11 ms·

Redesigning the Windows Logo

174 points by llambda 15y ago

kruhft 15y ago
> very short list of agencies that we wanted to work with on the redesign of the logo and were thrilled when Pentagram agreed to join us in the project Pentagram. Sounds like an appropriate company name to work on the logo redesign.
demione 15y ago
Could someone explain what motivates Microsoft to try and "completely reimagine" their OS every time they iterate? We're talking about an OS, not a video game. I get that they're trying to innovate, but it comes across as self-deprecating. I love how Apple has maintained uniformity in their UI across the past few iterations of OSX. It's just one less thing to worry about relearning, allowing me to get my work done easier.
- Game_Ender 15y ago
  They seem to do it in a very odd way as well. They might change "completely reimagine" but they don't change there decade plus old network, and other, dialogs to improve usability.
- untog 15y ago
  Could someone explain what motivates Microsoft to try and "completely reimagine" their OS every time they iterate? They don't, though. Vista was, cosmetically, a big leap from XP, but in terms of actual UI it barely changed at all. Start button is still in the same place, maximise, minimise, etc. All still there. I do really appreciate the little touches MS add, actually. Drag a window to the top of the screen to maximise, to the left to use 50% of the screen, shake the window to minimise all the other ones... I use that stuff every day, and miss it when I go home to OS X.
  - doublextremevil 15y ago
    I use better touch tool to do pretty much exactly that on OSX (along with multitouch gestures) http://blog.boastr.net/ http://blog.boastr.net/
- ChuckMcM 15y ago
  Perhaps they are dealing with a public perception that they are 'old sauce' which is to say "Oh my grandparents used Windows, I use <something else>." Technology has its fashion moments and this is one of them. When you elevate the OS to the level of 'brand' you enter into a world where fashion as well as features dictate acceptance. So in that world, they need to have a fashion statement as well as a technology statement. That being said, its also easy to get stuck in a rut and have that kill your project. Microsoft has perhaps more scars than many in this area. If you recall they did a 'tablet' version of Windows long before iOS, but they failed to 're-imagine' and instead they tried to 'shoehorn' ideas which didn't make sense (we'll assume you have a high precision pointing device like a stylus or mouse) and so those preconceptions prevented them from seeing what needed to be done. Mostly I think the messaging about the flag and what not is PR to try to tell people "Hey, we're awake and we're trying to innovate, and we want to be better, and we're sorry for Vista." If their stock price is any indication they are having some success there.
  - freehunter 15y ago
    Well in XP Tablet Edition, people with touch screens did have a high precision pointing device. Capacitive screens were uncommon with end users at that time, and almost unheard of (completely unheard of?) in laptops. I don't know if Vista had a tablet edition, but in Windows 7 it's pretty easy to get around the basic OS with a finger. The only real difficulty comes in with third party apps that do not follow finger-friendly design concepts. Even for Windows 7 checkboxes, I've seen capacitive screen drivers/software that allow for some "fuzzing", where if you hit somewhere around the checkbox/button, it gets checked.
- cooldeal 15y ago
  Huh what? The UI has been pretty much the same since Windows 95. Meanwhile OS X changed the scrolling, and lost scrollbars and a whole bunch of other changes in Lion that people aren't very fond of. The public seems to have gotten along very well with the Windows 7 UI over XP without much, if any re-learning. Vista was different because it actually changed the security and driver model, breaking a lot of hardware and software. I haven't seen too many complaints about the actual UI. By "everytime they iterate", you mean Windows 3.1 to Windows 95(very well received) and Windows 7 to Windows 8(desktop mode is exactly the same) which is what, twice in 20 years? Maybe thrice if you count the taskbar changes in Windows 7.
  - wvenable 15y ago
    Vista's UI is terrible but it wasn't until Windows 7 that I figured out why: Vista is the half-complete transition from the XP UI to the 7 UI. As such, it's got loads of issues and inconsistencies.
