opinion – Page 2 – DesignApplause

#stayathome #climate #goodcovid-19. a brief breath of fresh air.

Apr 28, 2020

we’re in an unexpected natural experiment. the opportunity in the crisis. a real reckoning moment. a picture is worth a thousand whatevers.

the before and after images on this post leave little room for debate: covid-19 successfully took us off the roads. add a little fortuitous rain plus the amping down of our fossil fuel use gave us clean air. and the world noticed.

this timely vivid graphic of clear skies perfectly aligned with the recent vivid graphic of a climate-induced world with catastrophic weather, fire, agriculture, and health problems.

the importance of this accidental moment can’t be understated or wasted. covid-19 has quickly put us in an ugly mood, a fighting mood, a uniting mood. many get the feeling that now is also the time to implore our leaders to ponder america’s long-term big picture handling of pandemics and climate initiatives.

it’s ironic, the covid-19 country lockdown should keep our skies blue but it also mutes our most vocal activists because they can’t congregate to protest. and if our leaders miss this opportunity and the economy cranks up, along with our return to our dirty ways, the blue skies will be just a memory.

[ what you can do ]
> will our clean air last after covid-19? ucla study says it’s possible
> ten simple ways to act on climate change
> top 10 things you can do about climate change
> 12 things you can do right now for climate change

[ what others are doing ]
> the guardian has renounced fossil fuel advertising

above/below > new delhi 1 november 2019 / 20 april 2020 | photo manish swarup / ap

above top/bottom > india gate war memorial new delhi 17 october 2019 / 8 april 2020

above/below > nitrogen dioxide (red) levels prior to and during stay at home lockdown. the los angeles graphic is a vivid glimpse of what an electrified world would look like.

above > a nearly empty interstate 280 in san francisco 22 march 2020

below > notice the nitrogen dioxide readings at height of chinese lockdown in mid-january and march when stay-at-home was relaxed.

a dystopia is a community or society that is undesirable or frightening. It is translated as bad place and is an antonym of utopia,

what’s it take for apple and google to partner up? a novel covid-19 pandemic.

Apr 11, 2020

apple and google. masters of privacy. how is it even possible. here’s the concept.

apple and google just announced an unprecedented collaboration to leverage their smartphone technology to help trace and contain the spread of covid-19.

the collaboration will open up their mobile operating systems (!) to allow for the creation of advanced contact-tracing apps, which will run on iphones and android phones alike.

the apps would work by using bluetooth technology in mobile phones to keep track of every other phone a person comes into close contact with over the course of a day; if that person later finds out they have covid-19, they can use the same system to alert all those people, dating back to before they would have become infectious.

the idea is to help national governments roll out these contact-tracing apps to allow lockdowns to be lifted earlier, by letting authorities much more readily identify new clusters of infection. the technology would also help those who have been exposed to a person with covid-19 self-isolate before they themselves become infectious.

of course there are concerns. privacy for one. opting to use bluetooth rather than location services which are very secure.

“no contact-tracing app can be fully effective until there is widespread, free and quick testing and equitable access to healthcare,” jennifer granick, the surveillance and cybersecurity counsel at the aclu said. “people will only trust these systems if they protect privacy, remain voluntary, and store data on an individual’s device, not a centralized repository.”

privacy and civil liberties activists have warned that such apps need to be designed so governments cannot abuse them to track their citizens. apple and google said in a joint announcement that user privacy and security are baked into the design of their plan.

pam dixon, executive director of the world privacy forum, said she will be looking closely at the companies’ privacy assurances and for evidence that any health data they collect will be deleted once the emergency is over.

“people are dying. we have to save lives. everyone understands that,” she said. “but at some point, we’re going to have to understand the privacy consequences of this.”

security experts also note that technology alone cannot effectively track down and identify people who may have been infected by covid-19 carriers. such efforts will require other tools and teams of public healthcare workers to track people in the physical world, they say. in south korea and china, such efforts have included the use of credit card and public transit records.

given the great need for effective contact tracing, the companies will roll out their changes in two phases. in the first, they will release software in may that lets public health authorities release apps for both android and ios phones. in the coming months, they will also build this functionality directly into the underlying operating systems.

recently the companies released preliminary technical specifications for the effort, which they called privacy-preserving contact tracing.

we are grateful that this collaboration is being attempted to help subdue the coronavirus.

agencies contributed reporting

wash your hands for 30 seconds with soap! covid-19.

