Work in progress: really need to save the iterations every 20 minutes or so...there were quite a few design iterations that I did not document.

This workshop deals with how to work fast in a digital environment and create a sense of flow while using Photoshop and Solidworks. The main ideas here are to minimize unnecessary cursor movement and maximize muscle memory. Thanks to IDSA Kansas City Chapter as well as Wacom, Hallmark and Garmin for sponsoring this event. The above video has about 30minutes of theory at the beginning with more sketches through the last half.



http://thomasparel.com/2011/12/death-of-the-mouse/ for more information

Recent work for Cerevellum

Interior Proposals for the SSC Tuatara.
http://grabcad.com/library/tuatara-interior-proposal

Super Soaker Sketches 45min each page.

Featured on the luxology homepage- very nice indeed

Awesome ad- so over the top ridiculous.

Sweet- The Quattro grill I designed was featured on uncrate

Just got featured on the Luxology Image Gallery- Sweet!

http://ernestincardesign.blogspot.com/
Looks like he is part of the Quattro design team. Sweet work.

Sketch vs CAD-If you are ever curious about what Industrial Designers are viewing online, the view stats on the videos on my youtube account show no doubt- Sketching wins hands down- a 2:1 walloping in some cases. This has always been a interesting factoid to me- given the amount of time I slog in CAD. Also when putting together training sessions with schools, a sketch presentation seems to generate far more visceral excitement. Is this simply a function of in-house design vs consulting?

Typically the farther into a project the exponentionally greater is the stamina required- you get pounded on the details from tooling, mech engg, marketing and the normal bunch of crazies. Unless the designer is embedded you dont get to participate in these scrums.
I would be the first to tell you that sketching is one of the super-weapons at my disposal, especially at meetings when the rest of the team has a hard time jotting down visual suggestions- but I have been trying to figure out the most ninja ways to use my tools- most bang for least effort, and it seems to be at odds with what the profession at large thinks.

I notice that with certain Engineering teams that are evaluated on throughput, they have less tolerance for potentially awesome but risky ideas, simply because it takes more time. I wonder if sketching is so highly valued in the profession because many consultancies are involved in the initial phases of a project and the great ideas are handed over to the internal teams to further develop. Internal teams rarely if ever advertise. They are tied up by so many NDAs you only know of their existence from job postings or design awards. Consultancies on the other hand are compelled to talk of their projects at every opportunity. They control the evaluation metrics so to speak, and I wonder if tools such as breadboard prototyping, CAD and model making are not proportionally valued as a result.

PS: This is my subjective view into the ID industry. Please comment if this resonates with you, or if you have had an opposite experience

http://www.stokgrills.com/

Ipad 2: Visual Consolidation of all the talk and rumor