How many times have you taken your sketchbook out the door and wished you could easily carry a regular old pencil –– be it your garden–variety #2 or a blue Prismacolor –– without the lead point stabbing you or otherwise breaking? For those who prefer to use lo-fi wood writing tools that don’t include a clip or require refills, this can be a small but common annoyance. Inspired in–part by his own frustrations, NYC–based designer Chengtao Yi developed an ingenious and low-cost solution for carrying a single pencil seamlessly with a notebook cover in the form of the “pencil note”. Little more than a vacuum formed polycarbonate notebook cover with enough…
With a nearly endless array of profiles and material block possibilities, sneaker design sketches aren’t too hard to come by. However, the process of converting those sketches into a physical shoe takes nearly the same level of engineering skill and patience as it does to create many “hard good” products –– particularly if you set out as your own brand starting from scratch. Such is the case with Jon Tang, founder and creative director of the new outdoor-inspired footwear brand FRONTEER. Born and raised in Houston, Tang’s childhood was spent with NASA and the great outdoors in his own backyard –– leading to a life inspired by the outdoor lifestyle and space…
Time for another round of apps that cover the spectrum of your beloved mobile device, be it iPhone, Android or Windows! The Weekly App Smack is the best of new or updated design and productivity apps (and maybe a couple of fun ones, too) for the busy design or engineering professional and this week we have a list sure to make you more efficient. Do you have an app suggestion that has made your life easier or changed up your workflow? Let us know in the comments below or send it into tips@www.solidsmack.com. Hit it! Mimo: Learn How to Code “Learn how to code on your iPhone – whenever and…
If you’re not getting your recommended daily allowance of sawdust and aluminum shavings, chances are you’re looking at desktop CNC milling machine options. There are A LOT more options that we had a year ago and boy are we glad to see it. Prices for most can still be in the thousands though. That’s why the MillRight CNC M3 is putting a smile on our face. This desktop CNC machine is a fairly standard, quite simple 3-axis kit with a part, power and price combo that won’t break your exotic milling material budget. Though it’s as bare bones and basic as you can get, it sports features like NEMA 17…
This past Sunday, Canada-based woodworker John Heisz uploaded a video he made documenting a paper saw blade that he had made from standard printer paper cutting wood with surprisingly clean results. Unsurprisingly, the video went viral in a matter of hours and is currently sitting at over an impressive 4 million views. While we’re still curious to see what would happen if cardstock or another –– more sturdy –– paper-like material were used in place of regular printer paper, Heisz just uploaded yet another demonstration video that details how the paper blade works against other materials. Considering that the paper had little problem cutting cleanly through dense wood leading up…
In the history of industrial design and engineering, perhaps no other industry is as storied and colorful as the automobile. While we may be on the cusp of a future consisting of self-driving cars that we can experience through virtual reality before purchasing, it’s the marketing and sales tactics that reflected consumer needs and buying habits of yester–century that ultimately helped shape the automobile as we know it today. In the recently-released Automobile Design Graphics, cultural anthropologist and graphic design historian Jim Heimann takes a closer look at what was the ultimate marketing collateral during the heyday of the automobile: the brochure. Including everything from paint swatches and fabric samples,…