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…

Don your favorite bathrobe, cream that coffee and get comfortable with this week’s SolidSmack Weekend Reader. The Weekend Reader features a handful of the most interesting articles featured on the ‘Smack over the past week ranging from tips and tricks to inspirational designs, processes, and more. So lay back, relax and take a load off while reading the top stories on SolidSmack this past week. Oh and uh…don’t forget to shed some much-needed sunlight on your face, too. Wham-O Introduces a Radical New “Square” Frisbee Design Although humans have been throwing disc-shaped objects for centuries, it wasn’t until the 1930s when a couple was offered 25 cents for a cake…

We cover our fair share of Kickstarter projects here at Solidsmack. Some projects, like the heavy-duty COMBAR and the problem-solving Triggers Cards, are lucky enough to receive full funding and get shipped to their backers in a timely manner. Others? Well, not so much. But, as is the nature of the popular crowdfunding platform, there’s still no real guarantee you’ll be getting what you paid for. YouTuber Josh Smith recently pointed out some useful tips on how you can be more cautious with your money on the project-backing platform. For instance, jumping on an overfunded project could result in the creators not being able to deliver on the high demand.…

Since its release in 1959, Henry Dreyfuss’ The Measure of Man and Woman: Human Factors in Design has been an invaluable resource for designers, engineers, architects, and anybody else responsible for shaping the manufactured world around us. The indispensable resource, which contains thorough and accurate measurements for children, teenagers, adult men and women, and those with physical handicaps, has allowed designers to accurately define the dimensions of their products to suit the immediate needs of their users. Additional data guidelines for the visually and hearing-impaired, as well as other differently abled individuals, have helped shape the standards for numerous government-defined disability acts. Suffice to say, this book is the real…

Before fidget cubes and fidget spinners were even a thing, man’s best cure for anxiety was the ordinary pen. Ever present in school and work, these cheap writing materials could be spun, flicked, clicked, and in some cases even chewed on to get rid of pent-up energy. Designer Shin Feng has the same fidgeting problem; but instead of buying a fidget spinner or poking his eye out, he created a pen and pen holder combo to calm his restless hands. The SPECTA pen is an EDC writing tool meant for fidgeting. While chewing on its aluminum body isn’t advisable, twisting the individual metal scales is a satisfying way to pass…

Your product design is ready, your prototype works and you want to hit the store shelves as soon as possible. But how? Manufacturing looks easy on “How it’s made”, whether it’s a Ferrari FF or Jawbreakers, everything sold to consumers has been manufactured to some degree. While things run smoothly in established factories across the world, it doesn’t start out that way. For a real-world entrepreneurial example, let’s take Pretty Knotty hair ties and look at the important aspects that allowed manufacturing as a bootstrapping startup. As hard as we have tried, you cannot plant a seed and sprout a tin of hair ties. If you know how to do…