    - cooldeal 15y ago
      I know the moving control panel, network properties etc. led to a lot of annoyances, but in terms of the actual window handling, taskbar, start menu, how was it terrible? The search box on the start menu was itself a huge leap over XP. That was the single big thing I missed in XP.
      - wvenable 15y ago
        Far enough, anything unchanged from XP isn't terrible. And the start menu search box is a big improvement even if the rest of the start menu seems worse.
- larrik 15y ago
  Microsoft Windows's primary competitor is... Windows. Not OS X. It isn't easy to convince regular users to use the new Windows, or to do an in-place upgrade (which is hundreds of dollars, unlike OS X, and also a terrible idea usually, also unlike OS X). Apple is simply pushier, dropping support for old versions almost immediately. They also release more often, and I would say that over the same span of time their change drastic-ness is similar (intel, cocoa, app store, etc). I wouldn't be surprised if 10.9 vs 10.5 is as drastic as Windows 8 to Vista, for instance.
- wvenable 15y ago
  > Could someone explain what motivates Microsoft to try and "completely reimagine" their OS every time they iterate? Raymond Chen posted some reasoning for this on his blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2004/05/25/141253.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2004/05/25/14125... If they don't change anything visually then nobody thinks anything has changed under the hood.
- Alind 15y ago
  Directors, Managers, Employee, they want to proof they were doing something.......so this is the only way... :)
aggarwalachal 15y ago
I actually like the Windows 1.0 logo...
joezydeco 15y ago
"By that, we mean it does not try to emulate faux-industrial design characteristics such as materiality (glass, wood, plastic, etc.)." Is "materiality" code for "skeumorphism"? Either way, it's a big middle finger to Apple.
- ugh 15y ago
  It is. But you have it backwards. Skeumorphism is the code. He simply used words that people might actually understand, you know. Good, this echo chamber can be annoying.
- mc32 15y ago
  One noticeable thing, tho not jarring, is how the window panels have vanishing points but the bars (cross) do not.
  - mason55 15y ago
    Oh boy I hadn't noticed that but now that you point it out... I hope they don't change it so I can point it out to people
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
  - some1else 15y ago
    It's probably a way to ensure the smallest incarnations don't bleed together. If bars also had vanishing points, the smallest incarnation would be defined by the narrowest part of the bar, this way the width of the bar is the unit. One thing that also plagued my Compiz logo is that horizontally asymmetric designs can look like they're about to tip over. The new Windows logo definitely feels like leaning towards left to me. I tried to solve it by adding the third dimension, but I think the answer is more vertical asymmetry.. A real perspective.
- literalusername 15y ago
  Ever since Windows 3.1, I viewed the faux 3D window decorations as an insulting waste of my processing time. The Windows logo was merely an extrapolation of MS's attitude that "Now that we have such powerful computers, we can merrily waste all that power with this increasingly bloated but supposedly impressive OS." That attitude was not unique to them, at all. Apple has been equally guilty of it for longer than Microsoft. It's that attitude that (in part) led me to move to Linux a decade ago, where I could merrily work without suffering the overhead of a GUI. This new Windows logo is, in my view, the sexiest thing I've ever seen come out of Microsoft. I stopped caring about Windows long ago, except to note that minwin sounded awesome (but never shipped?), Windows 8 Server could run headless (What an innovation!), and PowerShell actually does seem brilliantly innovative (although it's unfortunately integrated with all that .net crap). Now if this logo accurately reflects their change in attitude, to a minimal OS that stays out of my way, then I've got to say I'm a fan. They're unlikely to win me over from Arch Linux, but for once Microsoft seems to be on the right track. At least with respect to that logo. Edit: I'm amazed that this post is bouncing between 0 and 1 points. In a discussion of the new Windows logo, I described why I like it so much. If you disagree, feel free to comment. Down-votes should not be used to express disagreement.
lean 15y ago
Good writeup on Brand New: >I’m not saying the previous Windows icons were good, but they had enough abstraction (and gradients and shadows and highlights) to at least look techie and Microsoft-ey, but this “minimal” approach looks like, well, a window. A window in a $400-a-month studio apartment rental with beige carpeting and plastic drapes. Moving away from the more flag-like icon seems like abandoning two decades of equity — crappy equity, but equity nonetheless. http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/with_windows_like_these_who_needs_enemies.php http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/with_win...
