So. This is quite the venture. A group of individuals set out to create an app that achieves a visceral quality in photos… something that Instagram can’t always achieve perfectly (not to say this is a perfect solution either). Rather than recreating a retro effect with software, InstaCRT actually uses the aging titular tech to achieve its goals.

The concept is simple. You take a photo on your iPhone using the InstaCRT app. You upload that photo to a developer. This developer displays your image on a 1 inch CRT in a defined space (office or otherwise). A picture of the photo is then taken with a DSLR, and sent back to your iPhone.

The results are really nice. The scanlines are genuine, the distortion doesn’t follow any equation, and the look and feel are pretty spot on. It results in a standard that many other apps are striving for.

However, it has to be equally as inefficient. The more people begin to use the app, the more time is needed to deliver a result. So what if this app soars? Would it take days, maybe weeks to get an image sent back to you? Is there a better way to streamline this process? There are plenty of possibilities, as well as many conflicts begging to be solved. But nevertheless, the idea is nice, and the effort is present. The results could potentially be fantastic.

You can currently buy InstaCRT in the app store for $1.99.

The mouse and keyboard have been essential parts of the computing experience for years now. Touch technology has further progressed our interaction with computer experiences. Now, Leap wants to bring us beyond both. This product represents an entirely new way to interact with computers. Leap Motion claims to be more accurate than a mouse, more reliable than a keyboard, and more sensitive than a touchscreen.

We now can officially control a computer in three dimensions with natural hand movements.

In fact, the technology behind this product can distinguish your individual fingers and track your movements down to 1/100th of a millimeter – an incredibly precise scale. Do we even need an instruction manual to use our hands?

Pre-order LEAP Motion here: http://live.leapmotion.com/pre-order-the-leap/

Electronic (and EDM) music fans might be familiar with the Nordik Impakt festival, and if they are, then they’re most likely familiar with latest promotional and packaging materials related to the event. Murmure agency had the pleasure of developing the most recent conceptual products for the invitations. They’re obviously based around electronic music and, more interestingly, phosphorescence.

Murmure created posters and invitation cards which extend beyond the typical graphic approach, and reveal an electronic spirit when the lights go out. The innovative design makes for electro-phosphorescent glasses that are light weight and applicable to just about any environment as they’re made out of paper. The aesthetic itself is very futuristic and “technologic” – a familiar vibe for us EDM fans. Murmure has done a pleasant job of accentuating a taste of culture surrounding this genre of music, in a simple, precise manner.

There are plenty of impressive industrial designers and product visionaries out there. René Lee happens to be one who’s portfolio is filled with tech specific wonder. One of the most intriguing pieces, however, is the Bean. It’s actually a simple device: a mouse. It’s attention to ergonomics and universal behavior are what sets it apart.

Bean is essentially a mouse device containing only one touch sensitive bottom that clicks both edges. Its shape is symmetrical, making for easy use no matter what your primary hand is. The hot areas for clicking, scrolling, etc are all familiar and structured off the common layout. At the very least, it looks pretty beautiful…

So what’s this new beautiful vehicle? It’s called the Ecco. It’s an all-electric vehicle, with no emissions of its own, and can be quickly charged at a standard 240V station. This vehicle is also used for extended living purposes – its built-in photovotaic panels and solar sail roof means it can charge completely from the sun. That’s pretty awesome.

I bring to you some concept art today from Julien Famchon. I haven’t featured any vehicular design in a while, so this ought to fill the need. This concept is both decently realistic in terms of potentially existing in our everyday world, as well as visually appealing as a piece of art. The colors are beautiful and the idea behind the deck monitor is really awesome – the ‘shards’ of material creating the deck form.

