A California startup revealed an aircraft on Wednesday evening built for an increasingly popular new kind of pilot—the weekend aviator with a jones for expensive toys.

Loaded with features like folding wings (so you can keep it in your garage) and seat belt-like parachutes (so you can ease the whole thing down to the ground), ICON Aircraft’s new light sport airplane (LSA), dubbed the A5, might just be the ultimate joyride.

“We designed it so that people who don’t know airplanes know that something has changed,” Kirk Hawkins, ICON’s chief executive officer, told Popular Mechanics.

What’s changed are federal regulations, which created a new form of airplane and a new kind of pilot licence that requires less training and no medical check to obtain. The Federal Aviation Administration created the Sport Pilot category in 2004, but only now are players large and small entering this virgin market. At the “Sun ’n Fun Fly-In,” an aircraft festival held in Florida earlier this year, manufacturers showcased 75 LSAs, up from just 20 in 2006.

For ICON, reaching new customers meant a design that borrowed heavily from automobile marketing. “The product has to have sex appeal and be aesthetically inspirational,” Hawkins says. “It not only has to perform well, it has to look like it performs well.”

ICON faced another design hurdle in ensuring that aspiring pilots were not cowed by the risks of flight. The A5’s cockpit gauges look like they belong on a sports-car’s dashboard, while curved structures guard against accidental contact with the propeller whenever the plane is on the ground. Perhaps most crucial to this goal is that increasingly common parachute: no delicate maneuvers are necessary if the airplane is distressed—it can simply float to the ground.

Engineers at ICON also built the A5 to be a lot less of a hassle than other small aircraft, allowing owners to have a lot more fun. The wings can fold for storage in a large garage, and the airplane even comes with its own trailer. Amphibious models have platforms that connect to docks or piers. Versions of the A5 that can’t land in water will have automatic, rather than manual, folding wings.

Hawkings isn’t shy about his attempt to make flying small airplanes the luxury motor sport of the 21st century. “The passionate consumer will not use these to get to grandma’s house quicker,” he says. —Joe Pappalardo

TAKEN FROM www.popularmechanics.com

Art Center Pasadena student Jake Loniak has taken everything that is cool about exoskeletons and motorcycles and crammed it into this Yamaha-branded Deus Ex Machina concept motorcycle. The vehicle is powered by ultra-capacitors and doped nano-phoshpate batteries (similar to the ones currently used in hybrid cars) and it is controlled using 36 pneumatic muscles with two linear actuators set along a spine consisting of seven artificial vertebrae. Even the helmet is pneumatically attached.

 

 

If constructed, the designer believes that it could achieve a top speed of 75mph (0-60mph in 3 seconds) with a recharge time of 15 minutes and cycle time of one hour. We may never know if that is true, but I say throw some sort of storage compartment on this thing and let’s find out. [Art Center Pasadena via Hell For Leather]

Taking the top out of desktop, the XYZ Computer Desk is actually the computer itself, a PC table made of chromed legs and some kind of polycarbonate top, with ports and optical drive on the side, and plenty of room for expansion and clutter. And while the screen is too small for me, it is oh-so-pretty that I want to build it, even if it goes against my religion. [BornRich]

TAKEN FROM /gizmodo.com

Luigi Colani is a legend among industrial designers (see both his sites 1 and 2). We’ve featured radical-looking Colani trucks, and his streamlined piano, but now - thanks to the photo material provided by Roger Todd, exclusively for DRB - we can have a glimpse of his other designs, namely -

Aerodynamic Planes, Trains and (more) Automobiles

…all from a never-never land of the most far-reaching imagination of the modern designers. To describe these concepts simply as streamlined is a huge understatement. They are wild, exciting, totally unexpected forms - a tribute to a Golden Age of futurism (see our futurism category).

This era is largely gone… we don’t see designers becoming superstar celebrities anymore, who would capture and shape world’s imagination. Industrial design has become an ‘apropos’ feature of our life, but perhaps it lost some of its glamour and inspirational influence that defined the image of 1960s and 70s.

