Giles Hoover

Photography and design for print production

Category: Lifestyle

Design, art, photography, and book design often involve a certain lifestyle, and those items generally get categorized as such here on Foreword. (That said, it might just be life in general, too.)

  • Beautifully Briefed 24.10: Content with Worthwhile Content

    Beautifully Briefed 24.10: Content with Worthwhile Content

    “Content,” that is, the feeling of satisfaction — contentedness — is a word I’d much rather use than “content,” that which is required of folks who produce material for their website/YouTube channel/social media feed/whatever. It’s a shame the world favors the latter over the former.

    Or does it? We’ll get to that — right in the midst of the other content that caught my eye in October, 2024.

    Adobe Content Credentials, Continued

    Adobe’s positive messaging continues, saying “[it is] dedicated to responsibly developing tools that empower creators to express themselves and tell their stories while helping address their concerns.” It even carried out a study to get some feedback from creatives on generative AI and one of the standout insights was rising concerns over unauthorised sharing of their work or misattribution with 91% of creators seeking a reliable method to attach attribution to their work.

    Bring on Adobe Content Authenticity. It’s a “powerful new web application that helps creators protect and get recognition for their work.”

    A screenshot of Adobe Content Authenticity website.

    In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, creators are understandably concerned about safeguarding and gaining attribution for their work and having more control over how it’s used. That’s why we’re excited to introduce Adobe Content Authenticity, a new, free web app that allows creators to easily attach Content Credentials to their digital work — helping you protect your work, show attribution and better connect with your audiences online.

    —Andy Parson, Senior Director, Content Authenticity Initiative, Adobe

    For now, it’s limited to a beta Chrome extension, with a wider beta opening to the general public in spring 2025. (I don’t use Chrome, but have signed up to the waitlist, and will update Foreword readers when I hear back.) Content Credentials are already available in Photoshop and Lightroom — provided you’re using the latest versions, which may require the latest OS.

    Three on Book Design
    PBS on del Rey

    I’d known the publishing house since . . . well, as long as I can remember. What I’d not known is the story behind the publishing house:

    Set aside thirteen minutes when you can — absolutely worth it.

    Multi-Panel Book Covers

    I agree with Jason Kottke: “Bento Books” is the term. A great example:

    Book design by Oliver Munday.

    Here’s the impetus discussing this latest book design trend, with many more examples.

    It’s Nice That: Book Design in Brazil
    Book design by Bloco Gráfico.

    Any foreigner entering a bookshop in São Paulo is likely to be impressed by the quality of the books on display. For a country with relatively few readers, few high quality printers and binders, and a very limited assortment of paper, the Brazilian publishing market shows remarkable graphic ingenuity[.]

    — Elaine Ramos, It’s Nice That

    Never mind the country, the great book design caught my attention: from The Great Gatsby, above, to the J.M. Coetzee series, Orwell’s 1984, even Melville — amongst others. A great read.

    Special Bonus #1: Life outside the internet . . . and physical books, please:

    “The whole internet social complex … and the way people use their computers to conduct life is doomed sooner than later,” said Justin Murphy, the founder of the media and education company Other Life. “The smartest people, the people who are the most cutting-edge, will increasingly live their lives outside of computers.”

    Whether or not that’s true — or even a potential — isn’t as relevant as an actual trend: physical book sales are up:

    Print, too, is on the rise, from books to magazines to newspapers. Print book sales had a pop with the pandemic in 2020, and have continued to maintain sales of more than 750 million units sold each year. Meanwhile, even though they’re cheaper, sales for ebooks are down slightly, which may be owed to the fact that younger readers, much like older generations, overwhelmingly prefer printed formats.

    — Zoë Bernard, Vox

    Flip phones, vinyl LPs, and . . . books: Read the whole article.

    See also: The Guardian: Bookstores are Suddenly Cool.

