Design community oriented events usually satisfy our urges to see our kind in a condensed time & space, almost an excuse to see each other away from our screens, drink in hand, and in our socks, so-to-speak. There are very few occasions however where this is accompanied by the ability to see great work, hear magnetic speakers, and get stuffed with inspiration.
This phenomenon is called Designspeaks.

I have a special relationship with Designspeaks. It’s where I first saw Jelly Helm, Aaron Draplin, Eric Hillerns, and a cache of other makers from our industry in-person. To hear Jelly ask “where is your value”, hear Aaron’s tales of designing a logo in the back of a car for The Obama Admin., and all the other collected moments, is a privilege to reflect on. These experiences have molded my idea of what it is I do, and what I would like to do. The facilitators of this sort of experience deserve credit for creating culture, community, and a space for open thought. The salon, forum, and amphitheater for thinkers who make.

Those facilitators would be Eric Hillerns, Lloyd Winter, and Duane King.

And since these fine gentlemen have been brought up, you should know what is about to happen. A first for Designspeaks, an inter-city, condensed mind-stuffer.

Draplin has appropriately called this a Spit Swap.

Invisible Creature from Seattle with come to Portland for a special Designspeaks event, and Aaron Draplin of Portland will go to Seattle for a special Designspeaks event, in a 48 hour period. Allowing you to see both. And you can take the train, and your mind may melt. Well, it may melt before the actual event when you see what  Invisible Creature, Draplin, and Duane King have made for the event. If you’re not freaking out then step away from your machine.

Does this raise the bar for Designspeaks? Yes. Does this raise the bar for the internet? Fantastically.

It started with a logo mashup combining Draplin Design Co. & Invisible Creature, which was featured on Invisible Creature’s site:

Which was caught by Draplin and featured in a post, and a tweet:

This activity inspired Duane King, which is a dangerous thing to do.

The result lead to the best teaser/info page I’ve ever seen in my life that you should visit right now, designed by Duane King, developed by Jessica Caldwell:

This image contains NO JUSTICE for actually visiting the site. Ride the rails people. Ride these beautiful, IC-DDC-DK rails.

$50 to get a double brain crunch in our region’s largest cities with a group of people who give a damn. That’s basically free. There are cobb salads in Nantucket that cost more than this.

We’ve not done a post featuring Duane King before, most of you probably know who he is, and it is very much worth mentioning his recent accomplishment. Duane was called out by Fast Company as one of the 50 most influential designers in the America. With his wizarding partner Ian Coyle, the two have created some of the smartest work on the internet. Thinking for a Living, Nike Better World, it’s a long list, and now Spit Swap! Check out this chart from Fast Company:

I highly recommend one or both of these events. Eric Hillerns will thank you, and so will the grey matter in your skull. Soak it up, these people are hard American workers, are full of kindness, and have things to tell you. Listen.