Looking Out #38
Luxury and grit, "car free" cities, Milan Design Week, and the state of culture in 2024
1 May, 2024
Welcome to Looking Out, a newsletter about the auto industry, mobility, design, and the cultures that surround us. Looking Out is brought to you by Joe Simpson and Drew Smith of The Automobility Group. If you like what you see, tell your friends!
Looking Out - The Podcast EP17
Recorded before Elon decided to fire the whole Supercharger team (and before even that weird earnings call), we decided to revisit our most incendiary episode yet to see what’s happened to the EV market in the last 6 months, and how our thoughts about its future have and haven’t changed.
Auto
Rivian’s Jeff Hammond on balancing Luxury and Grit
Why it’s interesting: Following the recent unveil of the R2 and R3, Hammoud talks about how Rivian will go forward, their design reference points, and answers questions on everything from colour, to character and stretching the brand with R3. Worthy of nine minutes of your time.
Why China is defeating Tesla
Why it’s interesting: If it’s not Musk himself that’s defeating Tesla (and firing the entire supercharger team would seem to be just that sort of move), it’s the march of Chinese brands that pose the greatest threat. Noahpinion has some thoughts on how they’re doing it.
Pair with: Elon Musk goes absolutely hardcore in another round of Tesla layoffs
Xiaomi’s SU7 is the car of the moment
Why it’s interesting: Lines that tailed around the expo hall to get onto the show stand and seven month waitlists are unheard of in China, but that’s what Xiaomi’s SU7 has achieved. This video highlights the aftermarket hardware accessories that Xiaomi is offering, but it’s the deep level of integration into a digital eco-system which is really the car’s trump card.
From Alfa to Zeekr - an A to Z of automotive UI in Beijing
Why it’s interesting: MBition Designer, Matthias Grotzke gives a fascinatingly complete overview of the UI/UX on display from the recent Beijing auto show in his LinkedIn roundup.
Mobility
Stop calling it car-free!
Why it’s interesting: Robert Joseph Martin, car-free city advocate, architect and urban planner, describes the problems with advocating for “car-free” cities. He highlights how so much of the current mobility dialogue unwittingly pits similarly-minded people against each other. He also illustrates how what happens in the mobility space will depend just as much on language and communication as it will on the design of schemes and vehicle choices.
LA Votes for Bus, Bike and Pedestrian Fixes as Traffic Deaths Rise
Why it’s interesting: We often think of mobility plans that prioritise pedestrians, micromobility, and public transit as the preserve of cities like London, or Paris, or Berlin. But in the face of increasing fatalities, the citizens of that car-addicted Mecca of Los Angeles have voted overwhelmingly to tip the balance in favour of more humane and equitable streetscapes. Hundreds of miles of bike lanes in LA. Who’d have thought…
Pair with: Apartment Developers In LA Are Slashing Costs By Getting Rid Of Parking. Some Neighbors Aren’t Happy
Is Minimum Viable Car a Pipedream?
Why it’s interesting: Some critical analysis from friend-of-Looking Out Alex Mitchell on the likelihood of what you might call minimobility (think products Citroen’s Ami or Renault’s Twizy replacement) ever reaching critical mass. As ever, the answer is highly context-dependent, especially when it comes to crash compatibility with other vehicles.
Design
Missed Milan? Here’s a summary of takes
Why it’s interesting: Salone — sorry Milan Design Week — came back with a bang this year, but if you missed it, we’d recommend this hot take from Domus, and summary of the must-sees from designboom. Joe was in Milan, and we’ll be covering this year’s design week as part of a future podcast.
Visualising Research Using Framework Darwinism
Why it’s interesting: One for the design research geeks among us. Jan Chipchase gives some insight in to how his studio creates quick-and-dirty frameworks for sense-making throughout the project.
Jean Nouvel on Paris, beyond the Olympics
Why it’s interesting: Father of some of the more notable Grand Projets, (the Institut du Monde Arab is still a stand out building in this newsletter’s eyes), Architects Jean Nouvel talks Paris and the history of the city, and how it will be impacted and evolved by the Olympics - so often a force for redevelopment and change.
AI Art is The New Stock Image
Why it’s interesting: Drew’s been helping a few startups with their presentations recently and it’s fair to say that — just as the title of this article suggests — AI art has become the new stock image. And it’s rapidly become just as cliched. This is a nice critique of the genre by software design studio iA (who happen to make Drew’s favourite presentation software).
Pair with: Is Every Picture Worth a Thousand Words?
Culture
Image: Ted Gioia
The State of the Culture, 2024
Why it’s interesting: Ted Gioia — aka The Honest Broker — and his newsletter are one of my favourite discoveries of the past 12 months or so. A jazz critic and musical historian, he’s also a keen observer of popular culture and its ebbs and flows. This piece explores how Silicon Valley has replaced art and entertainment with distraction and addiction.
Creator brands: Brands that make culture
Why it’s interesting: This starts off as a piece from friend-of-Looking Out Grant McCracken exploring how brands can either be in tune with culture or make culture. But its tastiest little nugget is about the valuable role that designers can play in creating this cultural interplay. And, with one eye to Joe’s link about Milan, it takes more than just going to the trade shows, looking at pretty things, and speaking to people largely like ourselves. We actually need to engage with the real world if we’re to have any chance of shaping or, indeed, making the culture within it.
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That's it for this issue. We love feedback (positive and negative), and to answer any questions you have. So email Joe or Drew and we’ll get back to you.