    50 Fonts for 2025

    CreativeBoom is out with their annual post on future type, “50 fonts that will be popular with creatives [next year].” Some of my favorites (links in captions):

    Editorial New, by Pangram Pangram.
    Nave, by Jamie Clark Type. (Bonus points for the great illustration.)
    Right Grotesk, especially the Casual flavor, by Pangram Pangram.
    Canvas Inline, designed by Ryan Martinson from Yellow Design Studio. Available through Adobe Fonts.
    Ssonder, from Type of Feeling. (Easily the most on-trend of my highlighted items.)

    An honorable mention goes to Gamuth Sans, from Production Type. See CreativeBoom’s 2025 popular fonts list here. (Note: some are available through Google Fonts, and thus free-to-use. Nice.)

    See also: Two more from CreativeBoom on the 2025 type scene: font trends and independent foundries.

    Photography that causes content
    Forest Fireflies

    From This is Colossal, we have Kazuaki Koseki, who describes himebotaru — fireflies — as “artists who paint light on the forest.”

    From the series “Summer Faeries” by Kazuaki Koseki.

    Artistry, all right. See more.

    Epson International Pano Awards

    The 2024 Pano Awards have been announced, with a wealth of great wide-angle shots for your viewing pleasure. Two of my favorites:

    “Storm Dump,” by Tom Putt. Taken near Wyndham, Western Australia.
    “Uprooted,” by Nickolas Warner. Taken in Moab, Utah.

    Epson’s rules are a little looser than some, but don’t diminish the sheer creativity displayed by the entrants. See coverage from PetaPixel or This is Colossal, or go to the source for the full list.

    Siena Creative Photo Awards 2024

    Just one favorite to highlight here, but what a favorite it is:

    “Storm on the Elbe,” by Anna Wacker. 1st Prize, Architecture.

    See some amazing sleeping bears — and much more — at the PetaPixel post or the full list at the Siena contest website.

    Architecture MasterPrize

    Few contests are more up my alley than this one, which inspires me to get back out there sooner rather than later:

    Kaktus Tower, Copenhagen, by Shoayb Khattab. See more from this series.
    “Fragments,” taken at the Nhow Hotel, Amsterdam, by Max van Son. See larger.

    Awesome. Meanwhile, the below caught my attention not due to the striking photograph, but the striking content — which, indeed, caused contentedness. Such a huge change to anyone who might recognize this former hulk, now beautifully refurbished and in a new park setting:

    “Michigan Central Station,” Detroit, by Jason Keen. See the full series here.

    See the post from PetaPixel or the full list of 2024 winners at the Architecture Masterprize 2024 website.

    Special Bonus #2: To close us out on this Halloween, the moon:

    Photograph by Darya Kawa Mirza. See more.
  • Beautifully Briefed 24.3: Bloomin’ Breadth

    Beautifully Briefed 24.3: Bloomin’ Breadth

    The end of March here in Middle Georgia means flowers aplenty, and usually with that, some photography — but I’ve not yet had a chance. (Stay tuned.) I have, however, been saving up links o’ interest: fonts, books, photography, and new(ish) car logos. Let’s go!

    Kottke Meets 2024

    Starting with one of the very few places that is still around from Foreword’s old days, the always-interesting Jason Kottke:

    2024 marks Kottke.org’s 26th year on the ’net.

    Great new looks for great content, with better Quick Links — the previews are ace — and incredibly-appreciated gift links to places like The New York Times and The Atlantic. If you haven’t been in a while, click and enjoy.

    Fab Spring Type

    With “a plethora of captivating new typefaces,” CreativeBoom celebrates spring with 11 new faces to tempt, inspire, and bring joy:

    Arillatype.Studio brings us a thousand glyphs of greatness.

    Zanco, with its bell-bottom style; Seabirds, inspired by 1930s book covers; Module, a “fluke side hustle;” and Graffeur, improvised from gaffer tape and glimpsed in this post’s header image, are all great. My far-and-away favorite, though, is At Briega, “inspired by the concept of hybridisation” and shown above.

    See ’em all here.

    Literary Three-Fer
    M.C. Escher’s Lesser-Known Works
    “The Drowned Cathedral,” a 1929 woodcut.