Too 15y ago
> We have evolved from a world of rudimentary low resolution graphics to today’s rich high-resolution systems ...but we still haven't learned to not save single-colored pictures as jpeg. Aaa my eyes!
jheimark 15y ago
trademark symbol really ruins it for me. Windows 1.0 is much better for that reason alone.
bostonpete 15y ago
I checked the Windows 8 wikipedia page b/c I was curious whether someone had already put this image there and I was astonished to find the page has 74 references! By comparison, the page for the Civil War has 31 references -- 22 of them from the same book.
nluqo 15y ago
Damn, the entire company (desktop, xbox, the logo) is being consumed by Metro.
flyosity 15y ago
Hey there, Shetland Islands: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shetland_Islands http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shetland_Islands
- tripzilch 15y ago
  IT'S NOT A FLAG
peterfschaadt 15y ago
I'm curious to see when/if they update the Windows key on laptops and keyboards.
- bgarbiak 15y ago
  I think they won't mind leaving it the way it is for some time. It could be used as a sort of a subconscious metaphor: keyboards/old logo is the thing of the past and touch screen/new logo is "the now".
gfodor 15y ago
Let's put tons of effort in to make a clean, simple, beautiful logo. And then let our lawyers stamp a honking (TM) on it to ruin it.
- Zirro 15y ago
  It annoys me too. Is there anyone here who knows if they are required to put it there to protect their brand, or if it's entirely optional?
  - culturestate 15y ago
    There are some legal advantages, but it's largely optional. Note, for example, that Apple doesn't use it anywhere other than their written materials.
- sixothree 15y ago
  That's Microsoft for you.
Alind 15y ago
As for today, in my opinion, windows 1's logo is such a fashion.
georgieporgie 15y ago
I'm really not feelin' it. It looks like some sort of industry association sticker that I might see on a window or glass door at Home Depot. I agree with others here, too, that the 3.1 logo seems to be a better example of the clean look they're going for.
altrego99 15y ago
"Microsoft and Windows are all about putting technology in people's hands to empower them to find their own perspectives." This line could be avoided :)
m0nastic 15y ago
I've never seen the original Windows 1.0 logo before (or maybe it's just been so long that I've forgotten), but I actually think that's far and away the best logo they've ever had.
- fady 15y ago
  i agree. i've never seen that one before. in fact, they should take the font-style from the new logo and add the old window icon from 1.0, maybe adjust the blue in "windows" in the new logo to match 1.0 as well..
- mc32 15y ago
  Something interesting to me is how the Windows 1 logo looks like the old ethernet 10base2 icon. A bit ahead of its time, in that sense --I don't think windows 1 was networkable.
- nirvana 15y ago
  Interestingly that logo accurately represents the way "Windows" worked in Windows 1.0. It didn't have overlapping windows. So the lines within the windows represent the dividers of the UI between the window areas. You could make one window bigger by moving a divider over, making all the windows on the other side of that divider smaller. There was no concept of windows being in front of or behind each other (like there was on the mac from the beginning. Microsoft obviously started on windows late compared to the mac, and was quite behind at the 1.0 release.)
  - literalusername 15y ago
    You speak about tiling window managers as if they were already an anachronism in 1985. Yet today, some of us continue to prefer them, and they remain in active development. What good is a window that's partially covered? I either want to completely see it or I want it to be completely hidden from view. The parlor trick of overlapping windows is useless to me.