Mar 26, 2020

experts agree on one thing…the #1 activity you can do to protect your family from coronavirus is wash your hands!

according to the cdc, world health org and countless medical institutions you only need to wash your hands for a minimum of thirty seconds to keep viruses away! last night on cnn dr. sanjay gupta stressed washing the thumb and my sister-in-law susan hill, a physical therapist at la rabida childrens hospital said pay special attention to the base of the fingers – look closely at the photo. if there was ever a time for difference making details, this is it.

[ DesignApplause covid-19 response ] #washyourhands #covid19

floriduh finally gets social distancing message and closes beaches. covid-19 spotlights lack of leadership.

Mar 22, 2020

above > left public pinellas county clearwater beach 19 march / right 21 march

on 19 march the clearwater council votes to delay closing the clearwater beaches until tuesday 24 march. BUT, they had a change of heart and closed them yesterday, 21 march.

florida, the last u.s. state finally gets the message. amid national criticism as early as 15 march, on friday 20 march, governor ron desantis closes beaches, restaurant dining rooms and bars in the state, as well as concert houses and other entertainment venues in broward and palm beach counties which includes fort lauderdale.

that same day, the city of miami beach and miami-dade county took even larger emergency measures by closing all commercial lodging establishments. this means hotels, suite hotels, hotel units within apartment-hotels, hostels, dormitories, motels, and temporary vacation/short term rentals are ordered to shut down operations and tell guests they must leave. the order goes into effect at 11:59 p.m. on monday, march 23. and a curfew throughout the city from midnight to 5 a.m., goes into effect tuesday, 24 march at midnight. “our hotels have always been the lifeblood of our economy, so shuttering them is not something to do impulsively. but right now, as painful as it may be, the reality is we just cannot be a tourist destination,” said miami beach mayor dan gelber in a statement.

above > saturday 21 march

the second to last u.s. state was texas, where on 19 march, governor greg abbott signed an executive order limiting crowd gathering to 10, and to avoid eating or drinking at bars, restaurants, and food courts, or visiting gyms or massage parlors; provided, however, that the use of drive-thru, pickup, or delivery options is allowed and highly encouraged

we certainly can point fingers at the clueless and selfish during spring break as well as st. patrick’s day. but the real problem here is lack of leadership. we applaud the pro-active governors including new york’s andrew cuomo, illinois’s j.b. pritzker, and california’s gavin newsom and city mayors including chicago’s lori lightfoot, and miami-dade’s carlos a. gimenez.

so you ask why is this note such a nastygram? a simple answer is let’s compare governors. when illinois governor j.b. pritzker saw how chicago o’hare was handling international travelers, keeping them bunched up in a line for six hours, he went a little nuts and said that’s exactly what we don’t want to do. we need a social spacing mentality. the result, the airlines kept the passengers in the plane until it was ok to go through immigrations.

new york governor, andrew cuomo, is on cnn every morning soothing worries like mr. rogers. nothing political but common sense examples and suggestions on how to behave, protect seniors and kids, how to be responsible. it definitely impressed the president who we see every day but not sure he’s so soothing.

the spring break crowd. an annual rite of passage. there was no one in florida to protect them. the man at the top failed them. so yes, nastygram seems, just right.

[ DesignApplause covid-19 response ]

legendary chicago designer hayward r. blake dies at 94.

Mar 18, 2020

hayward robert blake. 94, born in west haven, connecticut. he died of natural causes on 13 march 2020.

husband of simone louise (nee roussy), for 58 years; loving father of paul (kim), christopher (anita), and yvonne (brian); proud grandfather to andrew, meredith, anaïs, anikó, hayward, tawny, and kiera. hayward met his wife in france during wwii while serving as a sergeant in the signal corps., after which he studied design at institutions including, the cambridge school of design and illinois institute of design. he began working in the early 1950s as a package designer in new york city and later moved to chicago where he worked with raymond lowey, the container corporation, sears, ecko-alcoa, and low’s, inc. in 1961 he founded, hayward blake and co., and in 1967 incorporated with jack weiss. together they worked with designers in the design partnership which served as a model for similar collaborative efforts elsewhere. his design projects included the signage system for o’hare airport, identity designs for wait radio, titles for the film bang the drum slowly, catalog design for the block gallery, and identity program for the newspaper the rapid city journal. hayward taught at northwestern university’s, medill school of journalism, and lectured and judged at communication exhibitions nationwide. he was an active member of the 27 chicago designers, the american institute of graphic arts (fellow), society of typographic arts (president), the caxton club (president), design evanston, evanston art center (board member), and the porsche club of america. hayward was an amateur race car driver, loved sailing, scuba diving and was an avid squash player. the words above are provided by hayward’s son, christopher a designer in his own right, currently an adjunct professor in the interactive arts and media department at columbia college chicago.

