A day or two ago there was some confusion within the Local Motors community. Two members were at odds because they disagreed on the development of an idea, and the ownership of an idea. This is challenging, and potentially dangerous for a community like ours which thrives off of the sharing of ideas and creativity. We know that together we can do great things. But we also know that sometimes, we want a little attribution. For the work I share, I would like to be credited and acknowledged.
As many vehicles have similar shapes and functions we are bound to find similarities, so some confusion is bound to arise when it comes to copying. But recently, we have found a greater need to create a protocol for sharing and protecting our design work.
Often community members ask us about copyrighting. We get questions like, "should i copyright every design I create?" The answer is no. You don't need to spend the money to copyright every design you make because it is automatically "copyrighted" and protected as soon as you create it. This is when we remind everyone to sign & date their work. I think it is a bad idea overall to release your work into the virtual world without a signature. So sign it - and make it a unique signature.
Now that we know we don't have to copyright, and our work is already protected - what do we do if we WANT to share? Well, you can grant permission on an individual basis. That is possible, especially within the Local Motors community - but even within our small community this process of asking permission for specific things takes time.
Or, we could use Creative Commons license:
Now that we know about Creative Commons, know that we want to share and collaborate, and know that we each want attribution - how do we implement within the Local Motors Community?
That's next.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Creative Commons - What is it?
Post to Del.icio.usTuesday, May 26, 2009
Follow up: Community Voting Changes
Last week we had an awesome conversation with community members who were concerned that Local Motors' voting method may not produce the most desired results. Were we voting on render technique or design? What about the issues of feasibility and fit of the competition brief? Aurel blogged about this a bit already, and will do a bit more soon.
We tried to conquer these issues in one sitting and came up with several good solutions. One change in particular that we are aiming for is a 3-segment vote per design entry:
- Design
- Feasibility/Buildability
- Fit to the Competition Brief
We have not yet included these changes in the Custom Car Skins competition, but we plan to in the future. It will look more like this:
- Design
- "Wrappability" aka feasibility
- Fit to the Competition Brief
For now voting looks the same as ever; vote 0-5, 5 being the best - and if you want it, click the "I want it" button.
Be sure to VOTE on the Car Skins Competition designs. It is true that the host of the Car Skins competitions will ultimately choose the winner, but they want to know what you think!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Custom Car Skins Competition
- Why the mood board?
- How to use the recommended colors?
- How to use rendering.psd?
- How to work on the package?
- Why are the colors of my file changing when I am saving?
Interview With Detroit Motors Car Design Winner, Carbofos
Interview with Dmytro Zyubyairov, aka "Carbofos"
Winner of LM’s Detroit Motors Competition
Designer of “Michigan”
AFC: Hello! Congratulations on your win. Were you surprised to receive the phone call from Jay when he told you the good news?
DZ: Hello Ariel. Thanks for congratulations, I'm very appreciated. The phone call was surprising because I didn't expect the first place.
AFC: What was your inspiration for the “Michigan” design?
AFC: What is your favorite feature of the design?
DZ: Clean, simple, complete image and balanced proportions.
AFC: Your rendering style is excellent and received many compliments from within the LM community. There have been many requests for a tutorial from you; do you think you will do it?
DZ: Well, in fact the technique is very simple. No special effects, just blocking colors and then refining the quality. Hopefully I'll have time to develop a tutorial and share some points about visualization methods.
AFC: What were your favorite Detroit designs by other LM members?
DZ: "Vigilant" from Piero
Vigilant by PieroAFC: Thank you for participating! Congratulations again, Dmytro.
DZ: Thanks
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Local Motors & the Dream Car
From the Forbes Video Network:
Autoweek & Forbes in the same week. Not bad!
The Local Motors experience is brought to life by the community participants at www.local-motors.com. Designers, engineers, enthusiasts -all who design, collaborate and vote are hugely responsible for bringing each car to life.
This is just the beginning.