Let’s start with trains. A steam train for Soviet Russia, no less! -

(image credit: colani.de)

This is the Coal-Dust-Powered Steam Locomotive for Siberia, 1979, more precisely for the BAM (Baikal Amur Mainline). I have no trouble imagining these beasts devouring infinite taiga-covered miles, no trouble at all. Too bad it did not materialize (BAM itself was not properly finished) -

Mono-track ideas? Sure. Here is an experimental shape for the Hamburg-Munich line “HM-1″ -

More ideas for the aerodynamic high-speed trains:
(I wonder if Japan is going to use any of them for their Shinkansen “bullet” trains)

Outrageous Transportation

Giant Flying Boat (Ekranoplan) “The Lida”, 1983

Considering the Soviet love for ekranoplans (”wing-in-ground” vehicles), it is really surprising that they did not actually made this beauty:

(image credit: colani.de)

Even larger one:

This is what I call truly radical aircraft concepts

Some of them beg the question “Why not?” (like this sketch done for the Japan Air Lines) -

…and others will leave you scratching your head, but also - perhaps considering the thought that the modern aviation is long overdue for a design overhaul:

Cars & bikes that will re-define luxury (again)

More recent design for the streamlined mobile home:

Horch Luxury Automobile design (so over-the-top that no apologies are necessary) -

(image credit: colani.de)

Check out this hood ornament:

More incredible aerodynamic shapes:

“Frog” - aerodynamic study for a motorcycle, 1973:

(images credit: Rolf Frohle)

Many of his shapes will haunt your sense of beauty - you can either love them, or hate them, there is no middle ground. However, this is the essence of exciting design: to challenge the predetermined (and possibly stale) mainstream sensibilities. Luigi Colani has been doing this like no one else since the 1970s.

Final image: This is how our space program could look, if designers like Luigi Colani had their say -

Images credit: Colani Ausstellung in Karlsruhe 2004, Colani Trading AG, Roger Todd, colani.de, Rolf Frohle

TAKEN FROM www.darkroastedblend.com

1) Realistic Icons - 3 Icons in PNG + ICO format.

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2) Onibari light - Formats are Png’s,Ico’s and Icns’s…

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3) Leopar’d IconPackager - An IconPackage for Apple’s new Leopard theme.

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4) Adobe CS 2.0 Grande Icon Set- This is the large set of Adobe Creative Suite Icons.

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5) Glossy Member Icons - Glossy Member Icons…4 PNG Files…Easy to change colors…

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6) Oxygen- Are as light and airy as their name suggests. Beautiful transparency effects make these icons stylish, graceful, and especially gorgeous set against a dark background.

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7) iPhone Pack- iPhone icon pack (
Phone, Text, Chat, iPod, Notes, System)

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8 ) isabi - Includes icons for most Adobe applications, Microsoft Office 2008 as well as a few extras in 16, 32, 48, 128, 256 and 512 pixel sizes.

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9) Helix icons

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10) Prostor_icons

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11) Shopping Basket Icons 3D

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12) TextEdit - A replacement icon for TextEdit, Notepad.

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13) Paper Clip - icon size 512×512px in png

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14) Icon for Transformers

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15) Aeon

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16) ALL ICONS pack “limewire…”- 500*500 PIXELS - LEOPARD AND VISTA

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17) Adobe CS3 full pack- 256×256 png. & ico.

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18) AccBox

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19) Apple Mail Icons

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20) Windows Icons V1 - Custom Windows XP / Vista Icon pack.

TAKEN FROM www.noupe.com

One of the most important and hardest things to overcome when designing is to understand when the piece you are designing on is actually finished. while creativity is sometime boundless the end result should always be the result of a clear objective, the end result. I often get caught between creativity and completion and from the emails I’ve received, I have discovered im not alone .So we asked the experts.

Before the answers I’d like to thank all designers that answered this question. And a special thanks to Justin Maller for the great help. Also we’d love to know your opinion, so leave a question telling us when do you think a design is finished.

Chuck Anderson - http://nopattern.com

When any more would be too much and any less would be too little. Knowing when something is finished comes down to an eye for composition and detail, in my opinion. If I can look at the image and it has good balance and just “feels” right. It’s hard to explain, you just kind of know when it’s time to stop. Of course, if you’re working for a client, it’s time to stop when they say it’s time to stop!

 

James White - http://www.signalnoise.com

I see my artwork as one big organic process. If I like elements and methods I developed in previous pieces, I am prone to re-use them again in a different way for a new work. Art is constant exploration, so in a way I am never finished my work. However, when I feel an individual design is going well the best thing to do is close it and step away for a while. I let my eyes rest for an hour or so. When I return to look at it again errors and inconsistancies tend to be very obvious. In the end, if I can look at a piece of my art the next day and it still looks okay, then I’m on the right track. Everyone has to think about their personal workflow to find the proper balance of achieving your goal with a given idea, while not overworking it at the same time.

 

Justin Maller - http://www.superlover.com.au

I know a piece is finished when I set it as my wallpaper and don’t notice any flaws.