    “Unique perspective” never does justice to someone whose name defines the term. See some never-before-seen images alongside old favorites in a new Escher book highlighted at Hyperallergic.

    Multidimensional Libri

    “Experimental books are flourishing, [a]nd the evidence is seen” in this Daily Heller from PRINT: a traveling exhibition on three-dimensional books, all published titles.

    Oh, those Italians. Read on.

    Book Design Snobbery
    Hoover vs. Atwood — no joke.

    “Don’t get held back from the simple pleasures of reading,” argues Natalie Fear at CreativeBloq, “not everything needs to be minimalist.” Justification for commercialism or a common-sense explanation for the bookshelves’ current look? You decide.

    Photography Three-Fer
    Winners of Monochromatic Minimalism
    “Black Pearl” by Sascha Kohne. An honorable mention for the magazine, but a winner for me.

    Some incredibly good stuff here — but perhaps more importantly, did you know of Black & White Minimalism Magazine? There’s no end to today’s continued diversification, methinks.

    “Traveling through Costa da Morte, Galicia. 600m above sea level where the mountains separate the Cantabria sea from the Atlantic Ocean,” explains third-place winner Alexandre Caetano.
    Aging Facades of France

    “Shuttered blinds, peeling paint, and aging doors don’t usually indicate an invitation, but for French photographer Thibaut Derien, the fading facades of long-closed shops are well worth a stop,” This is Colossal says.

    Sony Photography Awards: Architecture
    The Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (City of Arts and Sciences) in Valencia, Spain: “Hemispheric,” by Eng Tong Tan, Malaysia.

    ArchDaily‘s coverage of the annual Sony awards shortlist announcement was an insta-click.

    New Bull: Now Flat. (And a BMW.)

    Lamborghini practically defines flamboyant. So it’s worth a link when their logo gets less interesting:

    Old logo, left, new, right.

    Late at following the industry trend of flat-is-better, because, well, Volkswagen. (Okay, I undersell. Perhaps.) Read the lack of news at Motor11Motor1 also has a decent roundup of new car logos, from 2016-present, which underscores the “flatness” trend. or The Drive, where they manage to convey the brand’s use of the phrase “digital touchpoints.”

    I don’t know whether this will make any more sense in a few or even many months — which is relevant because of BMW. Four years ago, one of the industry’s design leaders expressed strong this new style, and I didn’t get it. But it’s worn better than most, and superlatively on occasion — check out the logo’s use on the Vision Neue Klasse X:

    Rather than a standalone, plastic part sitting on the paint, it’s etched into the finish. Man, I hope that makes it into production.

    Neue Klasse: do like. Bull? No so much.

    Update, 2 April: BrandNew, itself sporting a new look, has weighed in on the new Lambo style, calling it “not good.” (FYI, BrandNew is a subscription, quite possibly the best $20/year someone interested in design can spend.)

    • 1
      Motor1 also has a decent roundup of new car logos, from 2016-present, which underscores the “flatness” trend. ↩︎
  • Beautifully Briefed 23.8: Summer Stew

    Beautifully Briefed 23.8: Summer Stew

    The August heat is met with some refreshingly cool items for you this time: beloved movies reimagined as vintage paperbacks, graphic design on the Internet Archive, and winners of the 2023 iPhone photography awards. Plus, a bit on social media that hopefully won’t leave an aftertaste. Let’s dig in.

    “Good Movies as Old Books”

    This is Colossal points us to an extraordinary personal project by graphic designer Matt Stevens: classic, acclaimed movies visualized as vintage paperback books. Everything about these spells “win.”

    From the aged look, illustration choices, and director-as-author to the logo and occasional price, these are all … perfect.

    Volume One is 100 titles, and while that book is sold out, prints are available at his website. The items in Volume Two, due this month, are guaranteed to be awesome.

    Graphic Design on the Internet Archive
    Emigre #20 – Expatriates. Courtesy of the Internet Archive via archive.digital.

