Local artist Josh Chadwick entered Cadence Watch Company’s Design Philadelphia contest, and well, he won. And with good cause. Check out the description, via Cadance’s website.

“The watch is a classical blend of a digital and an analog watch. The face of the watch has a modern digital display while still functioning like a traditional analog watch. The informational display in the center of the watch provides additional information (date, day of the week, AM/PM) with the option to switch the AM/PM to a second counter. The theme of this watch creates a dialog between characteristics of classical and nontraditional watches to create an elegant, sophisticated, sharp and youthful design.”

The watch ships out in September, and if you reserve one on Cadence’s website, you can get the watch for the introductory price of $119. Nice!

For more info on Cadence, check out their site. And be sure to scope out Josh’s portfolio! He’s done some good stuff.

If you live in Philly and have been looking for art classes that focus on making comics, you may be in luck with Pterodactyl Philadelphia. Beginning with their Spring 2010 session, you can take their “Making Comics From Idea to Print” course, as well as many other classes ranging from the basics of sewing, to animal sculpture. The comics class will be taught by Pat Aulisio whose work you can view here. Now these classes are scheduled to start April 12th beginning at 6:00pm and ending at 8:00pm.  Some additional information below:

In this course students will learn how to write, draw, and self publish their own mini comic. Students will create their own characters and story to illustrate in different dynamic comic book techniques . At the end of the course all comics will be collected into a class anthology.  Aside from the basics writing and drawing skills for comics there will be daily drawings games to pique the interests of the students like comic jams, drawing from a written description, and parody comics. Guest comic  creators will make appearances talking about individual techniques and comic skills. Students will also learn various comic book formats that will fit to each students personal choice, as well as different folding and bookmaking techniques for their final product.

Check out the Pterodactyl site for any additional info on course fees, cost of materials, or to find contact information if you have any additional questions.

On Saturday tomorrow, our buddies at The Hacktory are hosting an electronic jewelery workshop, giving you the chance to make unique gifts for your friends and family, while simultaneously saving the planet. Well, a little bit, at least. You’re not going Captain Planet on us or anything. Just recycling used, retro electronic components.

You’ll learn basics in jewelry making, assembly skills, how to identify materials for future projects, and how to use a soldering and glue gun. The class will only run you $20, which includes all the supplies and materials needed to create your jewelery. The class takes place from 1PM to 5pm at the Hacktory’s space in the Nonprofit Technology Resources building.

For more details and to buy tickets, visit the Hacktory’s official website.

The Hacktory
www.thehacktory.org

Did I ever mention I designed my undergrad thesis on Science Fiction? All of the other kids would make fun of me, but at the end of the day, only one of us ended up with an awesome timeline chart of robots in pop culture since 1940. And that person was me.

My thesis broke down an academic text on the genre and made it accessible to people who normally wouldn’t think twice about sci-fi… like my parents and professors. I compiled a giant list of events in science and history that influenced the literature of the time, and then made a chart of all of the sci-fi publications starting in the 1700s. Pretty nerdy for a girl getting a BFA in Graphic Design… especially when some other people did their thesis on things like… fashion.

Anyway, I found this amazing graph on io9 on how sci-fi television has changed since 1970. For those of you who tripped and landed on this blog by accident, that’s pretty much everything after the original Star Trek series aired in the early 60s. It’s nothing short of chart porn, it’s done so well. Enjoy.

I found this 1701-inspired graph here. That’s cute, Sci-Fi Wire: Star Trek will never be cooler than Star Wars in my book. You see, I love them both equally– like my own little creepy franchise children.

Most of the Geekadelphia crew have their fair share of WANT items. Be they t-shirts, videogames, or posters. Personally, I haven’t had that feeling for anything. Sure I may want something, but not really WANT it. That, is until last night when I stumbled upon this amazing Sue Storm statue from Marvel based on a design by Rockin’ JellyBean (link  NSFW).  It took maybe all of one second to realize that this warrants my first ever WANT.  Considering I don’t own any figures like these at all, or that I’m that big of a Fantastic Four fan, there’s just something about it that makes me WANT this bad boy (or girl). I don’t know what it is I like about it more. The design itself, the Farrah Fawcett hair, or the fact that it was designed by a guy named Rockin’ JellyBean. Take your pick.  The statue is available for pre-order and will be released in October.

