Skillshare class titled, “Design Great Stuff: How to Make Merch with Draplin”

Here’s the official Skillshare verbiage about the class:

"Step back into the studio with iconic designer Aaron Draplin! Now, go further than ever before as Aaron pulls back the curtain on how he makes the merch he’s famous for.

From pins and patches to posters and hats, well-designed merch can be a designer’s dream—if it’s done right. Enter, Aaron Draplin. For the past 15 years, Aaron has been designing the best merch in the biz. Now, he’s sharing the tips, tricks, and trade secrets he’s gathered over a career centered on making great stuff. With his usual straight talk and zero funny business (ok, maybe a little funny business), Aaron will walk you through every step he takes each time he wants to create something new—and might just share some never-before-heard stories of mishaps and mayhem along the way.

From first idea to final delivery, you'll discover how to:

- Choose a design that works
- Find the best vendors to make your stuff
- Create un-mess-with-able files for handoff
- Make multiple merch pieces from one design

Plus, Aaron shares the successes and failures behind his favorite designs, from the spectacular journey of his Space Shuttle design to the woeful tale of an ill-fated yardstick.

Makers of all things are invited to join this class, whether you’re looking to expand the services you can offer your next client, open your own online shop, or make t-shirts for your family reunion. When you’re done, you’ll leave with the insider information you need to choose the right items, work with clients and vendors, and design great merchandise that’s a cut above the rest."

DIG INTO THIS ONE with a click HERE!

- - - -

AND HEY: Don't forget our first five classes, either:

01. "Logo Design with Draplin: Secrets of Shape, Type and Color"
02. "Circular Logo Design: Combine Type & Icons in a Classic Shape"
03. "Customizing Type: Creating Wordmarks That Work"
04. "Situation Iteration: Iterating with Shape, Style, and Color"
05. "21 Tips for Speeding Up Yer Design Workflow"

- - - -

AND OF COURSE: To pull off these classes takes quite an effort by a very talented group of folks. Thank you to Scott Sullivan for patience and strategic, soothing handling of my nightmarish ways, to Bill Antonucci for patience, Craig Finn-ism and directorial vision, to Becca Cloyd for patience, organization clarity and top-notch producing. To the filmers, editors, social media folks, publicists...all of it...THANK YOU from all of us at the DDC.

We finally made a bandana. Or handkerchief. Or bandit mask. Or headband. Call it whatever the hell you want. There are many, many ways to use this thing. We provide a list to get you going on the item. Add to that list and let us know. We're calling the thing an "Ass Pocket Handkerchief".

My dad always had a handkerchief in his back pocket. And let me just tell ya, you didn't want to see that thing "later in the day" as there was a good chance the thing was crusty with who-knows-what, all wadded up in his ass pocket*. I remember him whipping that thing out and wiping our noses and faces, and the things being crusty with...well...I still don't really know? What I'd give to have my dad wipe my face again in 1979. Or 2017. Good memories. Come back, Dad.

(*"Ass Pocket" is an R.L. Burnside reference to a bottle of whiskey that'll fit in your back pocket. This handkerchief will fit back there too, hence the name.)

01. Four colorways: "Tacitly Turquoise", "As Orange As Possible", "Blatantly Black" and "Road Rash Red".
02. 20" x 20" in dimension.
03. 100% cotton.
04. Hand-dyed in Philadelphia by Fred at Man Vs. Ink. Thanks!
05. Soft to the touch. Easy on the nose/eyes/whatever else.
06. Machine-washable. A dirty gas station sink will suffice, too.
07. Multiple uses. Get weird with the thing.
08. For both left-handed and right-handed noseblowers, dipstick wipers and/or bandits.
09. This one is for Dad.
$21.99+ $4 Shipping (U.S.A.)

Colorway

Road Rash Red $21.99 USD

For customers using PayPal, click the link above they'll take it from there. For customers who aren't using PayPal, send us an email to "orders(at)draplin.com" and we'll get back to you with an address to ship the funds to. We accept money orders and cold hard cash, so, get with it, man! All orders are shipped out as fast as we can. Usually a couple days after the order comes in. We ship everything USPS "First Class" rates. If you want quicker shipping, contact us and we can ramp it up to USPS Priority, or whatever you need. We aim to please! We cover the shipping in the states, but charge the basics for international orders. Before you place the order through our PayPal account, send us an email to "orders(at)draplin.com" and we'll get you a shipping quote for the goods you are interested in. As simple as that! Thanks!