i owe a great deal to hayward. he was responsible for my first chicago design hire at his firm, the design partnership. an advocate of thinking differently his concepts were engaging and caught your eye. his penchant for details was no secret as everyone knew he always carried a small screwdriver lining up screws in the lighting fixtures, something i tend to do myself now. in his mid-80s he was still working the audience at local design happenings. regarding the amateur race car driver thing, he looked and played the part.

memorial services will be announced at a later date.

donations may be made to either the alzheimer’s association or the newberry library.

uk court over climate concerns blocks heathrow expansion.

Feb 27, 2020

above left > aircraft landing at heathrow airport over horses in a nearby field. photo: chris j ratcliffe / getty images

uk walking the talk and the world says bloody good news. ~ DA editor

heathrow airport’s plans to increase capacity of europe’s biggest travel hub by over 50% were stalled when a british court said the government failed to consider its commitment to combat climate change when it approved the project.

“the paris agreement ought to have been taken into account by the secretary of state,” lord justice lindblom wrote thursday, referring to the landmark climate deal in which nearly 200 countries vowed in 2015 to reduce their greenhouse emissions.

last year, the u.k. also became the first of the major group of seven countries to enact a pledge aiming to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 — a pledge that the office of chris grayling, then the secretary of state for transport, failed to keep in mind when crafting the plans in its airports national policy statement.

“that, in our view, is legally fatal to the anps in its present form,” lindblom said.

ultimately, the legal challenge decided thursday succeeded on environmental grounds. plan b, the climate-focused legal charity that brought the claim, cheered the decision as a landmark that “will be hugely influential across the uk and around the world.”

“the message is finally getting through,” the group said in a statement released thursday. “the bell is tolling on the carbon economy loud and clear.”

greta thunberg, the teen climate activist named time magazine‘s person of the year in 2019, also celebrated the decision: “imagine when we all start taking the paris agreement into account,” she tweeted thursday.

“we have not decided, and could not decide, that there will be no third runway at heathrow,” he wrote. “we have not found that a national policy statement supporting this project is necessarily incompatible with the united kingdom’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions and mitigating climate change under the paris agreement, or with any other policy the government may adopt or international obligation it may undertake.”

still, the plan isn’t exactly dead — a point that justice lindblom himself made clear in the judgment. he said the decision rests on a failure to consider the country’s climate commitments, not a fundamental incompatibility with those commitments.

and heathrow airport holdings has no intention of backing down, saying “the court of appeal dismissed all appeals agains the government – including ‘noise’ and ‘air quality’ – apart from one which is eminently fixable.””

we will appeal to the supreme court on this one issue and are confident that we will be successful. in the meantime we are ready to work with the government to fix the issue that the court has raised.

heathrow has taken a lead in getting the uk aviation sector to commit to a plan to get to net zero emissions by 2050, in line with the paris accord. expanding heathrow, britain’s biggest port and only hub, is essential to achieving the prime minister’s vision of global britain. we will get it done the right way without jeopardizing the plant’s future. let’s get heathrow done. [ npr ]

“airlines, for all intents and purposes, are becoming more fuel efficient. but we’re seeing demand outstrip any of that,” said brandon graver, who led the new study. “the climate challenge for aviation is worse than anyone expected.” [ nyt ]

unregulated carbon pollution from aviation is the fastest-growing source of the greenhouse gas emissions driving global climate change. in fact, if the entire aviation sector were a country, it would be one of the top 10 carbon-polluting nations on the planet. [ wwf ]

it’s about time greta thunberg for your #climatestrike.

