Before 
After
I couldn't let this one go. As you may have noticed, I'm a Graphic Designer, and I've produced some pieces of work over the years that weren't quite as considered and cohesive as they might have been , and some which were blatantly half-arsed in their execution. But even I wouldn't have the cheek to deliver Audi's "new" corporate logo and expect them to pay me for it.
The new rendering of the much vaunted four rings is all well and dandy, and manages to give them a more realistic, 3 dimensional look than the older logo, but the new typography is utterly atrocious. Apparently it's a newly designed typeface called Audi Type, commissioned by Audi and designed by MetaDesign. Now, that's all well and good, but it doesn't stop the new typeface from looking very much like Verdana with the tracking increased and the X-height squished down.
The new rendering of the much vaunted four rings is all well and dandy, and manages to give them a more realistic, 3 dimensional look than the older logo, but the new typography is utterly atrocious. Apparently it's a newly designed typeface called Audi Type, commissioned by Audi and designed by MetaDesign. Now, that's all well and good, but it doesn't stop the new typeface from looking very much like Verdana with the tracking increased and the X-height squished down.
The question is, did the logo actually need updating? My opinion on that is yes and no. The rings on the older logo are a little bit flat and two dimensional, but the typography is very, very distinctive and so closely associated with the brand that I find it very surprising that they decided to replace it with something so crushingly nondescript. Sure, the older type isn't perfect, with the odd issue here and there with its kerning, but I would've preferred to see it subtly redrawn and updated rather than scrapped and replaced by something which - I say again - looks like squished Verdana.
My solution to this design conundrum would be to use the new rendering of the rings with a subtly updated, redrawn version of the older typography.
On a side note, Audi have also ditched their fabulously over engineered, beautifully executed gas strut equipped parallelogram bootlid hinges in favour of the simpler, cheaper and uglier bent metal tubes so beloved of considerably more donwmarket carmakers. If this is cost cutting designed to save them a few euros in manufacturing costs, I say shame on them!