©2017 DDC Dry Goods Div., Merch Dept., Portland, Ore.

WE GONNA KEEP GOING: I was so excited to unleash all these NEW DDC Action Caps a couple weeks back, but held off to due to the current situation with the Covid-19 virus outbreak. And as we all settle in to ride this out, I'm still buying records, and books, and puzzles and goodies. Surprisingly. So today, I said "Aw, fuck it, let's put 'em up." And that's what we are doing. We are still shipping, people! And thank you for the continued DDC merch orders. Here's fifteen new DDC Action Caps to check out! Stay indoors, stay busy, stay healthy and stay vigilant, friends...

$32.99 - Shipping Included! (U.S.A.)

Colorways

Wiener Dog - Maroon 6-Panel Foam $32.99 USD Milky Way - Black/Black Mesh $32.99 USD Cccrabbby Cccrabbb - Gray/White Mesh $32.99 USD Sabbath Draplin Sabbath - Black/Black Mesh $32.99 USD Hard Rain - Gray/Black Mesh $32.99 USD Big Ol' Golden Buzz - Black/Black Mesh $32.99 USD Patriotic Star - Chambray/White Mesh $32.99 USD DDC Stars-n-Stripes - Royal/White Mesh $32.99 USD DDC Stars-n-Stripes - Chambray 6-Panel Foam $32.99 USD

$32.99 - Shipping Included! (U.S.A.)

Colorways

Alaska Stack - Marine Blue 6-Panel Foam $32.99 USD California Stack - Bakersfield Brown/Brown Mesh $32.99 USD California Stack - Death Valley Desert/Khaki Mesh $32.99 USD Great Lakes Stack - Lake Michigan Blue/White Mesh $32.99 USD Midwest Stack - Bismarck Brown/Brown Mesh $32.99 USD Midwest Stack - Carhartt 6-Panel Foam $32.99 USD

For customers using PayPal, click the link above they'll take it from there. For customers who aren't using PayPal, send us an email to "orders(at)draplin.com" and we'll get back to you with an address to ship the funds to. We accept money orders and cold hard cash, so, get with it, man! All orders are shipped out as fast as we can. Usually a couple days after the order comes in. We ship everything USPS "First Class" rates. If you want quicker shipping, contact us and we can ramp it up to USPS Priority, or whatever you need. We aim to please! We cover the shipping in the states but charge the basics for International orders. Before you place the order through our PayPal account, send us an email to "orders(at)draplin.com" and we'll get you a shipping quote for the goods you are interested in. As simple as that! Thanks!

©2017 DDC Dry Goods Div., Merch Dept., Portland, Ore.

EIGHTEEN MINUTES WAS ALL IT TOOK: And they were GONE.

So, friends, animals, watch weirdos and the like, we ALREADY HAVE A NEW ORDER GOING, and we'll have a pink up soon for the pre-ordering. Stay tuned for an announcement on my Instagram as soon as the dust settles from this ape shit morning.

Some data:

- The watches are $84.99, with $13 shipping & handling.
- The first run was 250 watches.
- Another order is in, and we'll have a pre-order link set up soon.

STAY TUNED, and thanks for the interest this morning! WE ARE BLOWN AWAY!

- - - -

Here's a big gallery to see what the watch and packaging look like:

01. Printed on thick, durable, uncoated white 100# cover stock poster paper!
02. Two colors! Inspired by Raconteurs "Help Me Stranger" record cover! So green!
03. 18" x 24' in dimension.
04. Proudly printed by our Portland buddies at Seizure Palace!
05. Hand-numbered, using our patented freehand technique.
06. Insanely limited edition of 25 from our stash! GOING FAST.
07. Shipped in a 3" x 24' BEEFY kraft poster tube! Reusable.
08. Two free white plastic end puck thingies.
$40.00 (+$10 Shipping, Extra Thick Tube, U.S.A. only.)

01. Printed on thick, durable, uncoated white 100# cover stock poster paper!
02. Three colors! Inspired by Raconteurs "Help Me Stranger" record cover!
03. 18" x 24' in dimension.
04. Proudly printed by our Portland buddies at Seizure Palace!
05. Hand-numbered, using our patented freehand technique.
06. Insanely limited edition of 25 from our stash! GOING FAST.
07. Shipped in a 3" x 24' BEEFY kraft poster tube! Reusable.
08. Two free white plastic end puck thingies.
$40.00 (+$10 Shipping, Extra Thick Tube, U.S.A. only.)

