Project Side Project: littleBits+Shapeways Call for 3D Innovations, Art, Writing, Music in Latest Design Challenge

Creative challenge alert! Multiple high-tech sponsors are now calling all 3D printing enthusiasts, artists and digital designers, tinkerers, musicians, writers, and really–everybody–to enter the latest contest, getting those juices flowing with a motivating grand prize of cash and equipment. Whether you consider yourself brilliantly creative or not, you are not alone when it comes to having a side project sitting up on a shelf somewhere, whispering out to you for attention in your precious free time.

Now, littleBits and Shapeways, working to clear off dusty shelves of artists everywhere–rather they may be figurative or real–are calling to you to pick that project back up, give it the old spit and shine, and come forth to enter ‘Project Side Project.’

Even if you just have a general concept for 3D printing, an idea for a robot or a toy, or something you’ve put down on paper that’s noteworthy, now’s the time to show it off and get it out the door and into the spotlight of the world. While sometimes the innovative sparks are flying and the momentum is pumping, life comes along and inserts the reality of work and other responsibilities ahead of our creative time. So while something may have been put on the back burner–or the side–previously, due to a minor creative block, procrastination, or just a general lull while juggling everything else in life, it’s time to get motivated again and push that design out the door.

Maybe you’ve created what could possibly be the next best thing in terms of a video game or 3D printed related figurine, a unique electronic device, or a provocative art installation using a number of modern and relevant mediums. If so, don’t you owe it to yourself to let the world have a gander?

Prompting you to take the first step, if you are one of the twelve winners, you’ll have help taking your project to the next level with not only a mentorship from the famed Kickstarter team known for teaching innovators how to get projects funded and out there, but also a grand prize to look toward, which entails $2K in backing and a suite of maker tools that’s valued at $3K.

The main sponsor, littleBits, is known for their role in producing educational products via electronic building blocks that come in a variety of inspiring and challenging project kits. Always endeavoring to help their users ‘unleash their creativity’ and employing their mission in looking for ways to bring the world innovations big and small, this current challenge encompasses a multitude of possible mediums and genres, giving everybody a greater chance of digging up that great idea or reigniting that moment of genius that was thwarted by a busy season at work, or other more pressing matters. Shapeways, a leading 3D printing service bureau and marketplace, also inserts their mission here in regards to constant support and ongoing inspiration for artists, makers, and creative types–as well as tying the community together.

What’s pressing now though is that you submit your awesome ‘anything’ by July 7 to littleBits by giving it a name and a description, and uploading a file, picture, or drawing depicting your idea.

Next comes the sharing part, as littleBits and Shapeways recommend you send the link for your project to all your friends and family, letting them in on your latest invention, and allowing them to send the votes flooding in so that you head straight up to the top with your idea. Voting will close on July 21^st.