SAM AQUILLANO - INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER

GreenSled Competition.

This past weekend I was up in Plymouth, NH for the IDSA Boston/Radius PD GreenSled competition. That's me judging the competition. It was a beautiful day for sledding and we had a lot of creative and green sleds show up to compete. Tenney Mountain, graciously gave us exclusive use of their tubing hill. Here's the press release:

The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) Boston hosted their first ever Green Sled Design Challenge 09, a contest that required participants to think, design and build a green sled made of 90 percent recycled materials.

For prizes, the Greenest Award went to team Epic from Ecovative Design for their recycled cardboard sled. Radius took the Best Aesthetic Award with its ironing board sled. Best Overall was awarded to team Dwight Ideas (a Mass Art student team) for a design that combined recycled skis and bicycle parts to create a unique and high performance sled.

Other entries consisted of sleds made of recycled/reused soda bottles, mailing tubes, tree limbs and chairs, among other things. The Co-sponsors were extremely pleased with the results. "The eco-benefit, industry support, and great turnout have us planning a 2nd annual Green event next year" - said Mario Gonzalez, Event Organizer and Designer at Radius Product Development - "It's a good way to keep everyone thinking green while having fun doing it."

Thanks to Radius (especially Mario) for putting together such an awesome event and thanks to all the talented designers who entered sleds. We DEFINITELY need to make this an annual event, mostly because I want to build a sled next year! Below is the winning team (MassArt students), this thing FLEW! They won a Hammerhead Sled and we all got to try it out, so fast, so awesome. For more pics check out the post on Core77.

Done Manifesto.

If you know me, you know I'm all about getting things done (except when it comes to actually finishing the book: Getting Things Done). That's why I was psyched to see the Cult of Done Manifesto:

The Cult of Done Manifesto

1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
3. There is no editing stage.
4. Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it.
5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
7. Once you're done you can throw it away.
8. Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done.
9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
11. Destruction is a variant of done.
12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.
13. Done is the engine of more.

Awesome. Follow these and you'll be finishing tasks like it's your job (it is). There are also two excellent illustrations showing the manifesto visually, I absolutely LOVE the Rubix Cube poster. LOVE IT!

Periodic Table of Form.

Great article on Core77: The Perodic Table of Form: The secret language of surface and meaning in product design. Gray Holland describes how we think about and perceive form based on the form language we grew up with as a species: nature's form language.

I love how his thesis relates natural evolutionary form language back to CAD: the modern, man-made way of defining surfaces and form:

If there is an empirical meaning behind form then, how does it manifest across the natural and into the man-made world? Going further with this notion, let's deconstruct the meaning of form naturally, and then distill that meaning into some simplified geometric categories technically. In order to define these categories, I will ironically employ a three-level definition of surface continuity from the engineering CAD lexicon: Positional, Tangential, and Curvature continuities.

Natural G0 or positional tangent forms in nature (rocks, crystals, porcupine spikes) communicate precision or even danger, just as they do in the man-made environment. The opposite is true for G2 or curvature tangent forms (flowers, dolphins, even humans are G2!), which communicate elegance and gives G2 objects an alluring quality. In the middle is G1, which is a completely man-made form of tangency, a product of machining and production processes; it does not exist in nature and therefore communicates human functionality/practicality. Holland gives fantastic examples here.

If you have no idea what the difference between G0,1, or 2 is then read the article! It's full of great info-graphics and explanations. I think designers take a lot of this for granted, so it was nice to read something so well written about how we think about and work with surfaces to create forms that communicate to users. Over the last couple days it has made me think a lot more about those decisions I make in CAD.

You can download a PDF of The Periodic Table of Form and print it large, I did! It has stimulated a ton of conversation in my studio.

It's been a while.

I haven't posted in almost 5 months. I've been busy! Here's what I've been up to in a stream of consciousness:

I stopped using a case on my iphone, and realized: wow! I have an iphone! I played indoor soccer, I scored 4 goals last season! I've been listening to Theresa Anderson, Bon Iver. I signed up for eHarmony after going to Conor's band's show, alone. And wow: I met someone on eHarmony! Nicole, she's awesome. She runs, she's a potter, and likes my cooking. She's training for the Boston Marathon, she qualified. I'm training for a half marathon in Maine. We run together, well I try to keep up.

