Dieselgate
In the 1960s, Volkswagen won the world over with a series of ads that were as simple as they were brilliant. Visual minimalism, dry wit, and bold headlines. They made us believe that a car could be honest, indestructible — even lovable. Decades later, reality flipped that narrative on its head.
Dieselgate is a visual communication and editorial design project that revisits one of the automotive industry's most infamous scandals. In 2015, it came to light that Volkswagen had installed illegal software in millions of diesel vehicles to cheat emissions tests. On paper, these cars appeared clean — on the road, they were anything but. The emissions? Up to 40% higher than legally allowed.
The fines came swiftly. But what can’t be paid off or undone is what the journal Nature sought to quantify: the human cost. Their study estimated that these excess emissions may have led to 38,000 premature deaths around the world. This project reappropriates Volkswagen’s iconic visual language — the witty tone of their 1960s campaigns — to turn it back on itself. If the Beetle was once the indestructible car, it now becomes something else: a funeral car. A manipulated profile image of the beloved vehicle is stretched and elongated, creating a new, chilling version — the Beetle repurposed for the very consequences it helped cause.
Irony, critique, and visual memory converge in this reinterpretation. A mirrored echo of the past, where humor once sold trust, now points to betrayal.
Dieselgate doesn’t seek new villains. It seeks remembrance. Because graphic design, too, can hold a mirror to power.
Visual Identity
Dieselgate is a visual communication and editorial design project that revisits one of the automotive industry's most infamous scandals. In 2015, it came to light that Volkswagen had installed illegal software in millions of diesel vehicles to cheat emissions tests. On paper, these cars appeared clean — on the road, they were anything but. The emissions? Up to 40% higher than legally allowed.
The fines came swiftly. But what can’t be paid off or undone is what the journal Nature sought to quantify: the human cost. Their study estimated that these excess emissions may have led to 38,000 premature deaths around the world. This project reappropriates Volkswagen’s iconic visual language — the witty tone of their 1960s campaigns — to turn it back on itself. If the Beetle was once the indestructible car, it now becomes something else: a funeral car. A manipulated profile image of the beloved vehicle is stretched and elongated, creating a new, chilling version — the Beetle repurposed for the very consequences it helped cause.
Irony, critique, and visual memory converge in this reinterpretation. A mirrored echo of the past, where humor once sold trust, now points to betrayal.
Dieselgate doesn’t seek new villains. It seeks remembrance. Because graphic design, too, can hold a mirror to power.
Visual Identity