 

Guilherme Marconi - http://brain.marconi.nu/

I always ask myself the same thing, like if it has met my expectations.

It’s done when I let my feelings tell me if everything is OK. I use the same thing to choose colors, where to add shadows, and the most important, if the process to get to that point was pleasant and satisfactory. That for me is more important than the end result, and for me, it’s done. Then it’s just save it and show to my fiance, my main critics.

 

Collis Ta’eed - http://eden.cc, http://collistaeed.com/

“I know a design is finished when every time I add something or adjust something it seems to get worse. I often create a set of history snapshots of the design trying different things - additions or small alterations - and then show them to my wife - who is also a designer. When we both agree that the original is already complete then I delete the snapshots and stop there. Of course sometimes adding one more element can lead you down a whole other path of design, and I have wound up totally reworking a look. But that’s the joy of design, there are always many solutions to a problem!”

 

Alberto Seveso - http://www.recycledarea.co.uk

well.. i don’t know! I’m never sure when a piece is ended or it seems good, I try and risk, but I have a small secret to say, I never look the illustration of forehead when I believe is ready, I tilt my head of 45° on my left side and I look the monitor, if I like from this
position I consider done.

 

Phil Dunne - http://www.lovetherobot.com

As Andy Warhol once said about art, ‘If you don’t think about it, it’s right.’ When I start to get goosebumps while I’m working on an illustration, it feels right. That’s when I know it’s time to stop.

 

Erik Finsrud - http://www.thenorik.com

My work is normally never finalized till I’ve received feedback from my peers, they will always see something in a way I haven’t. I enjoy involving others in my process.

 

James Wignall - http://www.mutanthands.com

When the deadline is met.

 

taken from abduzeedo.com

 

 

Desktop wallpapers can serve as an excellent source of inspiration. However, if you use some specific wallpaper for a long period of time, it becomes harder to draw inspiration out of it. That’s why we have decided to supply you with smashing wallpapers over 12 months.

And to make them a little bit more distinctive from the usual crowd, we’ve decided to embed calendars for the upcoming month. So if you need to look up some date, isn’t it better to show off a nice wallpaper with a nice calendar instead of launching some default time application?

This post features 15 free desktop wallpapers, designed by 15 designers across the globe. Both versions with a calendar and without a calendar can be downloaded for free.

Please notice:

• all images can be clicked and lead to the preview of the wallpaper;
• you can feature your work in our magazine by taking part in our desktop wallpaper calendar series. We are regularly looking for creative designers and artists to be featured on Smashing Magazine. Are you one of them?

So what wallpapers have we received for May?

Whale

Available in 12 desktop resolutions — both widescreen and fullscreen. Designed by Vlad Gerasimov from Irkutsk, Russia.

• preview (0.1 Mb, jpg)
• with calendar:
  800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×1024 , 1280×800, 1280×960 , 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1600
• without calendar:
  800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×1024 , 1280×800, 1280×960 , 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1600

Stay Creative

“The wallpaper is an illustration based on this Picasso quote: “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up”. In the illustration, the adult is looking through the wall at his creativity from childhood trying to get it back.” Designed by Tim Newton from USA.

• preview (0.1 Mb, jpg)
• with calendar: 1280×960, 1680×1050, 1600×1200, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1280×960, 1680×1050, 1600×1200, 1920×1200

Tribute

“This design is a personal interpretation of June in Macedonia: beautiful sunny days, red poppy fields and Nikola Madzirov’s poetry. A personal tribute to all the beauty in this world. Girl image inspired by Banksy.” Designed by Meri Donevska-Kosturanova from Macedonia.

• preview (0.5 Mb, jpg)
• with calendar: 1280×960, 1680×1050, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Beginning of madness

“When I thought what was inspiring me in May, the mind filled me with flowers, and when I wanted to do the calendar of June I saw it quite full of boil, quite green. Then I found a tutorial in “psd tuts” that helped me to fulfil the wallpaper. The motive of the phrase that it accompanies is the feeling euphoria that transmits me this month.” Designed by Alba Soler from Spain.

• preview (0.1 Mb, jpg)
• with calendar: 1680×1050, 1600×1200, 1920×1200

Eternal Sunshine

“Designed completely in Photoshop. My idea to this timetable was based on the prophecy and Maya, all that power and magic secret that there are only in the pyramids in Mexico.” Designed by Miguel Angel Lozada from Mexico.

• preview (0.2 Mb, jpg)
• with calendar: 1200×900, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

You Slag

“Looking forward to another hectic summer in Brighton…” Designed by Mark Hurrell.