We got to do a couple posters for The Raconteurs! Saw the show last night here in Portland out at Edgefield and got to see the ROCK AND ROLL up close! Thank you to Patrick Keeler, Roe Peterhans and Sarah Stawski for help on the posters. And to Seizure Palace for printing them! And to Brendan, Little Jack, Big Jack and all the crew we got to meet last night! And Dave from Grand Rapids! (Listening to Whirlwind Heat right now!) Okay, let's talk posters... Today, we’re offering a LIMITED EDITION of 75 of our "The Raconteurs, Seattle, 7/18/19" and ""The Raconteurs, Portland, 7/21/19" posters…right here, right now. GO!

AND HEY, limit of two posters per order! Be cool, be cool. If someone swoops in and buys a mess of them, then we reserve the right to edit the order back down to two posters.

01. Printed on thick, durable, uncoated white 100# cover stock poster paper!
02. Two colors! Inspired by Emerald City!
03. 18” x 24” in dimension.
04. Proudly printed by our Portland buddies at Seizure Palace!
05. Hand-numbered, using our patented freehand technique.
06. Insanely limited edition of 75 from our stash! GOING FAST.
07. Shipped in a 3” x 24” BEEFY kraft poster tube! Reusable.
08. Two free white plastic end puck thingies.
$50.00 (+$11 Shipping, Extra Thick Tube, U.S.A. only.)

01. Printed on thick, durable, uncoated white 100# cover stock poster paper!
02. Two colors! Inspired by Mt. Hood and the greater Portland area!
03. 18” x 24” in dimension.
04. Proudly printed by our Portland buddies at Seizure Palace!
05. Hand-numbered, using our patented freehand technique.
06. Insanely limited edition of 75 from our stash! GOING FAST.
07. Shipped in a 3” x 24” BEEFY kraft poster tube! Reusable.
08. Two free white plastic end puck thingies.
$50.00 (+$11 Shipping, Extra Thick Tube, U.S.A. only.)

For customers using PayPal, click the link above they'll take it from there. For customers who aren't using PayPal, send us an email to "orders(at)draplin.com" and we'll get back to you with an address to ship the funds to. We accept money orders and cold hard cash, so, get with it, man! All orders are shipped out as fast as we can. Usually a couple days after the order comes in. We ship everything USPS "First Class" rates. If you want quicker shipping, contact us and we can ramp it up to USPS Priority, or whatever you need. We aim to please!

We cover the shipping in the states, but charge the basics for international orders. Before you place the order through our PayPal account, send us an email to "orders(at)draplin.com" and we'll get you a shipping quote for the goods you are interested in. As simple as that! Thanks!

©2019 DDC Dry Goods Div., Merch Dept., Portland, Ore.

HIGH NOON, YOU SUNDAY DRIVERS!!!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: We’re FIRED UP to announce our fifth Skillshare class, “Design Like Draplin: 21 Tips for Speeding Up Yer Design Workflow” is OUT NOW and class is in session!

Things get WEIRD in this one! Dastardly details, nerdy notions, extreme efficiencies, persnickety persnicketrons, granular glaniculars, crafty crags and THINGS to think about BEFORE you start a project, DURING your project and then AFTER you’ve wrapped a project up. This is all about setting things up the right way, so you’ve got things dialed. Stuff I had to learn the hard way, along the way. Let us arm you with good practices! This stuff is LETHAL! Start smart, work smart, end smart!

The link to our new class is “skl.sh/draplin5”...GO!!!

- - - -

AND HEY: Don't forget our first four classes, either:
01. "Logo Design with Draplin: Secrets of Shape, Type and Color"
02. "Circular Logo Design: Combine Type & Icons in a Classic Shape"
03. "Customizing Type: Creating Wordmarks That Work"
04. "Situation Iteration: Iterating with Shape, Style, and Color"

Dig in, people, dig in deep!

