It’s that lovely time of year again. With Halloween over, it’s now officially the season to forget that Thanksgiving is a national holiday and jump right into winter, snow and celebrating the Holidays.
Get ready for the Coca-Cola polar bears, questionable parenting with the “elf on the shelf” and car companies subtly suggesting that a luxury vehicle would make an appropriate Christmas gift. Like this one:
With that in mind, the fine folks at Fusion and I would like you to be properly prepared this gift-giving season with Fusion’s 2017 Holiday Gift Guide! Assembled here are 8 of the very best presents for that designer or architect in your life (Lexus excluded). We know how challenging it can be to shop for people like us, so we thought we’d help you out this year.
Without further ado, here is Fusion’s 2017 Holiday Gift Guide!
iPad
We’re starting off with a Holiday staple. Ever since Steve introduced the iPad in 2010, the tablet has been a favorite gift for essentially everyone. However, the all-in-one device has also evolved into a powerful tool for architects and designers. The dream of going on-site with a digital set of drawings, marking them up live with the GC and then instantly sharing them with the team is real. Intuitive drawing tools like the Apple Pencil and punchlisting apps like Plangrid are making this all possible.
Laser Measure
Laser Measures are simply a must have for anyone in the AEC industry. I remember my first laser measure like I remember my first bike and I love it that much too. Between the highly accurate readings and features like cumulative string measurements, it’s hard to imagine going to any site verification without one. New models like Leica’s Disto E7500i are even Bluetooth connected and can transfer measurements directly to CAD and Revit!
Music Subscription
Nothing cranks out a CD set quite like that perfect playlist. Whether you draft to AC/DC or Taylor Swift, everyone knows what it means to be “in the zone”, look up from your computer screens several hours later and then realize you’re the only one left in the office. $10 a month for unlimited music on services like Spotify and Apple Musicis a flat-out steal.
Wireless Headphones
Reasons? Well, reference the music subscription above for starters. Now imagine all the music flowing to your ears in full wireless glory. There are a number of great wireless options out there like Apple's Airpods and Samsung's IconX, but we love these Bose Soundsport Free because they work on both Android and Apple devices. Additionally, what’s nice about this style of headphones is that you can leave one earbud out, so you can hear your coworkers yell at you to sync the Revit model.
Gaming Keypad
What? A gaming keypad for designers? Hear me out. Sometimes our fingers get confused when punching in commands between multiple software like CAD and Revit. For example, the move shortcut in CAD is typically “M”, but in Revit it’s “MR”. Thankfully, a programmable gaming mouse solves that problem. Any of the 15+ buttons on the Razor Tartarus can be programmed to do any command in any program. That means Move can always be the same button in whatever program we use. Imagine how thankful our fingers will be.
Legos
Ready from some nostalgia? If you’re an architect or designer, you probably played with Legos growing up. The toy known for infinite possibilities and excruciating foot pain has made a resurgence in recent years with their popular Lego Architecture line. They even have a 1200-piece all white “Studio” set, where we can lay Lego bricks to our hearts content.
3D Printed Jewelry
At this point you have probably heard of 3D Printing, particularly for building models and prototyping. But, did you know that designers are using 3D Printing tech to create beautiful custom jewelry? Sites like Shapeways (think Etsy for 3D Printing), allow you to search and purchase gorgeous 3D printed jewelry from designers all over the world.
Spa Treatment
Because you know, we're stressed…
Well that wraps up our Fusion 2017 Holiday Gift Guide! Thanks for stopping by and we hope it helps in your shopping adventures.
(And for those of you who know us, there are no excuses this year).