Thoughts on LM Car Design Competitions (part 1)
Hi everybody
I am following for several days the chats, thoughts and debates about the last Detroit Competition, and more especially the way votes work within the LM competitions. According to your views and some personal feeling, I'd like to bring my 2 cents.
First I am glad to see such a constructive and respectful exchange. Everyone has found out the quality of the Michigan project and the community's vote gives legitimacy to this 1st prize. Congratulations Carbofos!
Before talking about the general aspect of votes and competition, I would like to elaborate a bit about (Euro) Style. When I saw the Michigan project, besides the great rendering and sensual shapes, I didn't feel a Car from and for Detroit, but a subtle and inspired melt between a Pininfarina Sintesis, a Citroën C-Airdream, a Bertone Jet 2 and a Tesla S. Not the worst references, but very European, what some of you highlighted before... It seemed to be the right opportunity to start again the debate about US cars' identity Vs imports' spirit in the LM competitions.
On one hand it's justified because as everyone, when I think American cars, I figure Muscle Cars, Hot Rods, Customs, the GT40, or the PT Cruiser and 300C for John Doe's personal car. That is America for the foreigner I am, and a Ford five hundred is not as authentically American to me.
On the other hand, the imports are not as specific nowadays. Just some questions... Which is more exotic? Driving an Alfa Romeo in the 60's when the Big 3 represented 90% of the domestic market or driving a Toyota in 2008 when the Big 3 represents less than 50% (and it was before the crisis!). Does Volvo engineers take care about American customers first or about Swedish ones when they conceive cars (almost half of the world production is sold in the US)? Is the Hyundai Genesis an American car for an American driver (conceived for the USA to compete against the Mustang)?
I am not meaning that culture and history are useless cliches. I strongly believe in these 2 aspects. But what was an implicit cultural difference yesterday is a marketing argument that each company tries to defend today... And we have to deal (and play) with this state of things.
Tesla and Fisker chose to start from a blank page, but I assume they are writing a genuine page of the American automotive industry, as the Muscle Cars did 40 years ago.
Local Motors is on the same scheme and is moreover inspired by a worldwide community, to create exciting American cars. All the styles, influences and trends are welcome as long as it's justified and authentic. Maybe this last point has been underestimated recently.
...
Monday, May 18, 2009
Custom Car Skins Competition
You can choose which cars you want to see on the road. Seriously. This is what is now possible because of the Local Motors community and contributors. Designed, developed and built openly with input from car enthusiasts who want to drive something fresh and make exciting cars happen.
Now you choose even more than the design, performance features and local designation. Now you can choose your very own, one of a kind vinyl car skin.
Excerpt taken directly from the Custom Car Skins® competition page:
Custom Car Skins® Competitions will become an avenue for Local Motors customers to host competitions on the design of their LM vehicle exterior. If you didn't know, Local Motors vehicles are vinyl wrapped instead of painted because this process is more sustainable, cost effective, and customizable. Such a process also lends itself really nicely to Custom Car Skins®. Good for the environment and Good for the visual soul!
All people with graphic art ability are invited to participate in these competitions. Designers of every cloth, especially graphic artists and organizations such as the Industrial Design Society of America (IDSA) are highly encouraged to strut their stuff. The prizes will vary from $200 to over $1,500 depending on the complexity of the requested Car Skin. Since we have made this first competition pretty straightforward and provided a great number of files to get you going, the prize will be $200 in addition to the cred and the actual employment of the winning design on a car with the winning designer's signature. Just an inspired sketch is all we are looking for, and we will do the work to make it a reality.
The first Custom Car Skins® competition is a challenge to design the skin for Local Motors' CEO Jay Rogers' 1971 Mercedes 280SL. Why are we doing a custom car skin for a non-Local Motors vehicle? We are testing out the process of the design competition as well as the vinyl wrapping so it will be fine-tuned when we present it to customers on their Rally Fighter. Also, the 280SL is a bangin' classic with great curves and it will serve as a nice showpiece for Local Motors and Custom Car Skins®.
