At the end of August, the three-day music and arts festival THING will take place in Port Townsend, WA. The event features a diverse lineup of artists and performers, so it’s only fitting for its poster to have the same eclectic feel. Beloved designer Aaron Draplin created this year’s poster with glowing colors, a poppy typographical system, and a whimsical illustration smack dab in the middle. Its vibrant design just screams, “summer is coming to a close, so soak it up while you can.”
HIS THING IS A THING: @thingnw is a thing! And I got to do the graphics for it, enlisted by the incomparable @zzzacksss! Adam hired me to do the 2013 Sasquatch festival posters and event graphics kit, which to be able to see it al up close? Was one of the coolest days of my little life. Those main stage banners were like 60 feet tall!!! I met the Tame Impala crew in the backstage, making the day completely complete. But, I digress…
So check it out: We had the THING poster done two full years back, but due to Covid-19 ravaging the land, had to put it all on hold. We cryogenically froze the files in our vault and Adam was finally able to rev THING back to life, and just a couple days back they launched the site and announced the line-up. So awesome to see it come to life! Check out the killer animation, and all the other details at: thingnw.org.
Sadly, I’ll be in Michigan at the end of summer, so I won’t be able to go, but to all you Northwesterners, you should head up to Port Townsend to hang at the THING festival! Do it!
Thank you, Mr. Zacks! Always an honor to roll the sleeves up for you!
Project Credits
Aaron Draplin