Dec 18, 2019

above >thunberg skipping school in august 2018, sitting in front of swedish parliament to demand climate action / michael campanella—getty images

starting in august 2018, a swedish 15-year-old greta thunberg began a global movement by skipping school. she did so by setting up shop in front of the swedish parliament holding a sign painted in black letters on a white background that read skolstrejk för klimatet: “school strike for climate.” her question for adults, for people in charge: if you don’t care about my future on earth, why should i care about my future in school?

by now you know the time magazine 2019 person of the year is greta thunberg. the runners up were: hong kong protesters (won the readers poll), nancy pelosi, donald trump, the whistleblower in trump-ukraine scandal.

winning does come with controversy. but we won’t talk about that at this time. here.

on the first day of her climate strike, thunberg sat alone. she posted about her strike on social media, and a few journalists came by to talk to her, but she spent day one alone.

on day two a stranger joined her. “that was a big step, from one to two,” she recalls. “this is not about me striking; this is now us striking from school.” within a couple of days, a handful more joined in. then they became a group – from one person pushing back became two, then 10, then 50, then hundreds. then thousands

by september, enough people had joined her climate strike in stockholm that she announced she would continue every friday until sweden aligned with the paris agreement.

the fridays for future movement was born.

at the end of 2018, tens of thousands of students across europe began skipping school on fridays to protest their own leaders’ inaction. in january, 35,000 schoolchildren protested in belgium following thunberg’s example. the movement struck a chord. when a belgian environmental minister insulted the strikers, a public outcry forced her to resign.

a year later in september 2019, the climate strikes had spread beyond northern europe. in london, 100,000 swarmed the streets near westminster abbey. in new york city, 250,000 reportedly marched in battery park and outside city hall. in germany, a total of 1.4 million people took to the streets, with thousands flooding the brandenburg gate in berlin and marching in nearly 600 other cities and towns across the country.

on 20-27 september 2019, a global climate strike brought an estimated 4 million people of all ages to protest. their signs told a story. in london: the world is hotter than young leonardo dicaprio. in turkey: every disaster movie starts with a scientist being ignored. in new york: the dinosaurs thought they had time, too. hundreds carried images of thunberg or painted her quotes onto poster boards. make the world greta again became a rallying cry. the 20 september protests were likely the largest climate strikes in world history. more than 2,000 scientists in 40 countries pledged to support the strikes.

in a little more than a year, one frightened, angry, defiant 16-year-old, became a game-changer, became an icon who brought climate to the forefront. after noticing a hundredfold increase in its usage, lexicographers at collins dictionary named thunberg’s pioneering idea, climate strike, the word of the year.

bravo greta !

greta is the z generation – ages 7 to 22. in 2050 she will be 46. in 2080 grandchildren will be 25. according to a december amnesty international survey, young people in 22 countries identified climate change as the most important issue facing the world. they know how much adults are failing them.

above> greta thunberg smiles during a press conference / lito lizana/sopa images/shutterstock

[ time person of the year ] the tradition of selecting a man of the year began in 1927, with time editors contemplating the news makers of the years. the idea was also an attempt to remedy the editorial embarrassment earlier that year of not having aviator charles lindbergh (see guinnes world records below) on its cover following his historic trans-atlantic flight. by the end of the year, it was decided that a cover story featuring lindbergh as the man of the year would serve both purposes.

in 1999, the title was changed to person of the year. since the list began, every serving president of the united states has been a man or person of the year at least once with the exceptions of calvin coolidge, herbert hoover, and gerald ford.

record-breaking american aviator charles lindbergh became the first person to be named time man of the year in 1927

[ guinness world records ] thunberg takes the crown of youngest time person of the year from us aviator charles lindbergh (1902–74). he received the accolade at the age of 25 years 332 days as of the 2 jan 1928 issue.

[ quotables ]

“we can’t just continue living as if there was no tomorrow, because there is a tomorrow, that is all we are saying.” – greta

“i want you to panic, i want you to feel the fear i feel every day. and then i want you to act.” – greta to the annual convention of ceos and world leaders at the world economic forum in davos, switzerland, in january.

