Monday, August 26, 2013

Aaron Draplin on “good enough”

Graphic designer Aaron Draplin, interviewed at Creative South 2013, in Columbus, Georgia:

“I never indulge in any of this crap where it’s just good enough. Probably lose my ass on like fees and stuff, but I don’t care. Because I’m not gonna let it go knowing that I could’ve made it better.”
I shared that with my writing students, having asked them last week to think about writing as the work of the 職人 [shokunin], the craftsman, whose overriding concern is getting things right, making things better, not for material gain but for the sake of the work.

My introduction to the shokunin: the beautiful film Jiro Dreams of Sushi.

You can watch a short documentary about Creative South at YouTube. Aaron Draplin comes in at 9:10. The words I’ve quoted begin at 11:59.

[If you’re reading in the United States, you may have seen Draplin’s work without realizing it. Draplin is also one of the minds behind Field Notes.]

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