    - seldo 15y ago
run4yourlives 15y ago
Sorry, not feeling it. I think the Vista one was the best, to be honest.
alanfalcon 15y ago
This is great. Not the logo itself, that's just... Something. But it's a very good idea for the clean break from previous Windows logos which were getting more and more complex. And now if you see any of those colorful logos, you will think "oh, that's old", so it's a subtle push to upgrade. Unlike Vista which was like, "oh that's the same old OS wrapped in a fake Apple-like shell."
boubountu 15y ago
Too much space between "windows 8" and the actual window.
ender7 15y ago
I've actually grown to like the monochrome treatment of the Windows 7 logo: http://www.seeklogo.com/images/W/windows-logo-C2E55C2526-seeklogo.com.gif http://www.seeklogo.com/images/W/windows-logo-C2E55C2526-see... It looks quite nice on the back of monitor screens, for example. The extreme fake parallax in the new logo just ends up making it look unbalanced to me, like it's about to fall off my screen. I understand if they want to go all "Swiss" on the next logo...but if so, they shouldn't have had any parallax at all. When I see it, I don't think "Metro", and I don't think "Windows", I just think...apartment building. Also, see commentary on Brand New: http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/with_windows_like_these_who_needs_enemies.php http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/with_win...
- ChrisNorstrom 15y ago
  Yeah, they're going somewhere nice with it but it's just not there yet. It actually looks like the logo hates its font and is turning away from it. It's not an iconic symbol by itself and is too plain, boring, and generic to become one later on. If they decide to use it I'm sure it'll stick eventually, it's just right now, it doesn't look done.
- rayhano 15y ago
  Surely that new logo is meant to be animated...
- sixothree 15y ago
  It's the first Windows operating system designed for tablet computing which is largely portrait mode, and it's the first flag logo with panes wider than tall. I wonder if that was intentional.
Ryanmf 15y ago
"Your name is Windows. Why are you a flag?" I wonder how much they paid to listen to an expert ask that question when it was likely asked, and ignored, internally for years.
- aggarwalachal 15y ago
  not really a flag... i guess they look at something like this for "window" http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs15/f/2007/113/9/d/Old_Window_by_ofeliq.jpg http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs15/f/2007/113/9/d/Old_Window_by...
  - cpeterso 15y ago
    That window is not flapping in the wind like the Windows logo.
  - bitwize 15y ago
    It was a flag. I guess it's supposed to connote triumphalism. As in "yay, it finally shipped!" The NetBSD logo, itself based on a cartoon of daemons hoisting a flag like at Iwo Jima, has many of the same connotations. Back in Windows 3.1, by going to ProgMan's About box and Ctrl-Shift-Clicking the Windows logo X amount of times, you could trigger an "easter egg", one screen of which was a flag waving with the Windows logo on it. Another of which was a credits scroll with a cartoon figure that had one of four faces: Gates, Ballmer, the Windows dev lead at the time (I forget who but he had a beard); and a creepy looking teddy bear (some sort of internal mascot for the Windows division). Good times.
- cbr 15y ago
  Politically, big companies often need outside experts to come in and tell them what many employees already know: http://www.overcomingbias.com/2012/01/why-so-much-consulting.html http://www.overcomingbias.com/2012/01/why-so-much-consulting...
zaidf 15y ago
Paula asked us a simple question, “your name is Windows. Why are you a flag?” I have never really asked myself that question as a consumer. I have never felt "confused" that the logo is NOT a window. I have just generally liked Windows, the operating system, and have become fond of the brand after 15 years of use. This assumes that your logo MUST be a literal representation of your name. I'm curious to know why. Without it, it just seems like an opinion of someone named Paula.
- ugh 15y ago
  As opposed to an opinion of someone named zaidf?
- jackalope 15y ago
  I've always wondered why it was a flag. I've never liked Windows, and the logo always struck me as creepy, like they're trying to make you choose a side: "Come march under our banner!"
  - flomo 15y ago
    I always interpreted it as a "flying window" (which was also the name of an old screensaver).
- ahage16 15y ago
  I think the question arose from the fact that the old logo looked like it was trying to be both a window and a flag at the same time. The reason for looking like a window was pretty obvious, but the reason for looking like a flag wasn't.