    Another treasure via Jason Kottke:

    archives.design is a labor of love site run by Valery Marier where she collects graphic design related materials that are available to freely borrow, stream, or download from the Internet Archive. I’ve only scratched the surface in poking around, but so far I’ve found Olivetti brochures, a collection of theater programs from the 19th and early 20th centuries, several Apple things, The Vignelli Canon, a specimen book of wood type from the 1880s, and many issues of Emigre. What a resource!

    Jason Kottke, kottke.org
    An advertising brochure for the Olivetti Tetractys, circa 1956.

    Some of these are fantastic — set aside some time to explore and enjoy.

    2023 iPhone Photography Winners

    I don’t always link to these contests — it often seems like the publicity (and rights!) are all about the folks holding the contest rather than the people entering them — but I often look, and am always impressed with the quality coming out of a “simple” iPhone.

    Long Nguyen, France – 1st Place, Travel – “Last Night before Xmas”
    Scott Galloway, United States – 1st Place, Nature – “Wonder Wheel”

    And while both of the above are (relatively) recent phones, in the latter case showing the macro capabilities of an iPhone 12 Pro Max, even older phones can highlight the talent of the person using it:

    Derek Hager, United States – 3rd Place, Photographer of the Year – “Tucson Morning”

    Shot on a 2017 iPhone X. Nice.

    See all the winners, for 2023 and years past, at IPPAwards.com. (Via PetaPixel.)

    A Moment Regarding Social Media

    I’m not going to spend much time on this; I eschewed pretty much all forms of social media years ago now, and don’t regret it. That said, I do keep up with social media in the meta sense (a word that’s been stolen, as far as I’m concerned, by — wait for it — a social media company), and have noted the pain and concern associated with the implosion of Twitter.

    While this conversation started with Nick Heer and the always-excellent Pixel Envy, it’s obviously evolved as the year has seen one extraordinary cage fight event after another.

    Threads on Apple’s App Store, via the BBC.

    For the past decade, It’s been all but required for serious brands to maintain a social media presence […] yet instead of scrambling to claim digital real estate across all these newly emerging platforms, some companies are choosing to be more judicious about which platforms they choose to join. In some cases, they’re learning from brands who jumped the social media ship years ago.

    Chris Stokel-Walker, BBC

    The quote above, from the BBC, attempts to answer the question, “Why your favourite brand may be taking a social media break.” Short answer: it’s complicated. I’d argue there’s an even shorter answer — it’s smart! — but for people and brands that aren’t yet established, social media is often key to discoverability.

    This may be especially true for artists, designers, photographers, and others in the self- and small-business-employed creative field. Indeed, let’s go to a great source for those in the arena, Creative Boom, who recently spent a minute asking, “Creatives are saying social media is over… so what next?”

    Like any new craze, it was fun for a while. But there’s certainly nothing new about it any more. Facebook’s now been around for almost two decades. Twitter’s 17 years old. Even Instagram has reached its teens. And while many of us joined these platforms during their fun, “anything goes” eras, when everything was about the users, now it’s all about the algorithms and their use to make venture capitalists vast amounts of money.

    Tom May, Creative Boom

    While I agree that social media is a mess and has been for a while, I’m absolutely not going to tell you to give it up — only to remind you that I have given it up and continue to be completely okay with the decision.

    I do want to ask you, though, to choose wisely:

    Facebook’s “Threads (an Instagram app),” their answer to the Twitter/X debacle, as shown via Apple’s iOS App Store privacy report.
    Tapbot’s “Ivory,” available in Apple’s iOS App Store and showing that app’s privacy report, for the Mastodon social platform.

    Enough said. Turn off the computer, go forth, and enjoy a beautiful summer’s day.

  • Updated Gallery: Columbus, Georgia

    Updated Gallery: Columbus, Georgia

    Gerald and I were in Georgia’s lower Chattahoochee River valley yesterday, visiting the city of Columbus — and ran across a couple of treasures. Naturally, there was a camera handy.

    The first is the best restaurant I’ve enjoyed in a long while: The Animal Farm.

    The Animal Farm, 105 W. 12th St.

