It’s that time of year again – The Chicago Auto Show rolls into McCormick Place, filling the convention center with the latest and greatest rolling examples of style and engineering the automotive industry has to offer.

This year seems to be a particularly strong year for the auto manufacturers. It’s no secret that the industry is still recovering from a tough few years. A reeling economy and a couple bankruptcies later, there is a new lease on life on the show floor. The atmosphere was universally optimistic – domestic manufacturers are rolling out new products set to compete on a global scale while up-and-comers like Hyundai is going full steam ahead with the expansion of their increasingly popular line of cars and crossovers (I’m personally smitten with the new Elantra GT that was unveiled last Wednesday).

It’s easy to get caught up in the spectacle that is the Chicago Auto Show. After all, almost 1,000 vehicles cover 1.2 million square feet of McCormick Place during the ten day event. There are numerous new product reveals, all the technology demos you could wish for, and plenty of drool-inducing concept cars. But as the auto industry moves forward, and the playing field continues to level out, the differences between brands become ever slimmer. The details that designers and engineers alike implement into each vehicle become increasingly important.

As a lover of all things with headlights and four wheels, I always enjoy the annual auto show, but this year I tried to take a slightly different approach to the experience.

Read the rest of the entry >

I’ll admit it. This post might come a in a bit over over the top, but I’m completely enamored with my new iPad. I think it was love at first site watching the Keynote presentation on March 2nd. Don’t get me wrong, the 1st iPad was amazing as well but feeling of “must have” didn’t become overwhelming until the announcement of the 2nd.

I saw that beautiful sleek design of the tablet accessorized by the glorious smart case, coupled with so many delightful features and capabilities and quickly realized – it had to be mine. (Might have been channeling a little Gollum and let slip a “my precious” but don’t quote me on that.)

If I were to describe a typical week day with the iPad, it would go like this. There’s access to Google Docs for the morning production meeting. I’m using it to log onto the different 37 signals applications throughout the day in order to follow up on projects and clients. And, I’m able to walk to and from meetings with all my notes organized and easy access to my email.

Read the rest of the entry >

I’m sure that by this time most Americans have had their fill of turkey, what with it being five days after Thanksgiving, but not us at Rule29. We love us some turkey…especially in hand drawn form. We’ve talied up the results of this year’s hand turkey illustration contest.

Find out who was victorious in R29′s Show of Hands competition after the jump.

Read the rest of the entry >

It’s time to get your crayons, markers, paints, and craft box out and submit your hand turkey for the 3rd annual hand turkey illustration extravaganza.

This year we’re doing things a bit differently and instead of submitting your posts to us through email, we’ve created a little Tumblr site for your turkey enjoyment. Check out handturkeys.tumblr.com/ on how to download the template and submit your best gobbler.

For a little extra motivation, there are prizes for 1st through 3rd place, and be sure to check out previous years’ entries for some inspiration. 2008 Turkeys | 2009 Turkeys

Looking forward to seeing everyone’s submissions!

Recently I took a road trip across the great United States to the one and only capital, Washington DC. I went with the AIGA group through my school Northern Illinois University. Why DC you ask? First, because I am oh-so patriotic and love this great nation, but mostly because we were invited down by an NIU alumni who currently works in the design department for the White House. So it gave us a good excuse to visit the White House as well as some other design firms in the area.
Read the rest of the entry >