- artursapek 15y ago
  It's a stupid question. Logos aren't depictions. They're icons meant to represent something, not describe it. I never questioned the old logo. I actually liked it a lot more than the sad attempt at modernism they're announcing in this article. It's disappointing that Microsoft doesn't seem to understand this essential design rule. They should read Paul Rand. “Should a logo be self-explanatory? It is only by association with a product, a service, a business, or a corporation that a logo takes on any real meaning. It derives its meaning and usefulness from the quality of that which it symbolizes."
baby 15y ago
Okay, so I've read the comments here and I am the only one who really likes the new logo.
RomP 15y ago
Hmmm, I think I've seen it somewhere. Indeed: http://stocklogos.com/topic/past-and-future-famous-logos http://stocklogos.com/topic/past-and-future-famous-logos
- ImprovedSilence 15y ago
  Haha that's a fantastic page.
- joedev 15y ago
  The GAP one is especially funny.
  - Roboprog 15y ago
    Yeah, but not as good as the 2015 Nokia.
- ErrantX 15y ago
  The Microsoft one really isn't all that far off the W8 logo...
- gillianseed 15y ago
  Wonderful page, laughed alot. Firefox 2012 logo with meteorite crash and then 2050 with an all water covered globe.
redthrowaway 15y ago
Does the kerning in the new logo look wrong to anyone else? That 'o' has an awful lot of space around it.
- deleted 15y ago
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- deleted 15y ago
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- kingsidharth 15y ago
  Nope. n-d-o makes it right.
- cpeterso 15y ago
  The kerning immediately irked me, too, but I was thinking the 'W' and 'i' were too close.
  - pvarangot 15y ago
    The way the W sort of points at the dot in the i makes me feel like if someone is poking my eye.
- timkeller 15y ago
  I think its the dot on the 'i'. It should be square too.
sabret00the 15y ago
Is it really legal to Trademark such an image? There must be a thousand prior iterations of such a thing.
- artursapek 15y ago
  The trademark probably involves its usage with that brand name.
- cbr 15y ago
  A thousand prior iterations in the Operating Systems market? Trademarks are specific to markets; that's why UPS can have the color brown but non-shipping-companies can also use brown.
- Symmetry 15y ago
  Yes, but that doesn't mean that other people couldn't trademark the same image in different contexts. Trademark really isn't like copyright.
martingordon 15y ago
And here's Apple's rendition of the Windows logo (used for Boot Camp): http://www.flickr.com/photos/alanchao/127292839/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/alanchao/127292839/
artursapek 15y ago
It's rough times when a rectangle split into four is newsworthy and people suddenly realize they prefer something that was designed in 1985.
cpeterso 15y ago
I think they should have retained the distinctive red/green/blue/yellow colors of the Windows logo. And skipped the parallax. The Metro look has lots of flat, colorful squares that are just crying out to become a Windows logo. See this Windows 8 screenshot, for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Windows_8_Developer_Preview_Start_Screen.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Windows_8_Developer_Previ...
- polshaw 15y ago
  Agreed -- it would have been to metro what the windows 1.0 logo was to it's tiled windows. If the colours were deemed too garish, then perhaps varying lightness of one colour.
pwpwp 15y ago
Now it really looks like the Swedish flag.
heydenberk 15y ago
This gets worse with each iteration.
tikhonj 15y ago
Heh, the phrase "Authentically Digital" neatly sums up what I like about the Metro UI. If Windows Phone wasn't so locked down, I would get one just because it's the best looking option by far right now. As for the logo, I think a flag shape would be better than the window shape they have. It feels a little bit generic and almost self-parodying. That said, I definitely see where they are coming from, and it does fit in with their new Metro UI aesthetic.
chrislomax 15y ago
In the nicest possible way, I'm actually bored of this metro look already and it's not even released yet. I find that logo boring, some squares with a warp on it. I know it doesn't have to be over complicated but I don't think there is any imagination there at all. The blue is not very strong either, the branding it quite weak. Just my opinion, which I am entitled to before anyone starts giving me grief!