Maybe it’s Tron inspired, or maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s possible, or maybe it’s not. Aside from the immediate speculation that comes with this concept, TriMove is presented as a concept of the future, representing an achievement mechanically and visually. We’ve seen three wheel vehicles but they all tend to be a conglomerate of the newest car and the newest bike, noticeably showcasing a lack for meshing elements of each portion seamlessly (at least in the visual sense). But not anymore. The three wheeled TriMove has the agility and aerodynamic styling you’d expect from a motorbike alone. It’s three wheels provide balance both when standing still and when on the move. Also, its three disc braking system means it would require less braking space, potentially resulting in higher standard safety without sacrificing the ‘cool’ factor associated with today’s sporty motorbikes. I suppose the only remaining important question would be, how comfortable is this thing?

Following the minimalist style we all expect from Apple, designer Bostjan Majcen has envisioned a docking solution that repeats the MacBook Pro’s ports but in a different direction, temporarily solving the conflict of all ports being on the same side.

In September of 2007, I chose to engage in a four year art program at the University at Buffalo’s Department of Visual Studies. My hope was that my interest in graphic design would lead me on a path far from the arid and repetitive routine of large text books and long lectures that had plagued my freshman year of college. In May of 2010 I graduated from this program with a B.F.A. in Communication Design, a solid network of professional contacts, and a portfolio constructed well enough to immediately land me my first job in the design industry. After repeatedly being told how hard it was going to be to obtain a job as a designer in such a competitive field, I couldn’t help but conclude that it was clearly luck which got me to that first day of working as a professional.

I’ve now been working for six months and I can already safely say I am better off because of my education than I would have been without it. But not for the reasons you may think. I was not taught how to master Photoshop or Illustrator. I was not taught how to compose a piece of work a specific way in order for it to be most effective. I was not taught how to communicate with a client or even meet anyone’s needs other than those of my own. In fact, I hadn’t even designed a website before this past summer. I reassessed my previous assumption and found that I actually started off on the right foot because of one thing: Self-confidence. It’s this single, consistent factor that has led me to a great beginning in my professional career, and I have my professors to thank for igniting it.

Throughout my three years of study, I found the lack of self-confidence in design students to be shocking so I made it a point to always find the positive in everything I worked on. But just like everything else related to art and design, I believe self-confidence is best self-taught. With that said, I decided to begin to assess how I went about gaining self-confidence.

Write Everything Down

Benjamin Van Dyke was the very first professor who made a profound impact on my mindset as a designer. One of the many things he stressed was writing. He forced us to begin writing everything down. All our thoughts, concepts, observations, rants, and sketches were to be recorded and archived in whatever written form we desired. I found writing to be an organized method of legitimizing the insanity that constantly floated throughout my head. I’m not saying I’m insane, but I would generally have hundreds of ideas which I wanted to put into visual form that I just couldn’t keep track of.

Writing was the answer. It allows you to make sense of what you’re subconsciously absorbing during your day. Even more important, it allows you to revisit your thoughts and apply them when needed, specifically when trying to make sense of something that you previously didn’t understand. I feel writing will only help you grow as a designer. It’s the first step in training yourself to make predictions, statements, conclusions, and connections pertaining to your thoughts, the ideas that are unique to you. Once you have a greater understanding of your ideas, you’ll begin to enforce them, and naturally become confident in them.

Take More Than You Can Give

In my experience, design students tend to steer clear of criticism when they can. I feel as young designers we do this not because we lack the ability to create great work but because we lack self-confidence. As you build your ideas and gain more knowledge, do not hesitate to apply your intelligence by giving respectful criticism to your peers. Try your hardest to give constructive criticism. This will not only help your peers with their creative processes but it will make them recognize the fact that you have something to say and you’re not afraid to say it. It will undoubtedly lead to their appreciation for you, so long as your criticism is indeed constructive, and result in a natural boost in your self-confidence. However, always be willing to take more criticism than you give. Listen to what others have to say, no matter how appropriate you may think their comments are.

