Get that stretch out of your system with this week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist. It’s fashioned up, ready to make you pull your shoulder blades back and knock out another week of meaningful work while you bob your head to the beat. Whether you’re in the shop milling aluminum, sketching the latest product prototypes or modeling up a 3D storm, consider these tracks as a tool for your process. This week we’ll get the groove going with “Quartz” from TV on the Radio before diving into sweet melodies from The Walkmen, Goat, Kevin Devine, Phantom Planet, and others before wrapping up with “Lipstick” from Ariel Pink. Rock! Have suggestions? As…
SkillCoach is a new series where Product Dev Professional, Vince Haley, provides a virtual design critique of a new design or submission we’ve received. Give us your feedback in the comments! Connect with Vince on Linkedin here. Have a design you would like to submit for a review and critique? Contact us here. Welcome to the first in our SkillCoach series! I’m Vince Haley and, though you’ve seen my writing here on SolidSmack, I’ve been in the consumer product industry for years in roles as a Principal Industrial Designer, Lead Product Designer, and Lead Design Engineer to name a few. I’ve also taught ID at multiple universities. It’s an honor…
Despite the onslaught of VR 3D modeling apps, there aren’t a lot of ways to use a tablet and a spoon-like device to make the process more awkward. Fortunately, Kickstarter has brought us one. The Yeehaw Wand might look like any ol’ spoon of colorful mosaic tiles, but it’s actually an electronic sculpting paddle that sucks the ideas from your brain with the flick of a wrist. How does it work? Well, you download the Yeehaw 3D modeling app onto your phone or tablet, then use the Bluetooth-enabled yogurt spoon to craft your designs IN REAL TIME. The app utilizes the mobile device’s camera to recognizes that odd motion you’re…
Cherished by writers, designers, illustrators, and other creative professionals for its soft dark lead and unique flat eraser, the Blackwing 602 is worth trying at least once—but be forewarned: you may never go back to plain old #2 pencils again. Originally manufactured by the Eberhard Faber Pencil Company from 1934 – 1988, the Blackwing brand was acquired by California Cedar Products Company in 2008 and reintroduced to a new generation of creatives in 2012. And now, you can score your own 12-pack of the legendary pencil for just 23 bucks. Palomino Blackwing 602 Pencils 12-Pack — $22.95 Features: One pack of 12 Palomino Blackwing pencils Pencils feature a soft and…
When it comes to smuggling contraband, criminals have developed some very creative ways over the years. This method, in particular, is far more outlandish than a stealth submarine or a pack mule: a makeshift bazooka consisting of a tubular mechanism and a compressor, along with 203 marijuana packages weighing a total of 1,800 pounds, has been found inside a van near the Mexican border in the town of Agua Prieta, Sonora. Officials say the drug packages were stored in charges to prepare them for the airborne journey. The bazooka then used compressed air to fire the drugs over the Mexican border through the van’s sunroof. Incidents of drug cannons have…
Mondays might not be your favorite day of the week, but the good news is that we’re all in this together ladies and gentlemen. As purveyors of prime Grade A web content, the SolidSmack crew has done some of the heavy-lifting to make sure you get your Mondays started on the right track. Welcome to The Monday List. Each Monday, we’ll link you up with some of the most insightful, informative, and socially-relevant stories to keep tabbed, bookmarked, reading listed, pocketed, or what have you. Be sure to check in each Monday morning for a new crop of freshly sprouted words curated straight from the source of your favorite homegrown ‘Smack.…