Via MishkaNYC and Erostika

Another First Friday, another new gallery showing at Brave New Worlds. This month, pop culture of the 80′s. Everything ranging from Thundercats and Transformers, to Back to the Future and Ghostbusters. The 80′s to put it bluntly, were awesome!  That is why the 80′s is this month’s theme for the Autumn Society of Illustrators. Some of the pieces that I have seen are incredible and I can’t wait to see all of them this Friday. Hopefully you guys can make it down to Old City and check out these drawings in person.  After the jump are a few illustrations from Tom Whalen, Pat Kinsella, and Minder Singh. The promotional art above was done by Chogrin.  So come on down to Brave New Worlds this friday at 6pm to check out this cool exhibit!

Brave New Worlds 45 N 2nd St.

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It’s here! Well, let me clarify: Information Architects’ latest version of their popular Web Trends Map is available for your viewing pleasure. Aside from being just a stunning design (I’m pretty much in love with it) it illustrates the trendsetters of the internet in the form of the Tokyo subway system.

It’s not for sale just yet, but if it’s anything like last year’s version, it’ll have a limited edition of 1000 and be priced around $50.  You have to email them to reserve your copy – so get on that!

Check out the Final version here
or order last year’s version.

There’s been many people complaining about the final poster for JJ Abrams reboot of the Star Trek franchise which was released via Myspace.  The general consensus seems to be that it sucks.  Some folks said they’d prefer one of those “floating heads” posters instead. Others have given it credit for trying something different but still think it’s unsuccessful. It does give off a bit of an X-files vibe. They could have used “The truth is out there” tagline and it would fit perfectly. Personally I like the approach, and I instantly picked up the Enterprise so I have no problems with it.  There’s only so many poster’s I can take of Chris Pine smirking at me. I get it already! You’re sexy,  I’m not.

However, if you were hoping for a different look for the final Star Trek poster then perhaps Jesse Phillips‘ version may suit your tastes… (more…)

It’s hard not to love IKEA South Philly, especially as someone that’s moved 3 times in the last 4 years.  Inevitably there are those purchases you simply need to make, but you had no idea the resulting combined space of all those furniture boxes would be larger than the available space in  your tiny car.

This is why Steve Paxton designed KRAMA, it’s described as:

“Basically it’s a web based application that allows the user to select his or her car both make and model and then select the items of furniture they intend on buying before the visit or the items of furniture they have bought after the visit. The computer then calculates the best combination and order in which the boxes should be packed into the car this would be shown visually as a flash animation and also the user could print off a step by step guide on the best way to pack his or her car for that specific trip to IKEA. The hope is that a better packed a car will free up what i like to call stowaway space for those odd impulse buys such as a 4ft tall cactus (thanks mum). A better packed car also prevents needless store to home deliveries that increase your carbon footprint. Krama ( Swedish word for squeeze )”

How frakkin’ convenient.  I could have saved at least $200 from impulse home delivery decisions if I knew in advance what I could and couldn’t fit. Excellent idea, Steve!

KRAMA via Core77

Designed by the folks over at Squidspot, this Period Table of Typefaces makes the perfect desktop wallpaper or print out for any designer’s office.

You can snag the full size version on Squidspot. Download away!

Periodic Table of Typefaces via Reddit

I’m a sucker for outrageously cool looking vehicles in works of Science Fiction.  If you’re a fan of the vehicle concepts in Star Wars, Blade Runner, or even TRON, you’ll find that Daniel Simon‘s sexy concept portfolio is a pleasure to look through.

As an ex-Bugatti designer, Simon started Cosmic Motors which is currently working on the new bike designs for TRON2.  The images I chose above are not the ones in the movie, but I’m sure you can see why this particular group was picked for the job.  Sexy curves, masculine proportions, and all the trimmings necessary to complete a fully functional sci-fi war machine.

Daniel Simon’s Portfolio & Cosmic Motors via Core77