Looking at incredible structures such as the Sphinx in Egypt or the genius of Leonardo Da Vinci’s self propelled cart, it’s even more impressive when you think about the rudimentary resources that the designers had hundreds and even thousands of years ago. Today, we have highly sophisticated tools like CAD software and rapid prototyping to…

Among others who have had a profound influence on the history of industrial design, Dieter Rams is among the most prolific designers whose opinion is still sought after today. The German designer, who cut his teeth at Braun and established the company as one of the most historically-significant contributors to the history of “understandable products”,…

It’s difficult to have a conversation about the history of industrial design and not bring up Braun during at least some point in the conversation. The German company – along with legendary industrial designer Dieter Rams – have time and time again been called the single biggest influence on Apple products thanks in no small…

It’s been an interesting past few years for bicycle design and fabrication – among other reasons, the combination of both traditional craftsmanship techniques and more modern manufacturing methods have not only changed how bicycles are made, but also what they are made out of. While some have opted to use additive manufacturing technologies to create…

In an industry dominated by the young, 91yr old Barbara Beskind is breaking the glass age-ceiling, and now works as a designer for IDEO, where according to the Wall Street Journal, Beskind walks with her custom modified ski poles from the train station to the Palo Alto-based IDEO offices. There, she shares her wealth of…

We live in a world full of amazing design software and hi-tech automated machines. These “tools” are designed to reduce design cycle times and leverage productivity. Companies spend a lot of money on these tools and expect a productivity pay off from their designers. Some of the new expectations are realistic and some are not.…

Known widely for his ceramic speaker and Sorapot teapot designs, industrial designer Joey Roth has made a name for himself over the past five years by delivering unique products that preserve and highlight their natural material qualities. His ingenious ceramic speakers alone set the internet on fire when they were first released and continue to…

“Head out on the highway, looking for adventure and whatever comes our way” – Steppenwolf, Born to be Wild. Move over pocket-ripping and bulky multi-tools! Portland, Oregon-based Leatherman Tools has recently launched an industry first; their vision of a fully-functional multi-tool that can be worn around the wrist in the form of the Leatherman Tread.…

“It’s not pink, it’s magenta” says Geoff Casey, Design Manager at Santa Cruz Bicycles. Santa Cruz Bicycles produces some of the best carbon fiber mountain bikes in the world. In the past few years they have been leading the industry forward into new colors and clean graphics thanks in no small part to the talents…

We managed to wrangle Jon Hirschtick (Founder and Chairman, Onshape) and Carl Bass (CEO, Autodesk) into answering the same six questions about CAD in the Cloud, including the ultimate, whiz-bang question of the year at the end: “How do Fusion 360, Onshape, and 3DEXPERIENCE differ?” You saw it here first, folks. A SolidSmack exclusive, side-by-side…

“It’s Time For Industrial Design To Grow Up” is the clickbait title of a Fast Co. article trying to define what it is industrial designers are really doing in their jobs. We all have to be placed in a box it seems and with technology rapidly advancing, perhaps our titles do as well. Every now and…

When they officially went live at 11 AM EST yesterday, Onshape sent ripples through the product design community as being the first true parametric 3D CAD solution for the browser. The web app, which is able to be used on nearly any device including tablets and smartphones, is not only setting a new standard for…

Hold onto your anodized aluminum hats and bring out the foamcore piñatas! Today, March 5, 2015 is being recognized as the very first National Industrial Design Day. According to the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) – who are also celebrating their 50th anniversary today – U.S. Rep. Gerald E. Connolly declared that industrial design…

Back when it was announced that Apple had hired Australian industrial designer Marc Newson to join their notoriously tight-knit Industrial Design team, there was plenty of speculation about why Apple had made the decision. Amongst other theories was that Newson and Ive just simply wanted to work together in the same environment, however it is…

The newly announced SolidWorks Industrial Design product is ostensibly similar to Autodesk’s popular Fusion 360 product. Like, really similar. And at $2280 per annum, the confusing mish-mash of overpriced and overlapping subscriptions in the new SolidWorks offering have us asking hard questions. Here’s why. Before we get into details, our hats are off to the…

I was finally able to get a proper live demo of the new SolidWorks Industrial Design product at SolidWorks World 2015, and while we still lack some really critical information (Uh, price?), a lot of the fuzz is finally coming into focus. We spread some misinformation on The Twitters yesterday, so today we set the…