• preview (0.1 Mb, jpg)
• with calendar: 1200×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Rhino

“I suppose that I got influenced by the works of Scott Hansen. I just love the retro feel in his designs. Furthermore I used brushes which were meant to emulate the effects of James White. I wanted to have these different sections which form an entity, sort of like when you look through a window and the frame is hiding parts of what is behind. The origami rhinoceros was the last element I inserted and finally gave rise to the title.

The final design is not what I had sketched out but it never is for me. I need a basic idea and then just play around until I’m happy with it.” Designed by Franz Jeitz from Luxembourg.

• preview (0.2 Mb, jpg)
• with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Nec scire fas est omnia

“It is impossible to know everything” horaz - well true, but not to worry as I learned in life and business, it is better to know a lot of educated people from different disciplines, then you’ll know a lot yourself. And in the end, there is always Google and Wikipedia.” Designed by Dirk Worring from Krefeld, Germany.

• preview (0.2 Mb, jpg)
• with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Daydream

“I love daydream, when I fall in the daydream,everything is strange, it’s a surrealistic world. Everything has their own soul and live in the unique way, no pain, no goal, just enjoy the imagination.” Designed by Dan Chetao.

• preview (0.1 Mb, jpg)
• with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Umbrella

“Umbrella, sky, lights…..and the girl is so pretty!” Designed by Cléo Morgause from Brazil.

• preview (0.15 Mb, jpg)
• with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Retro Summer

“Well, June it is the month where the summer starts, and when i think in Summer, i think about California and the Beach Boys, and when i think in that, i start to think about retro stuff, and then retro design!” Designed by Bleed from Mexico.

• preview (0.4 Mb, jpg)
• with calendar: 1280×960, 1680×1050, 1600×1200, 1920×1200

The DJ

“The wallpaper isn’t created only for DJ-fans or people who’ve seen DJ’s at work. The wallpaper can really give a warm feeling to everyones desktop. And after all, aren’t we all DJ’s of our lives?” Designed by Vincent Vander Cruyssen from Belgium.

• with calendar: 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

June Bug

“This inspiration came when we heard that the Cicadas are coming again this summer. And although not of the cicada family, Junebugs can be nearly as annoyingly creepy. The design incorporate a visual pun on the back of the ‘creature’, as well as a near subliminal ghoul face up above within the darkness.” Designed by Michael Langham.

• preview (0.26 Mb, jpg)
• with calendar: 1200×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1900×1200
• without calendar: 1200×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1900×1200

Date and Time

Designed by Grikshmi Manandhar from Nepal.

• preview (0.1 Mb, jpg)
• with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

TAKEN FROM www.smashingmagazine.com

Our Amazing Food Art post was very popular and received a lot of great feedback. Therefore, we decided to write another post showcasing food art. This time, we are featuring Incredible Sushi Art:

 

Japanese Sushi Sunflowers

Japanese sushi chef and show off, Ken Kawasumi, opted to recreate Van Gogh’s Sunflowers with sushi. [tokyotimes]

Sushi Art Collection

I Love Sushi ! You Love Sushi ! We love Sushi !!! [flickr]

More Sushi Art

TAKEN FROM www.toxel.com

click above image to view 28 pics of the 2008 BMW M3 Sedan

We’ve been waiting a long time for BMW to snap out of its haze and bring us a four-door version of the venerable M3 coupe. That time has officially come. And it turns out the leaked photo from earlier today was probably from BMW itself, as even though it wasn’t included in the official batch of images released tonight, it’s the same car you’re looking at here.

On the outside, the M3 sedan gets plenty of work done to its front and rear fascias, leaving everything between the A-pillar and C-pillar intact from the base 3-Series sedan (sorry, no carbon fiber roof for the sedan). The front end is a complete carryover from the M3 coupe, with wide fenders, a dramatic front clip, bulging hood and vented quarter panels. Out back, a small lip spoiler sits atop the trunk, while M-specific quad pipes let Bimmer cognoscenti know that they’re behind something special.

Naturally, the M3 sedan benefits from BMW’s new 414 (SAE) HP 4.0L V8, allowing the 3,531-pound four-door to reach 60 MPH in 4.9 seconds and on to an electronically limited top speed of 155 MPH. In a move that should make family-oriented speed freaks burst into tears, BMW will only be offering a six-speed manual version at launch. Although, according to previous reports, BMW’s dual-clutch M-DCT gearbox should be available at a later date. The chassis, suspension and interior also benefit from a host of upgrades, all available to read about in the press release after the jump and view in our gallery below. Look for the M3 sedan to debut in Los Angeles next month.
TAKEN FROM www.autoblog.com

Here’s a REALLY big craft project… make your own life sized Jabba the Hutt!