“people are underestimating the force of angry kids. we are angry and frustrated, and that is because of good reason. if they want us to stop being angry then maybe they should stop making us angry.” – greta

“for sounding the alarm about humanity’s predatory relationship with the only home we have, for bringing to a fragmented world a voice that transcends backgrounds and borders, for showing us all what it might look like when a new generation leads, greta thunberg is time’s 2019 ‘person of the year.” – time’s editor-in-chief edward felsenthal penned a column explaining the choice.

brilliant decision for @time to choose @gretathunberg as its person of the year. greta embodies the moral authority of the youth activist movement demanding that we act immediately to solve the climate crisis. she is an inspiration to me and to people across the world. – @algore

“don’t let anyone dim your light, like the girls i’ve met in vietnam and all over the world, you have so much to offer us all.” – the former first lady michelle obama wrote on twitter

“so ridiculous,” “greta must work on her anger management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! chill greta, chill!” ~ donald j. trump

“a teenager working on her anger management problem. currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend.” – greta’s twitter bio in response to potus tweet

@gretathunberg @time @greenpeaceusa #climatestrike #fridaysforfuture #parentsforfuture #climate #climatechange

mary quant at the v&a museum in tandem with london design festival 2019.

Oct 23, 2019

the whole point of fashion is to make fashionable clothes available to everyone ~ mary quant 1966

dame mary quant defined the young, playful look of the 1960s, becoming britain’s best-known designer, a fashion icon, and a powerful role model for working women. harnessing an explosion in shopping and the media – in photography, graphics, journalism and advertising – she helped shape a forward-looking, innovative identity for post-war britain.

above > 1944 sketchbook by mary quant
made when quant was just 14, this sketchbook shows her early interest in drawing figures, here in the nostalgic style of mabel lucie atwell. in her 1966 autobiography, she recalled admiring a childhood friend’s short black skirt and tap shoes worn for dance lessons – the sort of clothes which later inspired her designs for the miniskirt.

above> courtesy of victoria and albert museum collection

quant was a self-taught designer, attending evening classes on cutting and adjusting mass-market printed patterns to achieve the looks she was after. once technically proficient, she initiated a hand-to-mouth production cycle: the day’s sales at bazaar paid for the cloth that was then made up overnight into new stock for the following day. the look was fresh and competitively priced.

1960-64 victorian-modern
quant combines victorian nineteenth century fashion with a fruitful source of inspiration often resulting in surprising styles which helped to get publicity for the mary quant brand.

above – below > early 60s – death of the debutante
snobbery has gone out of fashion / fashion editors endorse bazaar with its distinctive designs, witty window displays and jazzy fashion shows. quant’s shop becomes a destination for professional women seeking streamlined, modern fashion. buying a new dress is a new rite of passage for london’s fashionable elite, as aristocratic customs such as ‘deb of the year’ and court presentations become outdated.

above > 1960-64 – english eccentrics
like a good dancer, she accommodates her steps to the changing rhythms of fashion / quant brings an entertaining slant to fashion. repurposing victorian frills and childrenswear, she play with color and silhouettes. inspired by serviceable cottons and dependable woolens and tweads, she works directly with weavers and manufacturers in wales, wittshire, and yorkshire. at the same time she revives the boyish look of the 1920s flapper. he bewigged, gawky mannequins strike unusual poses in bazaar’s window displays, alongside props such as live goldfish, stuffed birds or dead lobsters. passerby stop to stare.

above > 1963-65 the ginger group
quant clothes at budget prices to buy a piece at a time / quant strides into new territory with her ginger group collection. the name is a political term for a pressure group, derived from the use of ginger as a verb to pep things up. the first ginger group collection is based on the american sportswear principle of interchangeable separates. with a new graphic identiy and a lower price point, the range provides countless mix-and-match possibilities combined wit the cachet of quant.

above > 1963 – 65 the wet collection
bewitched…with this super shiny man-made stuff and its shrieking colors…its gleaming liquorice black, white and ginger / quant launches her wet collection in april 1963 at the hotel de crillon, paris. the collection features a relatively new material called polyvinyl chloride (pvc), a shiny plastic-coated cotton which reflects increasing fascination and modernity. because of mass-production delays of sealing pvc seams the collection takes two years to launch on the high street.

above > 1966-75 style evolution
switching to the sounds of the seventies / having created the minimal look which defined the 1960s, quant’s style becomes eclectic and retrospective amid the economic and political uncertainties of the 1970s. still combining victorian details with bright colors and a clean modern finish.

above > 1965-75 liberated fashion
i didn’t have time to wait for women’s lib / in this time of growing activism and struggle for equal rights, quant has a visionary take on the role of women. her assertive, liberating minidresses express the changes of post-war-briton, giving women an independent style of their own. she credit’s her king’s road customers as her inspiration and the ones leading the feminist rebellion. in 1967, she describes the young as, ‘prototypes’ of a whole new race of women…it’s their questioning attitude that make them important and different.