Since graduating with an architecture degree a few years ago, French product designer Pierre Guibert naturally drifted into product design after working with prototyping materials extensively and being inspired to pursue smaller-scale projects during his time in university. Working primarily with cardboard – including developing a line of handmade cardboard lampshades that he also teaches…

For anybody who can remember using an original Macintosh computer in the 1980s and early 1990s, few could argue that today’s Apple lineup of computers bares any resemblance to the early computers that helped make Apple a household name. For a group of designers at the German tech blog CURVED, this was just as convincing…

Fresh off the heels of last week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2015) in Las Vegas, the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit is in full-swing today and is swapping in-dash computer announcements for supercar unveilings. The first car to take the Detroit audience by storm this morning was one that has been rumored…

If you’ve been looking for a way to keep those SolidWorks muscles strong going into 2015, then you’re in luck friend. For this week and this week only, industrial design video training site cadjunkie is offering the entire SolidWorks 101 course for free (normally $39) using the following coupon code: happyholidays. The sub-two-hour course starts…

For anybody who’s been wanting to get the most out of their 3D scanner or smartphone 3D scanning app, the new MODO for Repotology series from industrial design training site cadjunkie is just for you. For the low price of $39 ($14 for cadjunkie Premium members), this downloadable video series includes everything you need to…

If you’ve been on the fence about whether to purchase MODO 801 or not, you have until Friday (12/19) to purchase the software package for 40% off of its retail value, which would bring the cost down to $897.00 (normally $1495.00). Discounted as part of a MODO Flash Sale, the steep discount is almost unheard…

Leading up to their 50th anniversary year in 2015, the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) has been busy revamping their organization to make it more useful for its community of 3,200+ industrial designers. The nonprofit, which is funded by its members, was founded in 1965 and is one of the oldest and largest membership…

For anybody who’s been wanting to get the most out of their 3D scanner or smartphone 3D scanning app, the new MODO for Repotology series from industrial design training site cadjunkie is just for you. For the low price of $39 ($14 for cadjunkie Premium members), this downloadable video series includes everything you need to…

Back in 1965, neo-futuristic designer, architect, philosopher and all-around badass Buckminster Fuller designed and patented an “autonomous dwelling machine” that he coined the Fly’s Eye Dome. The designer, whose fascination with material usage and energy efficiency in design and architecture led to a career highlighted with a variety of geodesic dome designs, sadly passed away…

Ahh…there’s nothing like a plate full of sweet potatoes and mounds of stuffing to wash it down. Let’s not forget to mention the eggnog, cranberry, bowls of shelled nuts and mountains of pumpkin pie, too! Today you’re probably feeling a slight belly effect from last night’s tastebud carnage…but don’t worry…we all are. That’s why we’ve…

It’s no secret that as we move deeper into digital experiences with our phones, tablets, watches and the like, the human need to connect with more mechanical and manual activities or objects becomes suddenly more apparent. While we don’t expect anybody to be churning butter at their desk or making candles during lunch hour, these…

With recent major updates including the addition of Sørensen Leather’s entire 289-count material library onto Keyshot Cloud, Luxion’s popular KeyShot rendering package has never provided as much flexibility, power and resources as their latest KeyShot 5.1 release offers. It comes with little surprise then, that the winners of the recent 2014 KeyShot Rendering Contest have…

Including the Ostrich Pillow and Convertible Napping Desk from Studio NL, workers today have never had it so good when it comes to escaping their pesky coworkers for a few minutes or to gently whisk themselves away to a brief happy place before attempting another complicated CAD maneuver. Now another kid on the block wants…

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…

Back in October, SolidSmack announced that Autodesk had unveiled a more-robust option for their Fusion 360 CAD package with the announcement of Fusion 360 Ultimate. The announcement included feature upgrades including highly-requested 2D drawings, 3D exploded views and added CAM support. Autodesk Fusion 360 Product Manager Kevin Schneider followed-up on the announcement last week with…

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…

Known as the Habitability Design Center, NASA’s “conceptual, human-centered design studio” is nothing short of a playground for playing with some of humanity’s most futuristic design concepts. While it might be easy to jump to the conclusion that the design team gets to ‘draw spaceships all day’…the amount of human factors research that goes into…

While original Apple 1 computers have been fetching over a half-million USD at auction over the past few years, even Apple 1 replicas have been going for more than a current-day Macbook Air…to the tune of around $1,200 on eBay. The Steve Wozniak-designed machine that started it all has a storied history that even Woz…

