Bentley Intelligent Details: The Bespoke Driving Jacket

Last year, Bentley produced a short film shot entirely on an iPhone 5s. They’ve produced another Intelligent Details film for their bespoke driving jacket, and this one was shot entirely on an iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

Two things fascinate me about this film.

First, it’s amazing the level of quality the iPhone camera can produce. This film is beautiful. Granted, professional film techniques were used by pro filmmakers, but it’s incredible what can be achieved with the iPhone. The only quality the footage is still lacking is shallow depth of field. You do get some bokeh on the iPhone 6, but not shallow enough to where it gives the footage that dream-like film look. Maybe one day.

They also produced a behind the scenes showing what went into creating the film. I love how they used an anamorphic lens to produce a wide 2.4:1 aspect ratio.

The second thing that I love about this film is the peek into the bespoke tailoring world. I love fashion, and to see it done at this level is wonderful. The film features four bespoke houses from Savile Row designing and tailoring a bespoke driving jacket for Bentley. My favorite designs are from Henry Poole and Gieves & Hawkes.

Bentley: Intelligent Details

Intelligent Details is a short documentary film that features Luc Donckerwolke and SangYup Lee, heads of design at Bentley Motors, talking about the Bentley Mulsanne.

What’s really interesting about the film is that it was completely shot using an iPhone 5s, and edited on an iPad Air mounted inside the Mulsanne. The end of the film seems more like an Apple ad than one for Bentley.

The films is proof that consumer products like an iPhone and iPad can be used to create professional quality content. Granted, they used some expensive gear with the iPhone to achieve a lot of the results, but you can still get close to this with just an iPhone.

Sketch: A New Way of Designing

Sketch

I primarily write about print design on this site, but most of the work I do is User Interface and User Experience design.

Until recently, Photoshop was the only real application one could use for UI design, even though it wasn’t designed for it. It’s kind of like using a road bike to bomb down a mountain. You’ll eventually get to the bottom, but you’ll bang yourself up good on the way. The feature set, and the workflow, of PS is not optimized for UI design. We accepted it, and kept trucking along, only because we had no other choice.

Then Sketch came along.

Sketch is a vector-based graphics app by Bohemian Coding that offers a set of features, and workflow, specifically built for UI design. I’ve made the switch to Sketch at home, and at work. It’s been such a breath of fresh air.

Some of the benefits of Sketch are:

  • Super easy to use. The app is very intuitive, and never feels complex or overwhelming, but at the same time it’s powerful. You can get comfortable using it within a few hours.
  • It’s vector-based. All elements can easily scale without degrading, including drop-shadows, gradients, blurs and strokes.
  • Text is rendered exactly like it’s displayed in an app or on a website in a browser.
  • Smart guides. You can easily line things up and see the pixel distance from one object to another. You don’t understand how much time this saves.
  • Built-in grids. ‘Nuff said!
  • iOS mirroring. Using their iOS app, Sketch Mirror, you can see your designs on your phone in realtime.

These are some of the great features you’ll find in Sketch.

It’s not all perfect, though. There are some issues with it, but they’re minor. The app is still a little buggy. It’s in the early stages, so it’s expected. Things like zooming in and out can cause some weirdness. It doesn’t handle raster images that well, but that’s expected from a vector-based app. Artboards and export features are only focused on iOS. Would be great to include other platforms like Android and Windows Phone. None of these are deal-breakers and the app just gets better and better with each release.

Now, I know this sounds like a paid advertisement, but I can assure you that I haven’t received a dime from Bohemian Code. This is all of my silly love for this app. It’s really changed the way I design, and it’s exciting.

Down below I’ve put together a list a resources to help with the transition from PS. A lot of great info here on the app, its benefits, how to use it, and the workflow.

I’m going to open the comments in case you want to ask questions.

Enjoy.

Sketch Manual
Tips & Tricks Blog
Official Tutorial Videos
Discovering Sketch
Photoshop Users: How To Switch To Sketch
Sketch VS Photoshop
Supercharge your Workflow in Sketch
Designing with Sketch
.Sketch App Medium Collection
Design with Sketch Medium Collection
How To Wireframe An iPhone App In Sketch
iOS 7 GUI for Sketch
List of Sketch Plugins
Sketch Keyboard Shortcuts

The Mac is 30

30 years ago, the Mac was released and it changed everything. It definitely changed my life. I was attending high school when I used a Mac for the very first time, and it along with Photoshop 2.0, blew me away. I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

The Mac has come along way in 30 years, and I’m exited to see where it’s headed.

Apple put together this beautiful site chronicling the history of the Mac.

BMW Concept 90

BMW Concept 90

BMW Concept 90

BMW Concept 90

To celebration 90 years of BMW Motorrad along with 40 years of the iconic R90S design, BMW teamed up with Roland Sands Design to create the Concept 90. It’s a modern take on a classic motorcycle, and it’s extremely well done. It mixes a timeless cafe racer style, with modern technology to create the perfect motorcycle. I’m hoping that BMW produces it because I would get one right now.