above > 1966-73 girls will be boys
i didn’t want to grow up, perhaps that’s something to do with it / from 1966, tomboyish models like the teenaged twiggy promote the minidress-look in typical quant style: knock kneed in gawkish poses, often sporting cropped hair and resisting the constraints of adult stereotypes. these often provocative styles reflect increasingly relaxed attitudes in society towards sexuality in all its forms, reinforced legally by the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1967.

above > quant and vidal sassoon 1964

above > 1965-67 underwear
foundation garments needn’t be surgical. get a birthday suit and be your own sweet self (minus six pounds) / the silhouette of quant’s dresses requires a new kind of underwear or ‘foundation garment’. magazines aimed at adventurous young women feature ‘q-form’ worn by models in dynamic poses. the images promote unrestricted movement and the new ideal for a lithe, childlike physique. later these are replaced by quant’s simple ‘booby traps’ and knickers.

above > 1965-67 alligator rainwear
since when did the raincoat go wild? since mary quant designed for alligator / quant’s fascination with shiny, waterproof pvc is realized with her collaboration with alligator rainwear. alligator’s manufacturing expertise resolves the wet collection issues, allowing a new bright range of colors, capes, zips and contrasting collars.

above >1965-67 the jersey dress
i want free-flowing, feminine lines that compliment a women’s shape…i want relaxed clothes, suited to the actions of normal life / quant discovers a new type of wool jersey that’s heat-bonded to an acetate backing and available in the brightest, deepest colors. previously used in underwear and for rugby or football kit, jersey’s smooth, fluid qualities are perfect for quant’s signature sportry minidresses. worn with matching berets, tights and shoes giving a total top-to-toe block of color.

1962-66 the miniskirt
the shock of the knee / quant’s knee-skimming outfits are first noticed by the media in 1960. an emerging street style, shorter skirts develop in tandem with teenage dance crazes. quant’s designs, often based on practical schoolgirl pinafores, adapt the look for grown-ups with hemlines gradually rising to well above the knee. although exclusive paris couturier andré courreges achieves international publicity for the higher hemlines in 1964, quant, the female celebrity designer, becomes recognized as inventor and ambassador for the style. the miniskirt becomes an accepted part of fashion as well as an international symbol of london’s youthful look and of women’s liberation.

above > crêpe dress with frilled collar and cuffs by mary quant for ginger group, modeled by patti boyd with the rolling stones. photograph by john french, 1960s, london. museum no. ct64253. © victoria and albert museum, london

the above feature created from the victoria and albert museum‘s installation mary quant, open thru 16 february 2020

13 energizing all-electric vehicles for 2020 and 5 reasons why.

Oct 14, 2019

above > aston martin rapide e

the big automakers are eyeing electric because electric cars provide many benefits to drivers. here’s five:

1 > electric vehicles save you money
every electricity provider in the 50 largest us cities offers a rate plan that makes filling up on electricity cheaper than gasoline. view average savings in your city.

2 > electric vehicles cut your emissions
electric vehicles continue to get cleaner.

3 > electric vehicles offer a better driving experience
an electric engine provides a smooth instant torque with a responsive acceleration and deceleration and a low center of gravity. electric vehicles has been recognized in race series like formula e.

4 > electric vehicles cut your oil use
electric vehicles can cut u.s.a. oil use and offer a cleaner, better way to fuel transportation for everyone.

5 > electric vehicles are convenient
battery electric vehicles are mechanically much simpler than a conventional gasoline car.

we should see at least 15 new electric vehicles coming for the 2020 model year from both long-established automakers and high-tech start-up ventures:

aston martin rapide e < below >
a true exotic sports car. based on the low-slung rapide coupe, production will be limited to 155 units worldwide, with a sky-high sticker price. it’s expected to run for around 200 miles on a charge and register a 0-60 mph time of less than four seconds. all 155 units are already pre-sold.

audi volkswagen-based e-tron suv < below >
audi will borrow volkswagen’s meb electric platform for use in its own small suv. it will become the third e-tron model – following the 2019 e-tron suv and sportback variants. this yet-unnamed model is an affordable, high-volume baby e-tron. promising 220 miles on a single charge from a 95-kwh pack.