One important note before we get going: Though the submission and voting process will look like all other competitions, unlike other Local Motors competitions, one person will choose the winner of the Custom Car Skins Competitions: the host.
He or she would be wise to listen to the votes of the crowd or else risk getting laughed out of the parking lot, but in the end this is the host's choice. They put up the money for the prize, they get to choose. Fair enough.
In this case, Jrogers is the host and we will be designing for him. In the future, individual customers will host their own Custom Car Skins® competitions.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Top 10 Designs for Detroit Entrepreneurs
Michigan by CarbofosVisit Dmytro's Blog
6th Place:
7th Place:
9th Place:
10th Place:
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Live Collaboration: Sketchover Checkups Right on the Local Motors Site
(First - look for the Detroit Motors winner's announcement this morning, May 14th at 10am est, -4 UTC!)
Check out this screencast describing the newest Local Motors collaboration tool, Aviary's "Phoenix" live photoshop. This will be live early in the day on Thursday, May 14th.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Advanced Green Architecture of Michigan Chooses a Detroit Car Design
2 more of Michigan's up and coming entrepreneurs weighed in on our Detroit Motors Competition. Erik Cronk and Jeremiah Johnson of Advanced Green Architecture chose their favorites:
Erik's Pick:
"I would want this car as a company car because it is futuristic looking but still realistic. i think it would impress alot of clients if i took them for a ride! great design!" - Erik Cronk
Jeremiah's Pick:
"I would want this car because there looks to be enough area to install a green roof which our company specializes in." - Jeremiah Johnson
Here is how this burgeoning and sustainable company describes their purpose:
"Advanced Green Architecture is a green roof consulting, design, and installation firm. We will perform a feasability study to determine what kind of green roof your structure may hold. This involves performing a structural analysis by a structural engineer to determine the loading capacity of the roof. If the structure is deemed to be unsuitable for a green roof, our architect can design a plan to "beef" up the existing structure to hold a green roof. If the structure is deemed suitable for a green roof, we will design the roof based on the structural capacity. The design of the green roof includes selection of waterproof membrane, media type, media depth, drainage layers, erosion control measures, irrigation and plant selection. Once the client approves the design of the green roof, AGA will coordinate/manage the installation of the roof. Currently we perform the labor, but as our company grows and we get more jobs we will hire contractors to install the green roofs to our specifications. We currently have a modular green roof product in development, that should be available in the spring of 2010. These product will allow for multiple depths of soil to be installed therefor allowing for a wider range of plants to be used. The modular installation is more cost effective and will be pre-vegetated when delivered to the site for an instant green roof. "
Erik Cronk
Likeness of Jeremiah Johnson
(I didn't get a picture on time. I have mad skills.)
Monday, May 11, 2009
Happy Birthday to Jay!
Today is Jay's birthday. His wife, Susannah, surprised him with a lunch time party at the Kool Kone in Wareham.
Join us in wishing Jay a happy birthday, and a wonderful year!
Susannah, Houston, John III, Charles & Jay Rogers
Charles, Jay & John III - and Susannah's Rum Cake!
Charles, Susannah, John III, Jay, Karin, John D., Colby, Mike and Tim
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Real Detroit Entrepreneurs
This is from Crain's Detroit Business, 20 in their 20's
What do you think, Local Motors? Do you think you designed for these entrepreneurs? The script writer working in the movie industry? The fashion designer? The recycling entrepreneur or the restaurant owner?
I think you did.
Well done! Thank you for participating in the Detroit Motors Car Design Competition and for challenging yourself to design for the resurgence of Detroit.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Late Night Detroit Music to Sketch to
For all of you last minute late-nighters, here is some Detroit music for inspiration:
White Stripes - Seven Nation Army
Stevie Wonder - Superstition
Eminem - Lose Yourself
Kiss - Detroit Rock City
Detroit Cobras - Cha Cha Twist
Sam Roberts - Detroit '67 (this is the one to listen to right before bed)
Deadline to enter the Detroit Motors Competition is end of day tomorrow, Tuesday, May 5th at 23:59 (-4GMT).
