Politics is a big part of how we date online now
I don’t mean to make you feel old, but a majority of Tinder users are now younger than 25. The dating app is out with an end-of-year report showing not only how young it is, but how political its users are. In this issue, we’ll look at the politics of online dating, a new exhibition on the Mueller Report, and Pantone’s 2020 Color of the Year, Classic Blue. Meanwhile, House Democrats are out withtwo articles of impeachment, accusing President Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of justice.
Yours,
Politics is a big part of how we date online now
According to Tinder’s “Year In Swipe” report, causes or missions appeared in bios more than any other terms except “real” and “lit,” while “woke” was the No. 7 most used term.
There was a generational divide for how much users talked politics, though. Millennials were more likely to write about travel over causes in their bios, while Gen Z was the opposite. The top Gen Z causes were environment, social justice, and climate change.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was the top trending political figure on Tinder. Here are others who made the list:
The Mueller Report is becoming a traveling art show
Credit: Courtesy Ongoing Matter
The Mueller Report is dense and filled with redactions and legal jargon. A “design nightmare” is how Indiana University assistant professor of graphic design Sarah Edmands Martin put it. Hoping to make the report on Russian interference in the 2016 campaign more accessible, Martin and Cleveland State University assistant professor Anne H. Berry co-created the exhibition “Ongoing Matter,” which opened last week.
“We saw it as a design problem,” Martin told Yello about the report, so they asked a group of designers to read it and illustrate sections that stood out to them.
“Let’s try to engage with it and ask other people to engage with it,” she said.
Berry contributed a poster breaking down the difference between “conspiracy,” which the report touched on, versus “collusion,” which is not a legal term but one President Trump has used repeatedly to deny wrongdoing.
“This isn’t a vanity project,” Berry said. “We are hoping people will read the report.”
The exhibition includes 10 designers and they hope to include more as it travels. It’s currently open at Indiana University’s Grunwald Gallery of Art through December 14 before heading to the Krasl Art Center in St. Joseph, Mich., and Cleveland State University Galleries in Cleveland, Ohio. Artists and designers interested in contributing can contact them on their site.
Is this art or proof we need a wealth tax?
The breakout hit of Art Basel Miami Beach was undoubtedly the banana duct taped to a wall that sold for $120,000. Titled “The Comedian,” it was created by Maurizio Cattelan, the same artist who made an 18-karat gold toilet called “America” in 2017 that was offered to the White House as a long-term loan (the White House did not end up accepting, go figure). There were actually three bananas for sale, one of which was eaten by a performance artist. Another performance artist wrote “Epstien [sic] didn’t kill himself” in lipstick in the spot where the banana had been taped. The controversial piece inspired plenty of criticism, including Warren’s communications director, Kristen Orthman, who tweeted this:
Have yourself a very Banksy Christmas
Credit: @banksy
The street artist posted up his latest piece, showing reindeer pulling a bench where a man was filmed on in Birmingham, England. “In the 20 minutes we filmed Ryan on this bench passersby gave him a hot drink, two chocolate bars, and a lighter — without him ever asking for anything,” Banksy wrote.
The billionaires are spending a lot on ads
Credit: FiveThirtyEight
Like, a lot. In total, Tom Steyer has outspent the Democratic field on TV ads since January 1, and since the end of November, Michael Bloomberg has blown past everyone but Steyer.
Here’s a behind-the-scenes of the Kamala Harris visual identity
Credit: Wide Eye
After Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) dropped out of the presidential race last week, we got a behind-the-scenes look at her branding, courtesy Ben Ostrower, founder of the creative agency Wide Eye, which made Harris’ visual identity.
The entire process was a two-week sprint, Ostrower said, and a week into it, they sent a formal presentation to Harris and her husband that included a mood board of visual inspiration (above) with Shirley Chisholm campaign buttons, boxing posters, Amy Sherald’s “Grand Dame Queenie” of a woman holding a teacup, and a flower (Kamala means “lotus flower” in Sanskrit).
Credit: Wide Eye
Ostrower told Yello they explored a number of color options for the campaign, “but being more expressive about color was always part of the plan.” They named the campaign colors “Joyful Warrior Yellow,” “Future Blue,” “Patriot Red,” and “Honest Black.”
You can read Ostrower’s full thread here.
How do we feel about Classic Blue?
Pantone announced “Classic Blue” as its Color of the Year 2020 last week, and people had a lot of feelings. Some of the DMs I got: “Maybe it will help everyone chill the f*ck down,” “So … just blue … that’s all they could think of for 2020?,” “I can agree with this one,” and “Seriously thought it was gonna be yellow this year :/” (honestly, same).
Pantone called the color “timeless and enduring” and executive director Leatrice Eiseman said it expresses “constancy and confidence” during "a time that requires trust and faith.” What stood out to me was after a decade of jewel tones, Classic Blue is a back-to-basics primary color choice. What do you think?
With liberty green, Elizabeth Warren brands herself a new kind of Democrat
ICYMI, I published a story on the Warren campaign’s use of “Liberty Green.” Now I can’t stop seeing the color everywhere. You can read my story here.
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Cabbagetown features about half a mile of uninterrupted murals, and I caught the “Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech” exhibition at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art while I was in town too.