By Rain Noe - Nov 02

Shots of Old-School Pre-CAD Drafting Pools

First-round draft pics

I actually liked being a CAD jockey, despite the fact that I spent the best hours of the day peering into a monitor. Due to poor corporate planning I accidentally wound up with my own office and later, office with a window. I worked alone and was free to solve

By Core Jr - Oct 22

Machine and Fabrication Shop Destroyed by Hurricane Michael Needs Your Help to Rebuild

Maritech Machine is reaching out for help

Over the summer we wrote about Xometry, an on-demand manufacturing platform (and, full disclosure, a Core77 advertiser) that helps industrial designers get instant quotes. Now Xometry is trying to help out a supplier of theirs, Maritech Machine, whose Florida-based shop was destroyed by Hurricane Michael last week. Following the loss

By Rain Noe - Oct 01

Q&A: What Made You Want to Become an Industrial Designer?

From Legos to fighter jets to German design

In this age of surface flash, we're glad to see the Core77 reader is still interested in nuts-and-bolts industrial design. This is evinced by the fact that our slideshow of the previously-unseen prototypes of Belkin's TrueClear Pro is drawing a lot of eyeballs. While we were at Belkin's HQ, we

By Joel Moskowitz - Sep 26

Tools & Craft #108: How This Toolmaker is Getting Screwed by a New Online Scam

If you buy tools online that seem really inexpensive, it might be this

Most folks assume that credit card companies take the hit for fraudulent transactions. They do--some of the time. But small retailers like us take most of the losses, especially online. I've spent nearly two decades as an internet retailer combating online fraud. I'm not alone; sometimes I get calls

By Emily Engle - Sep 20

Design Consultant Emily Cohen on Understanding Your Marketable Skills and Inventing Your Own Job

"Millennials are smart, and designers have gotten smarter. Now, most designers understand and value design business, so my role has shifted."

Within the first few minutes of talking with self-proclaimed 'brutally honest' design consultant Emily Cohen, it becomes clear that she means business. Emily's knack for giving productive, actionable feedback, paired with her natural writing abilities, previous design experience and writing skills has made her an invaluable resource for creative businesses looking to figure out next steps. Through the launch of her new book, aptly titled Brutally Honest, Emily aims to make getting a look inside

By Emily Engle - Sep 13

Why You Should Attend the 2018 Core77 Conference "Now What? Launching and Growing Your Creative Business"

Join us and other like-minded creative entrepreneurs on October 25th in Brooklyn for a day of talks, workshops and fun

If you haven't secured your ticket to our 2018 conference, Now What?, yet, look no further than this list of reasons why attending will be worth your while. It's FocusedThis year, we decided to narrow down our conference theme to just one specific topic. It's a mysterious topic for most

By Rain Noe - Aug 29

How Toyota Changed the Way We Make Things

…and how their system was inspired by 1950s American supermarkets

Something every designer knows is that having less makes you more creative. In fact one of the first things we do when beginning a new project is to figure out what the constraints are; having those boundaries to bump up against forces us to innovate. A particularly profound example of

By Rain Noe - Aug 28

Design vs. Engineering: Q&A With a Mechanical Engineer on What It's Like to Work With Industrial Designers

"They'll design something impossible, then we'll try to make it reality, then they'll be like 'That's too big….'"

It's easy for us industrial designers to have love/hate relationships with engineers. We want them to clean up our tooling drawings, sure, but we hate when they make changes without telling us, and we often dismiss them as not "getting" design, or UX, or aesthetics. If engineers had the final

By Rain Noe - Aug 10

Inside Belkin, Part 2: The Industrial Design Process of the TrueClear Pro

An in-depth interview with Oliver Seil, VP of Design

After dropping and shattering my expensive iPhone several years ago, I replaced it and took steps to prevent it from happening again. I kept the phone inside an absurdly bulky, tank-like protective case by Pelican, completely obscuring the beauty that Apple's designers had slaved to produce. This case was

By Emily Engle - Jul 23

Good Thing Releases Food-Safe Vessels Designed by Car Mechanic Turned Product Designer Shinya Yoshida

For snacks, for keys—for both snacks and keys?

This morning, Good Thing announced a new product in their lineup—a trio of food-safe vessels designed by Japanese product designer, Shinya Yoshida. As former car mechanic, Yoshida naturally took inspiration from the flowing curves and shapes found in the auto industry when designing the G3 Vessels. The result is a

By Emily Engle - Jul 18

Sketchfab Launches Online Store for 3D Models that Allows Full Inspection Before Purchase

"What you see is what you get."