Aiming to be a creative lab focusing on nurturing young talent, Milan-based Incipit (“the beginning” in Latin) manufacturers and distributes a collection of home accessory products through collaborating with up-and-coming designers. Founded in 2013 by Roberto Hoz and Marta Bernstein, the company helps support young designers by sharing skills and best business practices through a…

It’s hard not to appreciate concrete from a manufacturing standpoint regardless of your taste for or against the cool minimalist aesthetic. Between its widespread availability and ability to be formed into literally any cavity, concrete is an excellent medium for the cheap up-front cost of manufacturing with it alone. Among other designers who have been…

While glimpses into the design process and fabrication methods have become more available than ever thanks to cheaper video cameras (e.g. smartphones), free online video hosting and overall public interest, it’s still not too common when a video spans the entire manufacturing process from raw material to finished product. In ‘BEAM / The Making Of’,…

With low-volume manufacturing methods becoming cheaper and more readily available, the amount of designers cranking out bicycles and bicycle accessories to the tune of their own liking has increased exponentially within the past few years. Among others who have jumped into the bicycle manufacturing game is ex-Nike Innovation Director Rich Fox and his new Circa…

Having been the designer of the world’s first laptop computer and co-founding one of the world’s leading design firms, IDEO, Bill Moggridge’s life is as colorful as they come for those in the field of designing human experiences. After having earned an industrial design degree in 1965 from the Central School of Art and Design…

It’s no secret that the ‘urban bicycle’ is a hot topic in bicycle design circles. With the rising popularity of the recent Oregon Manifest–an annual nationwide competition that pairs design firms with small bicycle fabricators to create the ‘ultimate’ urban bicycle–along with a host of bike-related infrastructure developments, urban cycling is on the forefront of…

Each week we’re sharing a new tip with you here on the ‘Smack to help elevate your CAD game to a new level. Our goal is to mix up the weekly tips to cover a wide variety of ground for using CAD effectively as a product design tool. Some weeks might feature basic form-building exercises…

There is something delightful about the Odin Kickstarter video. I can’t decide if it’s because the project was created by a small family with a bright idea (dog included) or the final scene in the video (you’ll just have to watch to find out). Either way, it’s fun, simple and effective projects like these that…

Whether you consider yourself a car nut or not (go home Jay Leno), it’s hard not to appreciate the level of detail that goes into vehicle renderings. While any well-executed rendering can be a sight to behold no matter the type of content, automobiles are in a category by themselves due to the multiple material…

Each week we’re sharing a new tip with you here on the ‘Smack to help elevate your CAD game to a new level. Our goal is to mix up the weekly tips to cover a wide variety of ground for using CAD effectively as a product design tool. Some weeks might feature basic form-building exercises…

After a series of unfortunate events including criticisms of his design decisions and problems with manufacturers in their complicated supply chain leading up to their largest new product release category in years, the notoriously public-shy Jony Ive has been opening up more to various media outlets as of late. What makes these recent interviews interesting…

Last week we gave you a heads up about a new short film from creative firm Bassett & Partners that explores what the meaning of a design brief is from the point of view of a variety of creative visionaries. This morning, the informative short film went live and is totally worth 26 minutes of…

It’s not very often when you come across an industrial designer who has a desire to bring what is commonly hidden by a panel or housing out into the open in all of its glorious and mechanical gleam. Such is the case with industrial designer Simon Williamson. The Britain-born designer honed his chops at Frog…

We’re always talking about the future of design, the future of technology, the future of MAKING. In a world where windowless air travel will give new meaning to the term ‘flying by air’, a world where coolers with embedded blenders have overtaken smart watches for funding records on Kickstarter, how do we find the next…

Previously, SolidSmack reported on the Sense ‘Smart Sleeping System’ that launched on Kickstarter a few weeks ago. The well-priced $99 sleep management system aims to ‘combine the insight of your sleep patterns with the data of the environment in your bedroom, including noise, light, temperature, humidity and particles in the air’. In an age where…

Inspired by a strange desire to create and design a collection of products for ‘all the wrong reasons’, product designer Katerina Kamprani has essentially created a collection of almost usable yet absolutely-not-usable product designs that bring to mind the popular Most Useless Machine Ever. Perhaps the ongoing collection is a purpose-related inside joke related to…