How does one judge a car's styling? By studying how a design's shapes and curves catch the light, or by focusing on the interplay between the details and the broader form? How about feeling the bodywork with your hands? This is exactly how one styling award is judged at the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology's annual EyesOn Design car show; visually impaired and blind judges don white gloves and carefully run their hands over vehicles separated into various categories and decide which design is best in its class. This year's show took place yesterday, and the theme was "Designing for the Future." The charity show featured more than 200 cars on display by invitation only on the lawns of the sprawling Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan, estate of Edsel Ford.
The benefit refers to its visually impaired judges as Visionaries, and we think that their touch-based approach to gauging an automobile's design is a fascinating and intriguing alternative to sight for determining styling appeal. We were able to chat with two such judges at a media event held before the public show, and we found that they were definitely fans of older designs. Pre-1980s cars, and especially those from the ’50s and ’60s, pique their fancy because their intricate detailing and stylized bodywork is easy and pleasing to distinguish by touch. The Visionaries noted that contemporary vehicles condense their details into just a few styling elements such as head- and taillights—often under plastic or glass covers—and their bodywork is often a collection of subtle surface shifts designed to be set off by light playing across them, which isn't very interesting to explore with one's hands. During the judging process, the Visionaries move from car to car, mentally constructing the cars to determine which one they find the most successful before voting on a winner in each vehicle category.
The best part of the show, besides the Visionaries award and the revenue generated for raising awareness of—and aid for—the visually impaired, is that attendees aren't held back from the cars on display. There are no velvet ropes at EyesOn Design, and you can walk right up to the priceless exotics and prewar classics. Furthermore, the design exhibition on the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House lawns is but one event in a series of EyesOn Design happenings each year. This year's EyesOn Design featured a designer night that celebrated design talent, a black-tie gala that honored Volkswagen Group design chief Walter da Silva with a lifetime-achievement award, and this year's honorary chairman Ken Lingenfelter opened his personal collection to the public for yet another event. Check out the EyesOn Design website to see more, and if you find yourself in the Detroit area this time next year, the show is definitely worth attending. In the meantime, you can peruse the gallery below for some highlights from this year.
Photography by Alexander Stoklosa and Don Wood III.
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Source: http://blog.caranddriver.com/eyeson-design-charity-car-show-for-the-visually-impaired-need-not-be-seen-to-be-appreciated/
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