- drewrv 15y ago
  Boring can be good, from a usability perspective. Metro seems to be their big selling point now and I imagine they want the branding to reflect the usability of the product. Not trying to give you grief. I agree it's kinda boring, I'm just thinking that maybe it's boring by design.
  - chrislomax 15y ago
    I think I know what they are trying to achieve, they are hoping to get the Apple simplicity, I think. I didn't think you were giving grief, sounded like constructive criticism, I don't mind that. I just don't like mindless comments that are biased. I hope this product gets them back in the game, they been a bit behind in innovation lately so I'm looking forward to something radically different.
- Avshalom 15y ago
  Somebody famous once said something along the line of "Art gets more beautiful with age. Fashion gets uglier" I really like metro as an idea but in practice it feels like fashion.
tripzilch 15y ago
Yeah! Let's use the flag of Shetland so ... people won't confuse our logo with .. a flag? Um? Granted they didn't pick the flag of big country like Sweden or anything, and if Shetland, Calais and Pärnu, Estonia, as well as Iceland in the past, were already using it, why couldn't Microsoft? On a more serious note, there's lots of valid criticism on this logo, the TM and (R) are clutter, their "Metro style" is not supposed to have perspective, and the font isn't particularly anything either. But then, it's not my logo :)
- sixothree 15y ago
  Not to mention the dot on the i looks misplaced and misshapen. My first emotional reaction to that logo was 'ewwww'. It's not a good sign when the best word I can find to describe it is gross.
kibwen 15y ago
Other than the color, it's a decent new logo. There is, however, one huge flaw: separated from the wordmark, the icon is flaccid. It looks like they were aiming for Apple-like minimalism in both color and form (which isn't to say that Apple is the only company allowed to practice minimalism), but "a skewed, doubly-bisected square" simply isn't distinctive enough to be iconic. I really hope they iterate on it for Windows 9.
molecularbutter 15y ago
Microsoft seems confused, but I am genuinely interested in Windows 8 and Metro. Hopefully they ditch their legacy stuff though and make a clean break a la iOS/OS X
cschmidt 15y ago
The Pentagram blog also has a writeup on the new logo: http://pentagram.com/en/new/2012/02/new-work-microsoft.php http://pentagram.com/en/new/2012/02/new-work-microsoft.php including a nifty animated logo
- Corrado 15y ago
  I really like the video as it actually gives some "context" to the window and its relation to the text. I just wish this view was more transparent in the static version.
brudgers 15y ago
The fierce reduction at the root of Metro's design allowed me to fairly accurately envision the new logo as soon as I read, "It’s a window… not a flag." One color, simple shapes, simple text - MicroSoft clearly has a design vision.
MartinCron 15y ago
2. It was important that the new logo carries our Metro principle of being “Authentically Digital”. By that, we mean it does not try to emulate faux-industrial design characteristics such as materiality (glass, wood, plastic, etc.) This is in stark contrast to everything Apple has been doing lately with address books and calendar on iPad trying to look like cartoonish versions of real materials. I prefer "authentically digital"
- r00fus 15y ago
  This logo also ties in with the Metro minimalist look.
publicus 15y ago
Interesting that they'd choose the Greek flag as the next Windows logo...
- tripzilch 15y ago
  It's the flag of Shetland, Calais, a historical flag of Iceland and some place in Estonia, but the Greek flag looks different.
jagjit 15y ago
An ode to friends in Finland? The logo looks very much like flags of Finland, Sweden etc.
functionform 15y ago
This is the first logo I haven't liked honestly. It looks unbalanced and unfinished.
some1else 15y ago
The article and shape reminded me of the logo I did for Compiz before they merged back with Beryl: http://forum.compiz.org/viewtopic.php?f=135&t=236&p=1811 http://forum.compiz.org/viewtopic.php?f=135&t=236&p=... It's by no means a perfect philosophy and account, but designers might enjoy the story.
vacri 15y ago
Using bold flat colors and clean lines and shapes, the new logo has the characteristics of way-finding design systems seen in airports and subways. Bold colors? As in plural colors? That's the first place they've failed. And trying to emulate an airport's system for moving people around is bad from the outset - those things are meant to be simple and boring. They do their task by being unambiguous, uniform, simple... and bland. Sure, make your logo work in monochrome for places where it has to be (like the plastic moulding mentioned above), but in both print and digital, a single flat pale blue is pretty tepid. It also doesn't evoke the multitude of colour panes that they're trying to push in every screenshot - why not simply move their four colours to the new 'window'?