01. Jeff Tweedy - Warm
02. TransChamps - Double Exposure
03. The Cure - Disintegration
04. The White Stripes - Live at The Gold Dollar
05. Dead Kennedys - Bedtime For Democracy
06. Black Flag - Loose Nut
07. Toxic Holocaust - An Overdose of Death
08. Queen - Greatest Hits I, II & III
09. Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady
10. Feral Ohms - S/T
11. Bobby Bare Jr. - From the End of Your Leash
12. The Delines - The Imperial
13. The Delinkes - Extras From “The Imperial”
14. The Jesus Lizard - Bang
15. Lenguas Largas - Come On In
16. Deep Purple - Who Do We Think We Are
17. Deep Purple - Machine Head
18. Deep Purple - In Rock
19. Deep Purple - Shades of Deep Purple
20. J Mascis - Elastic Days
21. Mudhoney - Digital Garbage
22. Guided By Voices - August By Cake
23. Guided By Voices - The Bears For Lunch
24. The Sea and Cake - Any Day
25. Howlin Rain - The Alligator Bride
26. Chris Crofton - Hello It's Me
27. Spiritualized - And Nothing Hurt
28. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks. - Sparkle Hard
29. Le Zeppelin - How The West Was Won
30. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Wolf of the Cosmos
31. Sonic Youth - Bad Moon Rising
32. Replacements - All Shook Down
33. Bill Evans - From Left To Right
34. Mark Kozelek - Mark Kozelek Sings Favorites
35. The Bottle Rockets - Bit Logic
36. Dead Meadow - Howls From The Hills
37. Wilco - Schmilco
38. Tripping Daisy - Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb
39. The Sonics - Boom
40. The Greenhornes - Sewed Soles
41. Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense and Peppermints
42. The Hold Steady - Almost Killed Me
43. The Beatles - Let It Be
44. Bob Dylan - Planet Waves
45. Bob Dylan - Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid
46. Swervedriver - Mezcal Head
47. Steve Earle - El Corazón
48. Richmond Fontaine - Don’t Skip Out On Me
49. R.E.M. - Automatic For The People
50. R.E.M. - Eponymous

01. The Amazing - Ambulance
02. The Amazing - Gentle Stream
03. The Amazing - In Transit
04. The Amazing - Picture You
05. Mudhoney - Digital Garbage
06. Bottle Rockets - Bit Logic
07. Guided By Voices - The Bears For Lunch
08. Guided By Voices - Space Gun
09. Spiritualized - And Nothing Hurt
10. The Flaming Lips - Lightning Strikes The Postman (Remix 2016)
11. New Radiant Storm King - August Revital
12. Mount Eerie - Ocean Roar
13. Keene Brothers - Blue and Boogie Shoes
14. Mark Kozelek - Mark Kozelek
15. Aretha Franklin - Aretha Now
16. The Jayhawks - Back Roads and Abandoned Motels
17. Old 97s - Love The Holidays
18. The Delines - The Imperial (Over and over...)
19. Howlin Rain - Mansion Songs
20. King Tuff - The Other
21. Eric Matthews - The Imagination Stage
22. Nels Cline - Lovers
23. Melvins - Pinkus Abortion Technician
24. Rough Francis - MSP3: Counter Attack
25. Josh Rouse - Love in the Modern Age
26. Howlin Rain - The Alligator Bride
27. Sleep - The Sciences
28. Deep Purple - In Rock
29. The Sea and Cake - Any Day
30. Chris Crofton - Hello It's Me
31. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks. - Sparkle Hard
32. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Wolf of the Cosmos
33. Replacements - Live at Maxwell's
34. St. Johnny - High As A Kite
35. Buffalo Tom - Quiet and Peace
36. Buffalo Springfield - Retrospective: The Best Of...
37. Poison Idea - Feel The Darkness
38. The Dirtbombs - Horndog Fest
39. Low - Double Negative
40. J Mascis - Elastic Days

THAT TOOK ALL OF TWO MINUTES: To sell out our stack of Dave Matthews Band posters. Holy shit. Two minutes. Woosh.

Sadly, due to the INSANE RUSH of orders, it oversold, and we’ll be in touch with each person who didn’t make the fifty poster cut-off. My sincerest apologies. Before I could turn the link off, another 20 orders came in! That was at the 110-second mark? Who lives like this?!

That was fuckin’ nuts. Ferocious. Terrifying. Fun. Surreal. Thank you to everyone who snagged one!

IN FIFTY-NINE MINUTES FROM NOW: Fifty of our “Dave Matthews Band, Bend, Oregon, 8/28/18” concert poster screen prints! 11 AM PST! Right here! Ordering details go up at 11 AM, SHARP! BAM!

01. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Sparkle Hard (Orion cover design! Rexroad cover photo!)
02. Sleep - The Sciences
03. Howlin Rain - The Alligator Bride
04. Duran Duran - Rio
05. Duran Duran - Seven and the Ragged Tiger
06. Deep Purple - In Rock
07. Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks
08. The Sea and Cake - Any Day
09. Tad - Quick and Dirty
10. Flaming Lips - Onboard the International Space Station Concert
11. Dharma Bums - Bliss
12. Dharma Bums - Haywire
13. Jack Cooper - Sandgrown
14. Heron Oblivion - The Chapel
15. Chris Crofton - Hello It's Me
16. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Wolf of the Cosmos
17. Uncle Tupelo - No Depression Rarities
18. Melvins - Pinkus Abortion Technician
19. Beach Slang - We Were Babies & We Were Dirtbag 7-inch
20. The Beatles - Beatles For Sale
21. Badfinger - No Dice
22. Led Zeppelin - How The West Was Won
23. Guided By Voices - Space Gun
24. Dungen & Woods - Myths 003
25. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Polygondwanaland
26. Yo La Tengo - There's A Riot Going On
27. Mount Eerie - Now Only
28. Buffalo Tom - Quiet & Peace
29. Sonic Youth - Bad Moon Rising
30. Bill Evans - Everybody Digs Bill Evans
31. Calexico - The Thread That Keeps Us
32. Ron Wood - I've Got My Own Album To Do
33. Pete Krebs - Greatest Hits
34. Mark Kozelek - Sings Favorites
35. Chris Stapleton - From A Room: Volume 2
36. Ryley Walker - Deafman Glance
37. Neil Young - Roxy: Tonight's the Night Live
38. Son Volt - Trace
39. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
40. Wilco - Schmilco

A couple days back my nephew Oliver was in the shop, telling me about baseball practice earlier in the afternoon. He saddled up to the monitors with me and we got to work on a Pizza Kings logo for the team, if anything, just for the hell of it. I had some ideas, of course, but even cooler than that, Oliver knew EXACTLY what he wanted in the logo. He's almost eight and knows his stuff. We traded sketches and got to work. In no time, we had the design you are seeing up above. And just for fun, we posted it on Instagram, and had an OVERWHELMING response from everyone pledging to get a shirt to help out the team! So that's what you are seeing here. We're going for it.

Our first goal is to get a t-shirt for each kid on Oliver’s team! All proceeds past that go to snacks and drinks for the kids. All proceeds past that get donated to the league.

We're gonna leave the post up for a good, solid week, and then place the order for the shirts. Hoping to deliver the things around mid May-ish!

PLACE THAT ORDER and let's get the Pizza Kings of Sellwood outfitted! Batter up!

We'll ship them AS SOON as they are done at the printer. Stay tuned, Pizza Kings fans!

For customers using PayPal, click the link above they'll take it from there. For customers who aren't using PayPal, send us an email to "orders(at)draplin.com" and we'll get back to you with an address to ship the funds to. We accept money orders and cold hard cash, so, get with it, man! All orders are shipped out as fast as we can. Usually a couple days after the order comes in. We ship everything USPS "First Class" rates. If you want quicker shipping, contact us and we can ramp it up to USPS Priority, or whatever you need. We aim to please! We cover the shipping in the states, but charge the basics for international orders. Before you place the order through our PayPal account, send us an email to "orders(at)draplin.com" and we'll get you a shipping quote for the goods you are interested in. As simple as that! Thanks!

©2018 DDC Dry Goods Div., Merch Dept., Portland, Ore.

INFINITE POSSIBILITIES, YOU GUYS: Our fourth Skillshare class is up RIGHT NOW, and with one click here, you can get going in it: "Situation: Iteration - Iterating with Shape, Style, and Color"

With simple moves, you can tweak even the most basic of sketches into new, exciting territory. You just gotta put the work in and let it flow. We'll arm you with quick moves to add to your growing quiver of creative twists and turns. We show you how to push shapes, styles, colors, type and texture, all packed into one raging class. GO!

As always, I look forward to seeing what you guys come up with! I'll be lurking around the Skillshare's project gallery page, offering up comments, tips and high fives!

Don't forget our first three classes, either: "Logo Design with Draplin: Secrets of Shape, Type and Color", "Circular Logo Design with Draplin: Combine Type & Icons in a Classic Shape" and "Customizing Type: Creating Wordmarks That Work". Dig in, people, dig in deep!