I've been listening to Kings of Leon, Shiny Toy Guns, Black Kids, Broken Social Scene and The Airborne Toxic Event. I read the Twilight series, all 4 books, and The Road. I ran the Boston Half Marathon and beat last year's time even though I had just run the Erie full marathon (thanks Cory and Neil!).

My family and I went to NYC for thanksgiving and lived it up with Shawn Kittleson. Christmas was awesome, I met Nicole's family in Pittsburgh and she survived an Erie Christmas at Aunt Kelly's and cousin's night out... so. many. shots. She didn't even run away when my brother started dancing on top of the table at the Plymouth. Nicole and I had a fantastic New Years...

She took me to the Boston Symphony Orchestra twice! And I absolutely loved it, I can't wait to go again. I started teaching again at Wentworth: senior consumer electronic design studio. It works out well since Nicole takes ceramics classes at night, across the street at MassArt. We went to Vermont for her birthday, we snow shoed around Abe Lincoln's oldest son's summer home and cross-country skied too.

I took her to Northampton, Mass for Valentines day and she took me on a cruise! We sailed from Ft. Lauderdale, FL to Key West, Grand Cayman and Jamaica. We got sufficiently sunburned and stuffed. We're back now into our routine... and I'm listening to Lal Meri and Carmen Rizzo. Reading Dune, again, I love it so much. Perhaps I'll read the whole series. Anyway, you're all caught up now.

Obama.

My sister said it best: I am so happy.  : )

Iron Man Costume.

That's me. This Halloween I decided I would pull a Tony Stark and build my very own Mark III. It all started when I was chatting with Karalynn online, we started talking about Iron Man (my new favorite movie, sorry Fifth Element...), then we got onto the subject of hair dyeing (I had a weird tendency to dye my hair different colors in college: blue, red, green, red and green spots, you name it). She wanted to see a pic. While digging through some hard copies of photos from college I came across a photo from freshmen year... 

That year all the art and design majors had to take foundation classes including 3D design. My professor was Steve Loar, the bristol board master. He proceeded to put my class through Jedi x-acto blade training. We had to build a paper costume and I made a knight (check out that sword!!!). Side-note: that costume was featured in that quarter's design show in the RIT art building, I even made a corrugated-cardboard version of me to wear it.

Anyway, I hadn't planned on dressing up this year, but eventually Karalynn asked me what I was going to be for Halloween, and it hit me. Iron Man. In a rush I knew exactly how I was going to do it. I documented the entire process with the slideshow below. (Oh... note the mustache, that was for a different costume, I went to a party as my Dad, Sam Sr., more on that later.)

I began by sketching the patterns... 

Sneak Peek 2.

Yes... This. Is. Happening.

Sneak Peek.

30 Reasons.

There are 18 days till the election and countless reasons why this country needs a change in direction. My pals Julia and Chris are curating 30reasons.org, from the website:

30 Reasons is a 30-day email and internet campaign to encourage people to vote for Barack Obama. Our goal is simple: Use design to build a logical, multi-faceted argument for Obama and make it easy to share each reason with another person.

We enlisted 30 graphic designers to create a poster that represents a reason to vote for Obama. Starting on the October 5th, we will post a new poster online every day and email it to our list. Recipients can easily share the email with other supporters and friends who are undecided.

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These posters are excellent. Sign up (and sign up your friends) to receive a poster email everyday till the election. And don’t forget to vote, no matter who you’re voting for.

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Boatyard Resin.

Check out my friend Conor’s band: Boatyard Resin. They’re an awesome local jam band. If you have the chance, you should definitely catch them live. Above: an iPhone pic from their last show at the The Church in Boston (that's Conor in the middle).

Twitterific.

I’m on Twitter now! Follow my life: one inane post at a time.

It wasn’t until I got the iPhone that I realized how awesome Twitter is. Nothing beats waiting in line at the grocery store and reading about what your friends are doing.

Crushtoberfest.

We’re halfway through Crushtoberfest. What’s Crushtoberfest? It’s sort of hard to explain. What do you get when you put together a group of designers with too much creativity, too much time on their hands and too many resources at their disposal? Crushtoberfest, that’s what. I wish I could point to one person or event that spurred this on but I can’t. Like any great idea it grew organically and collaboratively. Have I built it up enough yet?

