You’ll notice a few things about the new design:
Space – Do you remember how cramped the old blog was? Reading an article there was like navigating a game of Tetris.
Focus – A blog has one purpose: to be read. You don’t need pop-up chat windows, dozens of links, scads of unrelated images and buttons all over the place.
Photos – Our photos and video in posts are much bigger now! As in actually big enough to see what’s going on in them!
Calm – This is probably the overarching motivation behind the redesign. This should be an easy way to learn something new, maybe share it, then go on about your day.
Our research and reporting around the web about Volkswagen will continue, and now we have a blog that actually looks like it belongs in 2014.
Of course, the implicit question is one that also comes up about autos as well: do design and style matter as much as the more tangible aspects of a vehicle?
The short answer is: yes. Imagine if every Passat came in the “metallic pee” of National Lampoon’s Family Vacation, or if your Golf had a V-12 engine but the body of a Fiat Multipla—Google it, we dare you.
The thought that goes into design language, user interface, color, fonts, and visual space can have a huge impact on how you perceive and process feelings about something.
Look up the blog on your mobile phone or tablet. You’ll find that it looks uncluttered and is easy to read and share.
That’s the goal. We cracked open a new can of pixels and sent the old blogs off to a faraway land where they can be very comfortable with AOL sites, Geocities domains, maybe even a chatroom or two.
Anyway, back to blogs. Welcome!