A big, hairy, iterated thank you to Elliott, Bill and Scott from Skillshare for hanging in there with me. Here's four iterations on thanking them: 01. Thanks, you scrubs. 02. Thank you from the bottom of my bacon, egg and cheese bagel. 03. Thank you, peckerwoods. 04. Thank you for being awesome and patient each time we jump into the ring.

JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS: Tons of new DDC Action Caps hot off the delivery truck! These things are still cold from their spot on the UPS truck. Warm one up with that noggin of yers! We're shipping all day! GO!

$32.99 - Shipping Included! (U.S.A.)

Colorways

Field Notes - Kraft 6-Panel Foam $32.99 USD Field Notes - Kraft / Black Mesh $32.99 USD Field Notes - Kraft / White Mesh $32.99 USD

$32.99 - Shipping Included! (U.S.A.)

Mesh Back Colorways

Thick Line Michigan - Royal Blue / Royal Blue Mesh $32.99 USD Thick Line Texas - Brown / Khaki Mesh $32.99 USD Vermont Stack - Green 6-Panel Foam $32.99 USD Way Out West - Brown / Brown Mesh $32.99 USD

$32.99 - Shipping Included! (U.S.A.)

Mesh Back Colorways

Space Shuttle Hot Reentry - Black / Black Mesh $32.99 USD Pizza Slice - Kelly Green / Khaki Mesh $32.99 USD DDC Hardware - Black / Orange Mesh $32.99 USD DDC Stretto - Red / White Mesh $32.99 USD Orange Juice - Kelly Green / White Mesh $32.99 USD Thick Line DDC - Carhartt / White / Blue Patch $32.99 USD Thick Line Tree - Brown / Kelly Mesh $32.99 USD Watermelon Love - Kelly Green / Kelly Mesh $32.99 USD Thick Line D - Red / Red Mesh $32.99 USD

THIS WEEKEND, PORTLAND: Our fifth showing at the Portland Bazaar!!! We’ve locked down TWO SPACES this time around for MAXIMUM DDC MERCH dispersal. Friday from 6-9 PM, and then Saturday and Sunday from 10-5 PM! So many boss vendors will be there offering a wide array of items. Drinks, food, cool stuff. Gift ideas! Goodies! FULL DDC MERCH LINE OF: DDC Books, posters, mini-prints, hats, beanies, mugs, key thingies, bandanas, magnets, patches,decals, goodies, things and stuff at "Portland Only" prices. Full line of Field Notes and Notes To Self wares, too! North Warehouse at 723 N. Tillamook! Come hang out!

WE'RE OUT THERE: Come see a show!

HAVING A SHITLOAD OF FUN: Here at AdobeMAX in Las Vegas! Thanks to everyone who came to my talk this afternoon! Doing the same talk again tomorrow morning at 8:15 AM!

And then on Friday, that's the day we're doing a FULL-THROATED, GO-FOR-BROKE, LOAD-IT-ALL-IN, PRICED-TO-MOVE, WE-MIGHT-BE-DEAD-TOMORROW pop-up shop filled with DDC merch! Come find us, AdobeMAX peoples! Friday from 9:30 AM to 4 PM. We're not messing around. Things you need!

PORTLAND POP-UP ALERT: This Saturday at Outlet PDX! Yes! Yeslet! Just got the big news that we’re doing a DDC & Notes to Self pop-up at Outlet PDX on Saturday, October 7 from 11am-4pm! Come hang out! Under the watchful eye of our buddy Kate Bingaman-Burt!

We’ll have a full offering of DDC merch in tow, and, Leigh's entire line of cool stuff from her new project Notes To Self! Come hang out! General conversation, weather speculation, book signing, high fiving, chewing the fat, shaking hands, spinning yarns and whatever else we can pack in from those five hours.

Here's the official link to it! Love all that yellow!

HELL IN A BUCKET: Sold out! Sold out! Sold out! Sold out! Sold out! Sold out!

TODAY'S THE DAY: Fifty Jerry posters up for sale! The link will be up in just 15 minutes, right here on Draplin.com. Like, right above this post! Come back at noon to snag one of these!

My favorite stories always involve a buddy taking matters into their own hands and creating their own way. Or brand, band, product, store, movement or whatever. Basically, the scariest of territories where you embark into the unknown, with only your handiwork to guide the whole thing. And Portland's Wood&Faulk is one of my favorites here in this exciting category of "buddies doing things on their own terms."