bmw ix3 < below >
an electric crossover is equipped with a 70-kwh battery pack providing about 220 miles of range on a single charge. a single electric motor produces 270 horsepower.

chevy bolt ev < below >
the 2020 ev delivers a 259-mile electric driving range* on a full charge, which is a 21-mile increase over the previous model. this 8.8% driving range increase comes with no physical changes to the battery pack. the 2020 chevy bolt ev will get two new exterior colors: cayenne orange metallic and oasis blue. $37,495.

ford’s mustang-inspired electric suv < below >
a 300-mile all-electric sporty five-seat crossover suv. the ev offers wireless home charging and over-the-air software updates.

kia soul ev < below >
a new 64 kwh liquid-cooled lithium ion polymer battery pack should deliver well in excess of 200 miles on a charge. power will be bumped up to 200 horsepower with 291 pound-feet of torque. it will come with four drive modes and four levels of regenerative braking, including a setting for one-pedal driving.

mercedes-benz eqa < below >
an electric version of the gla, the hatchback is inspired by the concept eqa shown at the 2017 frankfurt auto show, does 0-62mph figure in the region of five seconds, a proposed 60-kwh battery and up to 250 miles of driving range, based on european emissions tests.

mercedes-benz eqc < below >
an suv with two electric motors that combine for an output of 402 horsepower with 564 pound-feet of torque. all-wheel-drive will be standard, along with a long list of convenience, connectivity, and safety features. range projected at plus 250 miles. around $80,000.

polestar (volvo) 2 < below >
volvo is launching a new high-tech sub-brand this year called polestar. its first model, the polestar 1, will be a plug-in hybrid, but the polestar 2 is a full-electric luxury four-door hatchback. a targeted a range of 275 miles with two electric motors. all-wheel drive will come standard. a limited number at $155,000.

porsche taycan < below >
porsche’s first full-electric model will be an ultra-exotic battery-powered four-door sports car. listed at 62 mph (100 km/h) in 3.5 seconds, with 300 miles of range with a full battery, with the ability to recharge about 60 miles worth of energy in just four minutes. from $103,800.

rivian r1t < below >
startup rivian plans to introduce a futuristic-looking pickup truck for 2020 to be built in the former mitsubishi factory in normal, il. the r1t eyes a 400-mile range, with a quad-motor system for off-road adventures and 0-60 mph in three seconds on paved roads. starting at $62,000.

volkswagen id.4 < below >
a yet to be named all-electric crossover with three battery pack sizes offering between about 180 and 250 miles. an all-wheel-drive variant will also reportedly be available. about $30,000.

volvo xc40 electric < below >
in 2020, the first pure electric volvo will arrive in the form of a battery-powered xc40 small crossover. volvo executives hinted that the xc40 will offer about 250 miles of range – and come with a price tag below $50,000.

expo chicago 2019: expression vs communication look #2.

Sep 21, 2019

above > study for homage to the square / josef albers / david zwirner (new york, london, paris, hong kong) – booth 239 / 1954 – 1960

what is the difference between art and design? i think it comes down to function. design can have many functions, whereas art has one single function. the function of art.

the question of what’s the difference between art and design often comes up at art expositions, perfect launchpads for such a confabulation. in this instance, DesignApplause submits that architecture, design, and engineering are one and the same.

> “what is the difference between art and design? as it applies to graphic design, i will say that the difference between art and design or artist and designers, is expression vs communication. … expression is about the artist and their view, design is about the audience and viewer. expression can be abstract and intangible but design has to be clear for the most part.” ~ anonymous

> “when one attempts to define art, there will be an artist to prove it wrong. ‘art is beautiful’ art becomes ugly. ‘art is emotional’ art becomes emotionless. ‘art is form’ art becomes idea. that’s the problem, art will always shatter definitions.

having said that, i will ignore my own advice and take a crack. i think it comes down to function. design can have many functions, whereas art has one single function. the function of art. digging deeper, the art concept can be portrayed in many different ways. the function of art isn’t singular, its endless.

so design is applied art? or maybe an eames chair is a design object when you’re trying to sell it or sit in it, and an art object when you’re observing it, etc. ~ anonymous

DesignApplause asked galleries if their artists in this show pursued any architectural or design studies in their background. 25 of 39 (64%) galleries point out the following:

above > elevator / gregory scott / catherine edelman gallery (chicago) – booth 167 / 2019

gregory has always blurred the lines between painting and photography, incorporating paintings he did of himself, or his body, back into his photographs. the resulting images were both humorous and odd, challenging the viewer’s perception of photographic truth. then, at the age of 49, scott decided to go to graduate school to strengthen his knowledge of art history and video making. having successfully merged his love of painting and photographs, his interest turned to video and its ability to move and manipulate still images. he received his bachelor degree in graphic design from the institute of design at iit in chicago in 1979 and his master of fine art from indiana university in 2008.