I think it stared one day at break (we have afternoon break, everyone goes to the cafeteria together at 3pm, it’s spectacular). No, it started with my pal Shawn. He recently started here and brought with him a love for strong-man competitions (it all comes together in the end, trust me). Him and his brother-in-law had started grip-strength training on these hand grippers manufactured by the aptly named: Captains of Crush. It’s basically two handles with a spring between that you try to close by gripping or ‘crushing’ it. There’s a whole set starting at Guide (60 lbs. of force to close) and going all the way to No. 4 (365 lbs. to close, impossible). This video will help explain things. Shawn brought one in to show us.

Raine Maida.

I’ve listened to Our Lady Peace my whole life. I like them because they rock about the future. I mean, their first big hit was Starseed, um, hello, space? That shit is awesome. And their Spiritual Machines disc (my fav) is a concept album based on Ray Kurzweil’s book The Age of Spiritual Machines which contains narration throughout from Kurzweil himself. There’s even a hidden track after The Wonderful Future where Kurzweil communicates with “Molly” a robot from 2099. I mean come on. : )

I’ve seen them a bunch of times. Raine Maida, their lead singer, is the most overly dramatic lead man I’ve ever witnessed. At one show the lights came up and he just stood there staring at the ground for about 15 minutes while the band slowly built up the first song (it was fantastic, although we did wonder if he’d ever start up). On the flip side I’ve seen him climb a 15 foot tower of speakers and leap into the crowd (we caught him). Sidenote, same show, a young girl tried to jump as well, this time from the balcony, no one caught her, yikes.

He’s a drama queen, just look at that pic, but I love him and his music. So I was psyched to learn he has a solo album, The Hunters Lullaby. If you’re an OLP fan it’s definitely worth a listen. It’s not as angry-but-hopeful-futuristic-alternative as his OLP work, it’s slightly softer but still a little bad ass.

I hear a new OLP studio album is in the works as well, can’t wait.

PostGig.

Last week I went to a great AIGA event at the Fort Point Arts Community Gallery galled POSTGIG - A Compilation of Music Posters. What a nice little gallery and great work too. It ranged from the super simple to the way out there, I guess that’s the beauty of music posters, you can get away with doing anything. I get so focused on putting on IDSA events I sometimes forget there is a huge design community out there with AIGA. I definitely plan on going to more of their events. Unfortuntaly, POSTGIG is over but you can check out the book, make sure to click “Look Inside.”

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Fort Point is a great little area, in fact I want to check out the Fort Point Arts Community Open Studios event, Oct. 18-19. From the site:

"Since 1978, Fort Point artists have opened their studios to the public during the third weekend in October. Open Studios events attract about 10,000 visitors to our neighborhood, offering the public a rare glimpse into the living and working spaces of artists, while providing a valuable opportunity for artists to sell their work."

Anyone want to go?

Erie Marathon.

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Well that’s two down. Twenty weeks of training all led up to marathon number two in Erie, PA. Local boy makes good. I drove to Erie from Boston on Friday morning, so I could relax for a day or so before the race. Eight hours in the car does a number on your legs. When my friend John (professional cyclist/UI designer) mentioned to me that when they drove to races they would get out of the car every few hours to ride, I laughed.

The weather in Erie when I arrived was perfect for running. We should have run the race on Friday or Saturday: 60s, overcast, and a light rain. I was excited, particularly because I felt great. I felt rested almost to the point where I was wondering whether I was actually ready. I’m told that’s the right place to be, that’s the point of the taper: to let your body fully recover from 20 weeks of constant running. I was totally healthy and injury free, unlike last year. Let’s just say I was (over) confident.

I was so lucky that both my Mom and Dad flew to Erie to see and support me. Wendy stocked the fridge with everything I wanted and made me pasta both nights before the race. It was really comforting and calming to have them there and see the rest of my family in Erie. Dad took me to get a haircut Saturday morning, you know, to decrease wind-resistance. Saturday night my grandparents, aunts and uncles all came over. Wendy made a big meal. Having them there took my mind off the imminent 26.2 mile run.