I met Matt Pierce from Wood&Faulk about five years back. He was partnering with Greg Hennes on The Portland Bazaar and each year when we were setting up, I'd get to check out his latest bag designs and accessories. And each season, he'd have a couple new things. I loved the detail, function, durability, timelessness and confidence in his products.

From the rustic simplicity of their "Camp Stool" to that ballistic "Carpenter Bag", the pieces were so impressive to me. And of course, their growing line of accessories and cool stuff. I'm blown away each time I hit the site to see what they've been cooking up. This stuff is special. It's not like this is some big, lumbering company. Every detail is fretted over, and there's something really special about that.

I was doing some work for The Jennings Hotel for Greg Hennes, and made a graphic for a tote bag made by Wood&Faulk. That was one bad-ass tote bag. I simply hit Matt up and begged him to make me an orange version. We worked out the colors, leather and canvas weights and in no time I had a run of 50 bags on deck! And that's what you are seeing here. Introducing the DDC Brand "Orange Tote Bag" by Wood & Faulk. Item number "DDC-147" in our proud roster of spirited merch items.

This is the nicest piece of merch we've made to date. These things will GO THE DISTANCE. I've been beating mine to shit on the road and around the shop, and it's as tough as it was on day one. Thanks, Matt. I love these tote bags!

01. Proudly manufactured right here in Portland, Oregon by our buddies at Wood&Faulk.
02. The "As Orange As Possible" canvas is from Fairfield Textile in New Jersey. Some burly stuff, there.
03. Inner pocket for Field Notes, car keys or a wallet.
04. Cool car keys/key chain leather thingie that tucks into the inner pocket.
05. Thick hit of "Way White" on the inner pocket. Discreet. Thick ink on durable cotton.
06. The soft, durable leather straps are from the world famous SB Foot Tanning Co. in Red Wing, Minnesota. Bought by Red Wing Shoes in the '80s, it's the largest tannery in the United States. Here's a little video about those amazing hides.
07. The bombproof rivets are from YKK USA. Made in Macon, Georgia.
08. Minimal hit of woven label branding on side.
09. Agreeable dimensions of 15" tall x 15" wide. Then a cool 6" deep.
10. Flat bottom allows the bag to stand up and hold its shape when loaded with groceries, books, dirty laundry, records or whatever you are lugging around.
11. Will hold just about anything!
12. The official tote bag of the Draplin Design Co.!
13. WAY LIMITED EDITION of 50 for the "First Run" of these champions.
14. In stock forever, or, as long as we can coax/cajole/sweet-talk Wood&Faulk to make them for us!
15. Check out this shot of Matt and I "sealing the deal" on these amazing totes! Interesting "hand placement" in that one. $149.99+$12 Shipping (U.S.A.)

For customers using PayPal, click the link above they'll take it from there. For customers who aren't using PayPal, send us an email to "orders(at)draplin.com" and we'll get back to you with an address to ship the funds to. We accept money orders and cold hard cash, so, get with it, man! All orders are shipped out as fast as we can. Usually a couple days after the order comes in. We ship everything USPS "First Class" rates. If you want quicker shipping, contact us and we can ramp it up to USPS Priority, or whatever you need. We aim to please! We cover the shipping in the states, but charge the basics for international orders. Before you place the order through our PayPal account, send us an email to "orders(at)draplin.com" and we'll get you a shipping quote for the goods you are interested in. As simple as that! Thanks!

©2017 DDC Dry Goods Div., Merch Dept., Portland, Ore.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: The tour is done and the van is unpacked…and we miss the big road! And all the faces and handshakes and good times. Thank you to everyone who came out to a show the last couple months!

A couple of high-level Skillshare top brass tagged along for a stop on my book tour to learn about what life is like on the road with Leigh, the van and I. All the warts and moles from our recent stop in Philadelphia with our buddy Steve DeCusatis. Thanks again for pulling off a killer show!

Although this isn’t a new class, here’s a 10 minute short doc on what’s it like to go on tour, and, operate from the road: "Designer in a Van: On Tour with Aaron Draplin"

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AND DON'T FORGET OUR THREE SKILLSHARE CLASSES: These things are still raging along! Get in there and get weird with them!