    If you’re in or going to be going to Columbus anytime soon, I cannot recommend it highly enough. The food was superlative, the service excellent, and the ambiance simultaneously upscale, casual, and fresh.

    The second — and no less tasty — stop was the Ma Rainey Museum of the Blues. This period house downtown is small but demonstrates a remarkable comeback from the (literal) wreckage they started with in the ’90s. I’d originally wanted to return to the Columbus Museum, but it’s being renovated; Gerald’s suggestion here was pitch-perfect.

    Ma Rainey House, 805 5th Ave.
    Ma Rainey House Marker, 805 5th Ave.
    Bust and Albums, Ma Rainey House, 805 5th Ave.
    Record Player Detail, Ma Rainey House, 805 5th Ave.

    Inside, Gerald and I enjoyed a lengthy conversation with Xavier, a guide who was knowledgeable and enthusiastic; he absolutely made us want to explore more blues history. (I’m also going to be listening to some Ma Rainey on Tidal.)

    Meanwhile, gallery of Columbus photographs is deep and varied, spanning almost fifteen years and 180 items — check it out.

    As always, thanks for visiting.

    Update: Gerald’s take on the day.

  • Beautifully Briefed 23.3: Kottke’s 25, The Book Cover Review, B&N Back to its Roots, The End of Type 1 Fonts, and I Don’t Want to Log In

    Beautifully Briefed 23.3: Kottke’s 25, The Book Cover Review, B&N Back to its Roots, The End of Type 1 Fonts, and I Don’t Want to Log In

    This time, the twenty-fifth anniversary of one of my favorite websites, a new book cover review site, an interview with B&N’s CEO, the end of Type 1 fonts, and a world-class rant.

    Kottke Turns 25
    “Fine Hypertext Products,” indeed.

    Jason Kottke has been publishing a blog continuously for twenty-five years — more than half his life — and along the way, earned many an eye. (It’s been a full-time job since 2005.) Some of his thoughts from the anniversary post:

    My love for the web has ebbed and flowed, but mainly it’s persisted — so much so that as of today, I’ve been writing kottke.org for 25 years. A little context for just how long that is: kottke.org is older than Google. 25 years is more than half of my life, spanning four decades (the 90s, 00s, 10s, and 20s) and around 40,000 posts — almost cartoonishly long for a medium optimized for impermanence.

    I had a personal realization recently: kottke.org isn’t so much a thing I’m making but a process I’m going through. A journey. A journey towards knowledge, discovery, empathy, connection, and a better way of seeing the world. Along the way, I’ve found myself and all of you. I feel so so so lucky to have had this opportunity.

    — Jason Kottke, Kottke.org

    Cited here often, always brimming with interesting items, and a regular source of learning, Jason deserves massive congratulations. Happy 25! Here’s to many more.

    Bonus: Kottke was a guest on Daring Fireball’s The Talk Show. Check the links — Textism! — and enjoy a trip down blogging’s memory lane.

    The Book Cover Review
    NYT? No, English, actually.

    FastCompany points us to a new and interesting cover review site: mostly classic titles, covered in ~500 words “from a range of voices around the world.” Good stuff, with a NYT Book Review look and feel, updated regularly. Give it a try.

    The Verge interviews B&N’s CEO
    Decode B&N with James Daunt

    I’m not a regular listener of The Verge’s Decoder — it’s usually business-centric, going so far as to describe itself as secretly about org charts — but this one’s interesting: an interview between Nilay Patel and Barnes and Noble CEO James Daunt. They cover changes at B&N (with emphasis on why) and, of course, the elephant in any room:

    [Amazon is] really terrible at putting a book in front of you that you never thought you’d want to read, that you have no reason to read and no tether to at all. Whereas a bookstore is precisely the place that does that. You pick up the book that you never thought you would want to read, might read, or could even think about reading, by an author you’ve never even heard of until that moment. When a bookseller says, “Look at that,” “Read that when you next come in,” or “I love that,” or whatever it is, all those small, little recommendations are personal and able to attach themselves to books that otherwise have nothing going for them at all.