Behind the cut you’ll see how a few of us made a full sized Jabba out of supplies from discount and hardware stores.

The supplies were pretty basic:

• 3/4″ inside diameter semi-rigid irrigation tubing. This is the stuff you would bury in your lawn for sprinklers. This was around $30 for 50′, and we ended up using a LOT more than we thought… almost the whole role!
• 1″ thick foam padding used for mattresses. This came from a discount store (Building 19). We ended up using 5 or 6 queen sized mattress sheets. It was around $20 a sheet
• A smaller amount of 2″ and 1/2″ foam. 2″ for the lower body and 1/2″ for the features
• LOTS of hot glue. TONS of it… probably 6 big bags of the 12″ sticks from a hardware store
• The skin is “Jet Set” from Joann fabrics. Basically non shiny spandex. I think we used 20 yards of it. Yay for 1/2 off coupons!
• 3M 77 spray adhesive. This is how the skin sticks to the foam. We used 4 cans.
• Clear plastic bowls for the eyes. We painted the insides of the bowls, so the outside shiny. This is a little tricky, but I’ll get into that later.
• Paint. All sorts of stuff! The base coat was 1 gallon of ugly yellow house paint. We thinned it out a LOT (2 parts water to 1 part paint) and sprayed it onto him with a pump sprayer used for lawn chemicals. Not so good for the sprayer (or my driveway!), but it did the trick.
• Assorted lengths of PVC pipe. These are used for the arms, the tail, and whatever else seems good at the time.

OK, enough words, let’s get some pictures!

This is Jabba’s skeleton. We took the irrigation tubing and bent it into a ship’s hull type shape. It is cross braced and screwed together to hold that shape, since this type of tubing will eventually revert back to a straighter position.

The 2″ foam was screwed to the pipe all around. This makes up Jabba’s lower body. We left one side open, where the tail will join.

We made a tent like support for the head. 2 lengths of tube bent to arches and screwed together. We used a few 8″ lenghts of PVC to act as couplers between the lower frame and the upper, so that the tent supports can drop in. You can see that here:

Next is his head. We took a sheet of foam and just threw it over the head supports, then drew lines on it with a sharpie where it looked like it should be cut. We then hot glued the edges of the foam together to form the basic shape. The tail was made the same way… just take the sheet, twist and turn it til it looked good, then cut and glue.

Then a piece of foam was added in to one side to fill out the rest of the armpit area:

A quick slash with a knife, and Jabba was ready for a snack!

Mark, the main creative force behind the construction techniques and detailing, spent the evening working on feature buildup. He took the thinner foam and cut it to shape, then hot glued it where it was needed.

At this point we wanted to make sure that the skinning process was going to work so we jumped ahead to that part of things and skinned the tail:

The skin was done by coating the foam in spray adhesive then placing the fabric down on it, folding the fabric the way that Jabba’s skin is folded.

After the first round of skinning, we made the right arm. Same deal, cutting foam and hot gluing it together.

We then skinned the upper body, same way as the tail. The arms are held to the body via long strips of fabric glued to the body and the arm. The stretchy fabric lets the arms move freely.

Next came the painting. This part was fun. We went to Home Depot to get some paint. We picked up a gallon of house paint that looked like a good Jabba color. I used a chemical sprayer from my garage to layer it down. We thinned it out 2:1 water:paint, and it went on evenly and fast!

Now to the eyes. We used plastic bowls for the eyes, painting the insides. This is a confusing way to paint. Normally, if you want a red surface with a yellow line on it, you would paint the thing red, then put the yellow on top. When you are painting inside a clear surface, you put the yellow first, then the red. So it took a bit of mapping out colors to get it right.

And there they are. We made sure to get the lopsided eyes that Jabba often has.

The detail painting was done via airbrush, and really brought out his features:

The last detail was the mouth. It is really simple… a pink cloth bag sewn up and glued to the inside of his mouth, then airbrushed to tone down the colors a bit. A slit was cut in the bottom of the bag, and the tongue was glued in. The tongue is a piece of 1/2″ foam with the fabric spray glued to it The fabric wraps around and is glued together underneath. This lets you reach into the tongue from the inside to move it.

Which brings us to his big debut:

2 people inside. One working the arms and mouth, and another in the tail, working the Salacious Crumb puppet (through a slit in the tail)

TAKEN FROM community.livejournal.com