10.22.04
Priority Designs attends the 2004 IDSA National Conference in Pasadena, CA.

This year Priority Designs sent 4 designers to the west coast to attend the 2004 IDSA national convention. The event, held in a different location every year, offers an excellent opportunity for designers to get together and discuss industry trends and topics. For 2004, designers Aaron Cornaby, Pat Walker, and Chris Daniels from the Columbus, Oh office joined native Californian Robert Nunez from our Carlsbad, CA, studio for the event.

The IDSA National Conference is the largest of its kind in the US, drawing between 600 and 800 design professionals from all areas of the industry and from all around the US, Europe and Asia. This year's event featured addresses by several notable designers including Chris Bangle, head of design for the BMW.

Every year Priority Designs displays a panel showcasing our company. As a tribute to southern California car and motorcycle culture we choose a hotrod and chopper theme for our display. We've always appreciated the way that these car and cycle enthusiasts are so impassioned by their interests that it permeates through all aspects of their lifestyle. We see a parallel to the passionate way we feel about design and wanted to celebrate ours and their dedication to the things they love doing. Truth be told, the gear heads in the studio just wanted to find a way to paint flames on something. In addition to the display, we also gave out a trio of radical custom temporary tattoos featuring artwork designed by Sean Svendsen emblazoned with our design mantras. We also gave out t-shirts with tattoo inspired tribal art scrawled down the sleeve created by designer Harlan Peden scrawled down the sleeve. There are images hidden in the art, see if you can identify them. If you missed getting your "tats" and/or the killer "t" at the event, e-mail us and we'll send you one.

The highlight of the event was the inaugural Unlimited Derby Competition sponsored by Nike. Inspired by the Cub Scouts' classic pinewood derby car competition, this variation on the theme allowed designers a chance to break all the rules normally associated with the contest. The only rules being the cars had to fit within a given footprint and remain un powered by motors of any kind. All else was allowed.

Pictured below was the Priority Designs entry into the Derby. Affectionately dubbed "Lead Zepplin" because of its zeppelin looking shape and it's deceiving heft, the car featured a slippery body which was styled after the classic salt flats land speed record cars from the fifties. Despite it's relatively small size, the car weighed a whopping 2.5 lbs. thanks to a resin outer shell filled with lead BB's. The car also featured several other sneaky tricks which we refuse to discuss.

What's even more amazing about the car was that due to a very busy work schedule, work on the car did not start until 2 days before the car was scheduled to be in California. In one marathon 24 hour period, the car was thrashed together in what resembled an episode from Monster Garage. Our in-house team was led by our resident pinewood derby car expert and Cub Scout den leader Joe Lehman, who computer modeled the car's shape in Pro Engineer. From there the car's body work was then output using the Objet rapid prototyping machine in our model shop. Model lab technician, Rob Green led the fabrication team which smoothed the body work and helped assemble the car. Lastly, designer Sean Svendsen handled the car's "old school" hot rod paint and graphics. Simply but affective, the car made it through 14 rounds of competition and finished in a respectable 6th place out of a field of 56 competitors. Finishing close to the top gave us a real taste for what could have been done with more time and a serious effort put behind the car, so next we are planning an all out assault. We will be back!

In addition to the photos below we've also put together a 1min. thrill ride of a video showcasing Unlimited Derby action.