While there used to be a painful shortage of inspirational design sketching books out there, these days, design students and those looking to refresh their skill set may, in fact, have too many to choose from. The good news is, there’s something different to learn from each—so go ahead and build out that library. Among other design sketching book favorites, we love the broad variety of sketching styles presented in Sketching. While the book is ideal for any design student or classroom, many professionals and design studios will also likely learn a thing or two from the wide variety of sketching styles and form examples presented within the book’s 256…
To keep up in a modern age where everything is better when it’s the size of your thumb, The Raspberry Pi Foundation have created an updated version of their old 2014 Raspberry Pi 3B+ quad-core processor, simply called the Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+. Loyal followers of Raspberry might recall the company releasing a miniaturized version of the Pi 3B+ processor during the latter half of 2014. This was the Raspberry Pi Model A+, which had half the RAM of the original and had no USB hub or Ethernet controller. The new Model 3 A+ doesn’t sacrifice anything in terms of performance. Just like its big brother, it has 512…
While bikes, scooters, and maybe even unicycles are cool, nothing beats riding on a plank of wood on wheels at top speed with reckless abandon—particularly when said board has some pretty killer artwork on it, too. Tye Sheehan may be a civil engineer during the day, but during his free time, he makes some of the best wood art out there using pyrographic techniques. By running an electric current through a piece of wood, he can burn entirely unique designs onto anything made from a tree trunk. And seeing as the classic skateboard is made from wood, it only made sense for him to try his hand at designing a…
Founded in 1959 as a professional tool manufacturer to support Japan’s burgeoning manufacturing industry, Trusco—a combination of the words “Trust” and “Company”—is still manufacturing some of the best toolboxes, today. While their stripped-down design makes them a must-have for many design aficionados, the pressed steel boxes are ridiculously useful for just about anything—tools or not. Still manufactured in Fukui, Japan, Trusco toolboxes now come in more sizes than ever—capable of whatever storage challenges you throw at them. Trusco Toolboxes — Price Varies Features: Steel body, formed for extra strength Versatile sizing for specific storage solutions Double-hinged construction for smooth opening Dividers included Equally useful in the home, office, or the…
We’ve said it time and time again, but the Raspberry Pi is just so dang cool and we believe all designers and engineers should have one in their toolkit—if not on their desktop. While there is a bit of a slight learning curve, it’s nothing that today’s designers and engineers can’t handle on a leisurely Saturday. So why not start now? The Raspberry Pi Mastery Bundle includes 8 courses to get started creating your very own Amazon Echo or even a KUKA-like robotic arm for your desktop (how’s that for office bragging rights). Throw in any of your own 3D printed housing designs, and the opportunities are limitless! For a…
Finding other people to do your grunt work for you just got a heck of a lot easier. Online manufacturing network platform Xometry, known for being one of the best on-demand manufacturing platforms, has announced a new RFQ (request for quotation) service which allows users to scout for quotes on die casting, stamping, and extrusion jobs from the company’s ever-growing list of manufacturing partners. To take advantage of the new quote request offering, all you have to do is upload your part file to the Xometry webpage (it’s on the left-hand side of the main page), specify the requirements, and the RFQ algorithm searches Xometry’s network of connections to get…