01. "Logo Design with Draplin: Secrets of Shape, Type and Color"
02. "Circular Logo Design with Draplin: Combine Type & Icons in a Classic Shape"
02. "Customizing Type with Draplin: Creating Wordmarks That Work"

01. John Moreland - Big Bad Luv
02. The Posies - The Best of The Posies
03. Afghan Whigs - In Spades
04. Craig Finn - We All Want The Same Things
05. Japandroids - Celebration Rock
06. Yes - Fragile
07. Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
08. Anvil - Metal On Metal
09. Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
10. Peter Sarstedt - The Lost Album
11. Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
12. Ryan Adams - Prisoner
13. The Del-Vetts - The Del-Vetts
14. Holy Sons - In The Garden
15. Son Volt - Notes of Blue
16. Richmond Fontaine - You Can't Go Back If There's Nothing To Go Back To
17. Belle Adair - Tuscumbia
18. Bash & Pop - Anything Could Happen
19. Flaming Lips - Oczy Mlody
20. Beach Slang - A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings
21. Beach Slang - Who Would Ever Want Anything So Broken? - EP
22. Beach Slang - Cheap Thrills On a Dead End Street - EP
23. Beach Slang - The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us
24. Heatmiser - Cop and Speeder
25. Düngen - Häxan
26. Car Seat Headrest - Teens Of Denial
27. Mount Eerie - Clear Moon
28. Mount Eerie - Wind's Poem
29. Lambchop - FLOTUS
30. Dinosaur Jr - Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not
31. Red Fang - Only Ghosts
32. Wilco - Schmilco
33. Bon Iver - 22, A Million
34. The Buckinghams - Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (A Collection)
35. Drive-By Truckers - American Band
36. Crosby, Stills & Nash - CSN
37. Morgan Delt - Phase Zero
38. Phones - Echo In Time
39. Black Sabbath - Sabotage
40. Black Sabbath - Never Say Die!
41. Shins - Heartworms
42. Temples - Volcano

FOR THE MOST IMMEDIATE OF RELEASES: Introducing our new typeface, DDC HARDWARE!

A typeface revived, designed and produced by the Draplin Design Co. and Lost Type Co-Op.

- Three weights.
- Full range of diacritics that supports over 100 languages!
- Versatile range of ordinals.
- Historical alternates.
- Split fractions and diagonal fractions.

This straight-talking typeface is ready to do the job.

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THE STORY GOES: "DDC Hardware was made out of frustration. I couldn’t find a simple, utilitarian typeface that was as ubiquitous as the letterforms I’d see in my travels on the back roads and industrial yards across North America. That, and free of the latest trends and ironic twists in the type world. I just wanted something that was painfully functional. Unapologetic! I’d be in some alley or junkyard, and I’d see versions of the typeface painted on corrugated steel siding, or, ghosted on some old brick wall. So I’d take a couple shots, stew over it the rest of the ride and build a couple characters later on that night. In a couple nights, I had an alphabet to pick and choose from. This was 2004 and went on for a decade where I’d create words/logos piece by piece from my original file. And then I met Riley Cran. He expanded the character set, built it into three weights and brought DDC Hardware to life and ready for the world. Things get buried by time and progress. And sometimes you have to unearth them and bring them back to life. DDC Hardware is ready to do the job."—Aaron James Draplin, Draplin Design Company

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Get your copy now: DDC HARDWARE!

No bullshit allowed: DDC HARDWARE!

Works everywhere: DDC HARDWARE!

Sands the test of time: DDC HARDWARE!

OUT THIRD SKILLSHARE CLASS IS OUT: "Customizing Type"

OUT THIRD SKILLSHARE CLASS IS OUT: "Customizing Type"

GET IT GOING, STUDENTS: Our third Skillshare class is up, out, happening, live, living, learning, loving, going apeshit and GETTING WEIRD right now, right here: "Customizing Type"

Go long, go short, kern it, track it, sketch it...just so long as you stay the hell away from the dreaded "Default" stuff! Let us arm you with a quiver of custom type tools!

Don't forget our first two, either: "Logo Design with Draplin: Secrets of Shape, Type and Color" and "Circular Logo Design with Draplin: Combine Type & Icons in a Classic Shape"

I look forward to seeing what you guys make!

And hey, thanks to Elliott, Bill and Scott from Skillshare for jumping into the ring with me. Always awesome. Thanks!

DDC "Thick Lines" Poster Series, No. 07, "Dayglow"

NOW SHIPPING: The 7th poster in our "Thick Lines" poster series! Introducing "Dayglow!" Five fluorescent colors and a hit of black. Beyond bright!

GO: Get "Dayglow" here.