/////

above > horizontal obeah golio / remy jungerman / fridman gallery (new york) – booth 365 / 2016-18

remy brings together motifs from the de stijl movement with the maroon culture and the winti religion of his native suriname. he is interested in the journey of patterns and textures across time periods and continents. in jungerman’s works, the pared-down, highly stylized forms and primary colors of dutch modernism with inspiration from masters artist/designer piet mondrian and designer gerrit rietveld.

/////

above >jigawatts / sarah pichilkostner / josh lilly gallery (london) – booth 249 / 2019

the long-term research by sarah is focused on the representation of energy, time, space, self-optimization, productivity, self-reflection and empathy created by objects. solutions involve an interest and understanding of mechanical engineering. through a deep study of the behavior of materials, that combines effortless contemporary methods with laborious and outmoded fabrication techniques, pichlkostner reflects on the social behavior of and towards objects.

/////

above > tropic of cancer II / john little / mccormick gallery (chicago) – vallarino fine art (new york) – booth 255 / 1960

john started as a very successful textile and wallpaper designer. in 1933 he began classes at the art students league with george grosz, painting mainly cezannesque landscapes and then with hans hofmann in both new york and provincetown, which pushed him towards abstraction and his first serious involvement as a painter. he also happened to be a neighbor of lee krasner and jackson pollock, whom he became close friends.

/////

above > flow / emi ozawa / richard levy gallery (albuquerque) – booth 424 / 2019

emi strategically arranges color, form, and shadow to create compositions that shift when viewed from different perspectives. originally from tokyo, she studied woodworking at the university of the arts in philadelphia and later an mfa in furniture design from risd.

/////

above > sound landscape / void /galerie papillon (paris) – booth 413 / 2019

two artists arnaud eeckhout and mauro vitturini founded void to use sound as a medium to represent reality. the medium give shape to move through different fields of design in the form of installations, sculptures, objects, videos, paintings, and performances.

/////

above > mappings / kay rosen / rené schmitt (berlin) – booth 132 / 2019

kay works with language using words and letters and strategically lays out the content to manipulate the meanings in a very clever and insightful way. though not formally trained as a graphic designer, her typography and design skills inspire.

/////

above > untitled / devin reynolds / royale projects (los angeles) – booth 272 / 2019

raised in venice, ca, reynolds grew up working on fishing boats, scavenging flea markets with his mother, and surfing crudely painted boards emulating artists such as drew brophy and sean spoto, memories that have greatly informed his practice. inspired by barry mcgee and margaret killgallen, his obsession with marking his alias on the sides of boxcars moved into the studio where graffiti still greatly informs the scale and application of materials used in his work today. reynolds left southern california for new orleans, la to study at tulane university where he received his ba in architecture.

/////

above > rossiniére / georges rousse / sous les etoliles gallery (new york) – booth 263 / 2015

georges has been a photographer since the age of 9 and evolved into architectural photography, inventing a unique approach that shifted the relationship of painting to space. he began making installations in the types of abandoned or derelict buildings that have long held an attraction for him – creating ephemeral, one-of-a-kind artworks by transforming these sites into pictorial spaces that are visible only in his photographs. he fits well into oscar niemeyer‘s definition of architecture, “”architecture is invention.”

/////

above > study for homage to the square / josef albers / david zwirner (new york, london, paris, hong kong) – booth 239 / 1954 – 1960

/////

above > corona & bar cabaret / robert cottingham / tandem press & apex gallery (madison) – booth 262 / 2015 & 2019

although robert is known for his photorealistic depictions of signs, storefront marquees, railroad boxcars and letter forms, he does not consider himself a photorealist artist. his imagery, while derived from the photographs he takes, expands on the photographic image, it does not replicate it. he received his bfa degree from the pratt institute. he later studied art at the arts center college of design.

[ expo chicago 2019: expression vs communication look #1 ]