When it comes to keeping paper alive and kicking in an ever-increasing tablet-sketching world, leave it up to Moleskine to find ways of bridging the divide. Earlier this year, the sketchbook giant announced a partnership with smartpen manufacturer Livescribe that offers a solution for backing up your analog sketches into the cloud. Previously, the Italian…
For decades now, the performance of working with digital tools has been contingent on one’s hardware setup and needless to say, you got what you paid for (and still do). Adobe has been working on obliterating the need for expensive hardware as more services start operating out of the Cloud with the development of their…
While there (should) still be enough room in everybody’s toolkit or backpack for reliable analog tools, the fact of the matter is that no matter where you start, those analog sketches are likely going to end up in your computer in some way or another. While it has taken forever for the iPad–and other digital…
Every so often, a ‘making of’ video comes along that stands out amongst the pack with wit and charm. In most cases, the videographer went beyond the slow-motion “sparks-flying, sweat-dripping” scenes of workshop fabrication to bring some more narrative into the context. Or, they bring in a a puppet to make things more interesting. The…
Before the YouTube explosion of self-produced design sketching tutorials, a large amount of the industrial design, concept art and design engineer community learned how to ‘draw through’ and hone their visual communication skills with concept designer Scott Robertson’s sketching DVDs from the Gnomon Workshop. The Art Center-trained concept designer—whose keen ability to bounce in and…
Add this to our growing bucket of things we wish we would have thought of before. The Zcan is a new ergonomic wireless mouse design that lets users swipe in a zigzag motion to scan and instantly digitize analog documents. Currently in the last 40 hours of its campaign over on Indiegogo, the project has…
Founded in 1912, BERTONE has had a colorful history creating some of the most sought-after and futuristic car designs throughout the past century. The reputable Italian firm started out as a carriage manufacturing business and later turned into a styling studio that was commissioned by some of the most reputable car manufacturers in the world…
After earning a degree in architecture and specializing in industrial design, Ferrari’s Chief of Design Flavio Manzoni began his design career in 1993 working at FIAT’s Lancia Design Center. In only eight short years, Manzoni’s talents allowed him to rise through the ranks to become the chief designer of the FIAT Group Design Center. With…
This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist brings an entirely new face-smack of great music to help propel you through those laborious, tedious design tasks for the next few days. This week we’re starting off with the chill-out vibes from Bob Marley in the form of ‘Mellow Mood’ before working our way through an eclectic mixture…
While using a stylus and a tablet for sketching is still a cumbersome experience for a lot of designers (particularly in the fine-point tip department), it is still very doable with enough practice…and in some cases, with some spare paper nearby. We’ve seen two-in-one hybrids that pair a stylus tip with a pen in the…
This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist brings an entirely new face-smack of great music to help propel you through those laborious, tedious design tasks for the next few days. This week we’ve put together a high-tempo playlist to help you hammer out those marathon sketch sessions. We’ll start with ‘Here It Goes Again’ from OK…
Consider it a lesson in what could happen if you design faulty devices and the disastrous outcomes that they could bring. Inspired by the humorous Ian Frazier-written Coyote v. Acme lawsuit that was featured in the New Yorker back in 1990, Daniel Weil of design studio Pentagram has reimagined the designs for five gadgets that…
We’re always talking about the future of design, the future of technology, the future of MAKING. In a world where we can interact with empty space, a world where we can 3D print our own shower curtain rings and bionic ears, a world where we’ll be sending people to space for vacation, how do we…
The iPad stylus market has seen an interesting turn in recent months with the release of Wacom’s Intuos Creative Stylus and now this morning, the Pencil by 53. For anybody who has used the iPad app Paper by 53, you might be familiar with 53’s exceptional attention to detail in the user experience and their…