    — James Daunt, CEO, B&N

    Props to The Verge for providing a full transcript, especially helpful for folks who would rather read the interview than listen to it. Whether you want to read or listen, though, book lovers in the US should take in this interview.

    Adobe Discontinues Type 1 Support
    Flying Suitcases.

    Back in the old days, Type 1 fonts were the backbone of desktop publishing. They were multi-part, often incomplete or corrupted, and always getting in the way of perfect print output — and yet beautiful and opening never-before-appreciated horizons of possibility for your projects.

    Now, in these days of OpenType, Google Fonts, and digital output, Adobe has taken the decision to discontinue support for the legacy Type 1 format. TypeNetwork has the full story, along with some options, and there are other converters if you need ’em.

    Bonus: TypeNetwork also has all of the Adobe Originals, from back when Adobe was your go-to instead of the corporate behemoth. Classy classics: see the list.

    The end of an era. (Via BrandNew.)

    The Perfect Rant: Solved
    There’s a park calling your name.

    One more from The Verge: “I don’t want to log in to your website.” The surge of login and email requests before being allowed to read “free” content is addressed brilliantly:

    So what we’re looking at here is creating a worse user experience in order to pursue a variety of scummy money-making schemes. And that sucks because there are no real public spaces on the internet. Here in reality, I can fuck off to a park and hug a tree and sit on a bench and do stuff without ads, without anyone trying to track me, and without having to pay a dime. There was a time within my memory when people tried to make websites feel like semipublic places — you could hang out on someone’s cool blog and enjoy yourself. 

    —Elizabeth Lopatto, The Verge

    Read the whole thing, nod in agreement, and go enjoy that park.

  • Beautifully Briefed, Holiday Edition (Late December, 2022): Nick Heer, Jason Kottke, Stealing Sheep, a Landscape Photograph, and Some Old Logos

    Beautifully Briefed, Holiday Edition (Late December, 2022): Nick Heer, Jason Kottke, Stealing Sheep, a Landscape Photograph, and Some Old Logos

    “The Bleak Cycle”

    I don’t usually think it’s fair to quote another blog post in its entirety, and I certainly won’t make a habit of it. With that out of the way, the always-interesting Pixel Envy, written by Nick Heer, hits us with a doozy — one that, due to its length and depth, requires the complete quote:

    The Bleak Cycle

    It’s a cycle. People create something, together, that reflects their energy and weird work; that thing becomes compelling as a result, and that makes it valuable, and at some point someone puts a price on it and someone else pays that price. It is at that moment that the thing begins to change. The new owner will almost always decide that what is most interesting about this thing is not the human essence that gave it value, but The Owner Himself, and will act accordingly. People will come back for the valuable stuff until the owner succeeds in crowding it out; when that crowding is done, the owned thing dies. Until then, what’s left is just what’s valuable—the humanity and brilliance and unpredictability and fun that all that cynical and idiotic and self-serving wealth is always and everywhere busy replacing with itself. There’s nothing to do but look for the good stuff until the looking becomes too challenging, or until it’s gone.

    David Roth, Defector

    Heer writes in response: “You may disagree with Roth’s headline thesis — ‘everything is Silicon Valley now’ — or his tie-in with the story du jour, Twitter, or his analysis of baseball’s problems. But the paragraph above? That is something to keep pinned in your brain. For most of us, it is a reminder to be wary of how things are changed in exploitative ways; for those in power, it should be seen as a cautionary pattern.”

    Pinned.

    Kottke is Back!

    After a few months off, Jason Kottke is back in the blogger’s seat to enrich all of our lives. As someone who’s been reading for years — he started in 1998, and I’m certain his site was in the blogroll of the old Foreword, back in the Aughts.

    Fine hypertext products indeed: Kottke.org, December, 2022.

    We might be waiting a while for his so-called “comically long what I did on sabbatical post,” but his Sabbatical Media Diet post is a gold mine of to-read and to-watch items.

    Welcome back, sir. May you blog for many seasons more.