Sketchfab recently launched their Sketchfab store out of beta, which allows creative professionals and hobbyists to sell and purchase 3D models for web, mobile, AR and VR online. If you're on the creation/selling side, this means you finally have the chance to monetize your work. On the other end,

By Rain Noe - Jul 17

The Occupational Outlook for Industrial Designers, According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Employment growth rates, what skills are trending, and where in the U.S. industrial designers work

If you're an industrial designer and you want to find out if you're getting paid the right amount, well, that's why we have the Core77 Salary Guide. But those of you simply interested in the profession as a whole may wonder if, in this age of digital, our profession's importance

By Rain Noe - Jul 13

Resource for Designers: Here's How to Get Instant Quotes for On-Demand Manufacturing

With the merger of Xometry and MakeTime, making things in America is about to get a lot easier

"The ease of being able to upload a part," says Josh Haldeman, an industrial designer for protective gear company Bullard, "and instantly know what it's going to cost me is phenomenal." Haldeman is referring to the instant online quoting process for Xometry, a company that connects manufacturers and fabricators with

By Rain Noe - Jul 09

After USPS Uses Wrong Statue of Liberty Image on Stamp, Sculptor Awarded $3.5 Million for Copyright Infringement

Lady Litigious

If you've ever seen the Statue of Liberty in New York versus the replica in Las Vegas, there is one glaring difference that any artist, designer or fabricator is bound to notice: The replica, at right, has a conspicuous and continuous seam running across the breast. Lady Liberty's torso below

By Emily Engle - Jul 03

Tailor Brands' AI Designs Logos and Doesn't Do a Horrible Job

We've reached a moment in time where everyone is beginning to consider the ways in which AI and robots could take over their jobs in the near future. Luckily, robots don't quite have a knack for human emotion or creativity yet, so for the most part, design jobs are still

By Emily Engle - Jun 28

Shapeways Unveils Customizable 3D Printed Jewelry Line

Shapeways, the 3D printing service and marketplace known for their reliable on-demand printing in a variety of materials, recently announced their first in-house line, Spring & Wonder. The collection features a variety of customizable jewelry that leaves customers in charge of the size, shape and message written on their pieces.

By Emily Engle - Jun 20

Amble Offers a New Type of Sabbatical for Designers that Includes Freelance Work 

The first program offers the chance to stay in a cozy cabin or ranch in Yosemite

Often times during vacations and sabbaticals we feel this compulsive itch to keep working, which is why Amble's business model is so intriguing. The new program is offering designers the chance to lodge in cozy properties otherwise not available to the public, in exchange for the completion of a design

By Emily Engle - May 14

3 Ways Design Professors Are Using Kickstarter to Teach Entrepreneurship

School's out, but many design students are still at work on the crowdfunding campaigns they started in these courses

From design books to one-off products to the occasional full product ecosystem, we constantly find ourselves featuring independent designers that have reached success based on surpassing their Kickstarter or Indiegogo funding goals. In addition to the classic "independent-designer-turned-crowdfunding-success" model, we've also noticed that the platform has made its way to

By Emily Engle - May 10

Nike Files Patent for Miniature Treadmills Inside of Sneakers

You think we're joking...

Let the below image sink in for a moment: Yes, what you're looking at is a miniature treadmill inside of a sneaker, and yes, this is a real patent that Nike recently filed. Looks like when a bunch of employees left Nike because of that sexual harassment scandal all of

By Joel Moskowitz - May 02

Feeling Overwhelmed? Here's a Good System for Getting Things Done

I recently saw an Instagram post by craftsperson @anneofalltrades. In the post Anne expressed her worries about things not getting done, and ongoing difficulties with task completion. Many of her issues are common to anyone running a business, especially one where your labor is an integral part of production. These

By Core Jr - Apr 19

Sponsored Post: Taking Your Business Seriously Without Taking Yourself Too Seriously 

Punk Rock Creative Director Steph Hoff explains what it's like to successfully do your own thing with both personal and corporate projects

From corporate to freelance to side hustle to small, energetic company, Steph Hoff has experienced just about every type of workplace culture through her career. Her innate sense of style and a savvy awareness of street culture give her a unique lens that she uses to filter and focus corporate

By Emily Engle - Apr 17

Book Review Pt. 3—Brutally Honest: No Bullshit Business Strategies to Evolve Your Creative Business

This excerpt is all about writing the perfect cover letter. Tomorrow is the last day to get your hands on a copy!

We're publishing a third and final excerpt from Brutally Honest: No Bullshit Business Strategies to Evolve Your Creative Business, the "tell it like it is" career advice book specifically catered to designers. Written by Emily Cohen, the book compiles honest business insights and strategies the seasoned design consultant has been

By Emily Engle - Apr 05

Book Review Pt. 2—Brutally Honest: No Bullshit Business Strategies to Evolve Your Creative Business

This excerpt is all about relationship curation strategies

Our readers, our staff and Kickstarter enthusiasts alike have shown a huge interest in seasoned design consultant Emily Cohen's new book, Brutally Honest: No Bullshit Business Strategies to Evolve Your Creative Business. So, we decided to publish a second excerpt in advance of the full release. Brutally Honest still has