We as designers seek reactions to the messages we create. Taking criticism will help you refine your creative process so that you can better achieve the results desired in future projects. It will also allow you to build ‘thick skin’ which can come in handy as you will always receive negativity from someone regarding your work. As you become more comfortable with criticism, you will become more comfortable experimenting with design and explaining your results. This is a necessary step in building your self-confidence, and a huge attribute to have when searching for a job or dealing with clients.

Have a Reason…For Everything

While in college, I found that too many design students anchored themselves on the idea that if they created something that looked awesome, it would automatically be deemed successful. I learned not to simply create things that look good. I found that in order for my work to be successful I needed to have a reason behind every decision I made. Once you create something with reason AND it’s beautiful, then you’re chances of success are greatest.

You must keep in mind that people tend to interact with things that are aesthetically pleasing. However, more often than not, pieces of work that are aesthetically pleasing are only so because the piece of work has already served its purpose in such a naturalized way that we didn’t even notice it working its magic. (This notion is extremely important in UX design.) Having reasons for your decisions will inevitably lead to you creating better work and a better portfolio. A better portfolio equals higher self-confidence.

Sacrifice

There are two things design students fail to realize, and they’ll probably be hard for some of you to stomach. One is that you actually have more free time now than you will in a few years. Secondly, letter grades and grade point averages really don’t mean anything in the design industry.

It’s important to sacrifice certain aspects of college life when necessary in order to attain short term goals relating to your creative process. Take the necessary time needed to meet the requirements for your assigned projects. But make sure you take the extra time you have to find ways to push those projects in directions no one else will. Step outside the area of what is expected and sacrifice a weekend or two to finding a way to make a project unexpected, surprising, or simply ridiculous. Once you’ve done this, you will feel better about your work, knowing you pushed yourself to a boundary you previously were unfamiliar with.

Next, don’t worry about the grade you receive on a project. If you’re passionate about design, and you put your heart into proving something through your work, it will be noticed as a success by some regardless of the grade received. Letter grades are simply scare tactics made to limit you to the standards set by that particular institution’s education system. They’re in effect to make sure you abide by rules. Breaking the rules makes way for innovation. Creating something unique requires the actualization of something never done before. I’m certainly not recommending you completely disregard your grade point average, but what I believe is that it’s easy for everyone to fulfill a project’s requirements by incorporating what is deemed necessary by a letter grade and nothing more. I encourage you to go beyond what is necessary and what is expected of you. Do this and I can assure you it will end with a satisfying letter grade and, more importantly, a heightened sense of self-confidence.

Always Have Goals

If you don’t have a vision of where you want to be in five years, get one. Every designer has a dream of being the best at what he or she does. But to achieve that dream you have to first set goals.

Start now while you’re young. Tell yourself that you’re going to create a beautiful portfolio by the end of the semester. When the end of the semester rolls around, tell yourself that you’re going to have a job by the end of the summer doing what you love to do. When you have that job, tell yourself that you’re going to master typography, etc. All of this may sound strange, as if you’re faking yourself into believing everything is going to be alright. The advantage to making you actually believe in yourself is that you loosen up mentally. Just like an athlete, it’s important for a designer to stay loose. This means banishing worry from your mind so that you can focus on what your imagination is telling you. Believing in yourself will allow you to manage the stress that comes with being a designer. Believing in yourself is important, it’s essentially the most prominent factor in acquiring self-confidence.

Self-Confidence Can Lead To Success

If you’re able to build self-confidence as a design student, you’ll be one step closer to being able to comfortably master whatever it is you desire in life. Confidence leads to better artwork and in turn will lead you to a better portfolio. One thing they do teach you in school is that a better portfolio will certainly give you an increased chance at making a mark in the creative community. And that’s something no designer will argue.

I was going to feature these pieces yesterday but opted not to. Because I caught myself staring at them again for a half hour today, it only makes sense to showcase a preview of Ben Collette’s recent iPhone casings. These are simply beautiful. Under the name Lazerwood, Collette has begun experimenting with veneer, water based varnish, laser etching and more in an effort to produce wonderfully sculpted cases for the iPhone 4.