Rob, if the graphical user interface is corrupted, it frequently will help to trash the preferences files.
Have you already tried that?
Which version of MacOS X and Aperture do you have?
To remove the Preferences see: Get help with Aperture 3 - Apple Support Trouble Shooting Basics
To reset your Aperture user preference settings to their original state, do the following:
- Quit Aperture.
- In the Finder choose "Go to folder" from the Go menu.
- Type ~/Library/Preferences in the "Go to the folder" field. Press the Go button.
- Remove the "com.apple.Aperture.plist" file from the Preferences folder.
- Restart your computer if you're using OS X Mavericks or later.
The locations of your Aperture libraries are stored in the preference file listed above. If you have stored your library outside the default location of ~/Pictures/Aperture Library, make a note of where the library is before deleting the Aperture preferences file. If you have more than one library, you can bring up a dialog to choose which one to load by pressing Option immediately after you open Aperture
Added: If you are using Mavericks or later. you may also need to remove ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Aperture/
