Hasta La Ideas

There is this moment that all designers experience, this I must draw moment particular to those who make things for a living. In addition to experiencing it myself at least weekly, I saw it a lot when I first started interning at design firms. You know the deal, you’re sitting at a conference table or desk, talking, and then all of a sudden the designer’s head starts swiveling while s/he looks for the nearest writing utensil and paperlike surface. They grab whatever’s on hand—pen, pencil, lipstick, doesn’t matter—and start banging out a sketch on paper, paper towel, back of a takeout menu, doesn’t matter.

“Doesn’t matter” being the operative words, as designers can and do draw on anything, giving us the trope of the brilliant napkin sketch. So I’m always a little skeptical when I see sketchbooks dedicated to a particular type of drawing, since all we really need is blank paper. But perhaps the I DRAW CARS Sketchbook & Reference Guide, above, is different by virtue of the “Reference Guide” part? It aims to increase its utility to automotive designers by…

…pairing commonly used industry reference materials with a ubiquitous and iconic moleskine sketchbook form. Contents include global automotive brands, global design schools, global auto show dates and locations, reference materials in both print and web format, commonly used proportions and packages, and 100+ pages of templates to practice with.

Useful, or gimmick? Please let us know your thoughts in the comments.

(more…)