    Stop Stealing [Free] Sheep

    No, not that — the type book:

    From Kottke, while we’re on the subject, one of his Quick Links from Dec 20th: “Google Fonts is offering a free download of the newly updated 4th edition of Erik Spiekermann’s Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works.” It’s a PDF, available now.

    9th Annual Landscape Photography Awards

    It’s fair criticism to say that I both decry photography contests and yet sometimes celebrate the results. But…:

    “The Winding Journey” by Max Rive, Border Between Chile And Argentina, Patagonia

    Wow. I couldn’t not highlight that photograph.

    Many more at the source. (Via DPReview.)

    Oldest Logos Still in Use

    Image Relay has an interesting item showing how long some familiar logos have been used — and, yeah, there’s a reason they’re familiar!

    The black triangle is when the company was founded, and the bar indicates how long a logo with elements still used today has been around.

    That’s but a sample of the complete listing; shown are nos. 3–8. Coca-Cola, the company I’d probably name if asked for the oldest logo, is no. 12. Click through for the rest.

    That’s it for this year

    Foreword will be back in January with our annual first-of-the-year best-of: my favorite book covers of 2022. Happy holidays, everyone!

    Top image: Tree Lights, December 2020, downtown Macon, Georgia.

  • Beautifully Briefed, Automotive Edition (December 2022): Audi, Lancia, Kia, and Mercedes-Benz

    Beautifully Briefed, Automotive Edition (December 2022): Audi, Lancia, Kia, and Mercedes-Benz

    This time, it’s three automotive logos . . . and Mercedes’ accounting department, plus a holiday bonus. Joy to the Auto!

    New Audi Logo Falls Flat

    Audi’s “Four Rings” have been around for a long time — since Auto Union was formed, ninety years ago:

    Now Audi follows the pack (see VW, Mini, Volvo, etc.) and converts their logo from three-dimensional to two; the rings now are either white and framed by a thin black border or dark grey with black borders.

    Four-ring closeup. (It’s hiding sensors, too.)

    Not an improvement, IMHO. One of the articles mentions the concept of “a consequence of digitalization,” and think that’s about as good a description as you’re gonna get.

    The change will roll out starting with the updated Q8 e-tron — which, thankfully, still looks good:

    Even better in Sportback form:

    Dezeen has the best coverage of Audi’s new logo, but see also Motor1 and CarScoops for more pictures.

    Lancia Debuts … a Mouse

    Okay, it’s not really — it’s a conceptual sculpture, titled “Pu+Ra Zero,” that represents their rebirth:

    They call it a “a three-dimensional manifesto,” and no, I don’t get it either. (The light signatures and, apparently, the circular sunroof will carry through to the new models, however.) The logo, their eighth in 116 years, is new as well:

    I didn’t know Lancia well (only in passing? Eh. —Ed.) until the famous Top Gear segment naming them “the Greatest Car Manufacturer of All Time,” although I knew of the Delta Integrale — and think that the Fulvia is one of the prettiest sedans ever:

    The 1972 Lancia Fulvia

    Let’s hope their new models, and conversion to an all-electric manufacturer, lives up to their past achievements. Meanwhile, The Autopian has the best roundup of the new Lancia.

    Kia, KN, and … Wait, What?

    30 thousand folks a year are doing Google searches for “the KN car.” Why? Kia’s logo, of course:

    Thankfully, the Autopian to the rescue:

    I’m not a huge fan of the new Kia logo — and can absolutely see the “KN problem” — but I think it speaks more to modern society that this is a news item than anything related to graphic design. Willing to be wrong.

    Mercedes: $1200/yr for Full Output

    This subscription thing has gotten seriously out of hand: Mercedes-Benz USA, in an effort to further bilk their customers — ’cause, y’know, MBs don’t cost enough — has decided that the last 60-110 horsepower available on their 2023 electric vehicles are only available for a yearly fee.

    The MB EQS gets even less attractive.

    Gak.

    Holiday Bonus: Free Online Automotive Design

    Interested in car design? Happy Holidays.