By Emily Engle - Apr 04

A Closer Look at MoMA Wholesale's Ongoing Product Design Collaboration with SVA PoD

To celebrate the work of participating SVA PoD students, be sure to check out the window displays they designed for MoMA Design Store starting tomorrow night

The MoMA Design Store has been a retail destination for design lovers for years, but many people don't realize that MoMA Store has their own wholesale product brand developed in-house to accompany many of the classic design items they have available. Ambi Chopsticks and HoldersAround five or so years

By Rain Noe - Apr 02

Design Entrepreneurs: Here's How to Design, Build and Price Out a Shoe Store in 20 Days

Ben Uyeda of HomeMade Modern shows you the whole process and breaks down the dollar amounts

This will be super-helpful to those of you who have design/build skills and want to see dollar breakdowns for a project. Ben Uyeda of HomeMade Modern was asked to create a shoestore in an impossibly short deadline. He not only shows you every step of the process, from design to

By Core Jr - Mar 30

Sponsored Post: Dori Pankowska on the Realities of Using Overseas Manufacturers to Produce Small Product Runs

The mind behind the blog Dori the Giant shares her experiences and gives advice to designers searching for the right manufacturer

While studying photography in college, 27-year-old designer Dori Pankowska decided to start her own blog, Dori the Giant, where she would feature the many small side project she worked on outside of class. Her professors as well as creative directors that discovered her blog took note of her uniquely creative mind and advised her to consider advertising as an alternative to the specialized field of photography. Pankowska eventually took their advice and has now been in advertising for two years

By Emily Engle - Mar 27

Nicholas Baker Describes Sketching in Virtual Reality and Life After Design School

"I've never been one to shy away from something just because it's scary or hard. If it fails, it fails."

When he's not designing products for an array of freelance clients, industrial designer Nicholas Baker spends time engaging his 42K+ Instagram followers through daily posts and a weekly live sketching show called Late Nite Nick. On top of maintaining a growing social media presence, Baker recently launched bend mirror

By Emily Engle - Mar 20

Book Review—Brutally Honest: No Bullshit Business Strategies to Evolve Your Creative Business

Whip your creative business into shape

In order to push forward in our careers, we often need to expose ourselves to the cold, hard truth and push past common excuses that do nothing but keep our development stagnant. Too often we settle for general career advice that beats around the bush because a) honest advice is

By Rain Noe - Mar 15

Starchitect Richard Meier Accused of Pattern of Sexual Misconduct, Takes Leave of Absence

#MeToo reaches the design world

Richard Meier is one of the world's most celebrated architects, a member of the original New York Five whose works include the Getty Center, the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art and the Paley Center, among countless others. The Pritzker Prize winner, now 83, has been so prolific that he built

By Core Jr - Mar 14

Sponsored Post: Few's Arlton Lowry on How to Work Remotely and Manage People in Other Time Zones

Hint: It's all about setting boundaries for yourself and using the right online tools

Some businesses start on a whim after days spent dreading a desk job, while others grow organically based on a successful side project. The latter is the case with Few, a design agency co-founded by Arlton Lowry and David Hudson. The pair met in Little Rock, Arkansas during Made by Few, a design conference run by Lowry at the time. After deciding to work on multiple projects together, turning their efforts into a company a couple years later was only natural. Today, Few's client list includes ev

By Rain Noe - Mar 05

Designers: Here's How to Find Out if the 2018 Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Will Affect You

A bunch of materials, products and tools are about to become less expensive. Will it benefit you or set you back?

The upcoming steel tariffs are all over the news, but very few are talking about the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Act of 2018. If you're a designer, design entrepreneur or work in a shop, here's how the MTBA 2018 could affect you. First off let's explain what it is. Miscellaneous Tariff

By 3D Hubs - Mar 01

Sponsored Post: Minimize the Cost of CNC Parts (9 Proven Design Tips)

Use these tips to optimize your design and reduce the cost of CNC parts by more than 50%

Whether you are looking to create a single prototype or you are ready for large-scale production, cutting manufacturing costs is often the main priority when it comes to CNC machining. Luckily, your decisions as the designer can greatly affect the final pricing. By following the Design for Machinability tips of this article, you can manufacture parts that are optimized to minimize costs and still comply with your design requirements.

By Core Jr - Feb 27

Sponsored Post: Micki Krimmel on Finding Factories, Breaking into New Industries and Using Crowdfunding as a Marketing Tool

The founder of Superfit Hero discusses figuring out unfamiliar design processes and tapping into markets you're already part of

After coming to the frustrating realization that plus sized women weren't receiving fair treatment in the athletic wear market, Micki Krimmel set out to change state of the industry with her size inclusive performance wear line, Superfit Hero. Krimmel combined her knowledge gathered from founding previous startups with her passion for fitness—specifically roller derby—to plan Superfit Hero's development in the same spirit as a tech company.