- politician 15y ago
  Well, really, why shouldn't an operating system be "simple" and "boring" and "bland"? I don't need an exciting OS -- it needs to be dependable.
  - vacri 15y ago
    It doesn't matter how simple, boring, bland and dependable your product is, your logo should not be bland, especially if you're marketing to the general public.
lupatus 15y ago
If it didn't say "Windows 8" next to it, I wouldn't have known that it was the Windows logo. Frankly, it is kind of a let-down. The Vista & Windows 7 "pearl" logo is cool - it is flashy and is artistically impressive with it's lighting effects on the rounded semi-reflective surface. It draws the eye to itself. The new logo is a bland blue monochrome square whose slight tilt causes the eye to passively move right over it without notice. Is this the first hint that Windows 8 is an operating system to "pass" on instead of adopting? If Microsoft wants this operating system to grab market share, a bland Germanic logo that tells the user "don't mind me, but your next exit is in half a mile" is a poor first step at grabbing the market's attention, IMO.
- mikemaccana 15y ago
  Really? I bought the shiny blue liquid vista pearl looked a lot like a poor, and very self conscious, attempt to imitate their competitors.
sjm 15y ago
This is far better: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36724189@N05/6892887709/in/photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/36724189@N05/6892887709/in/phot...
- grandpoobah 15y ago
  OOo an opening window. I like it. That's re-imagination right there.
icarus_drowning 15y ago
What makes the new Windows logo appear so weirdly revolting to me is the fact that it is minimalist, but not distinctive. Contrast this to the simplified Apple logo that one sees upon booting OS X-- minimalist, but entirely distinctive. The new Windows logo is a weirdly parallaxed set of rectangles. Nothing specifically diacritical at all. EDIT: I think this is why the monochrome Win7 logo that has been posted here is better. It is distinctly Windows, building on decades of brand identity, and a truly unique and iconic. It is almost as if the "flag" shape that Microsoft seems so eager to drop is perhaps their greatest asset. They've missed the point: minimalism for the sake of minimalism isn't "better". Simple is simple. Beautiful is beautiful.
sniperjoe 15y ago
well, it's well crafted, elegant, and minimalistic. however, deep down I just feel microsoft is far too sophisticated a company to be monochrome.
dkrich 15y ago
Microsoft's main failure for the past decade or so is that they have repeatedly enacted a flurry of short-term strategies in reaction to whichever direction the industry winds happened to blowing, and did so for just about every consumer tech industry. Xbox to Playstation, Bing to Google, Zune to iPod. In the process they did very little leading along the way and hemorrhaged money from all of these businesses. I still like and respect Microsoft as a company and think they can still produce great things, and I hope that the next decade sees them develop some leadership and return to innovation.
deleted 15y ago
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lwhi 15y ago
I think the metro UI is genuinely interesting and (dare I say it) exciting. The logo redesign fits with our times - but it's incredibly safe .. verging on dull. Large corporations have so much ubiquity .. we encounter them so many times throughout our day. Daily exposure ensures familiarity and this familiarity eventually leads to acceptance; in one sense the logo could be virtually anything and would still serve its purpose (e.g. Pepsi redesign). The age of the logo is over in my opinion .. these days the prominance of a logo has been supplanted by a fuzzier, more Machiavellian concept - the ability for a brand to connect with its audience on a personal level. In that respect a logo is sometimes simply fodder to for the latter; ensuring the brand and company are spoken about socially (e.g. the gap redesign / 2012 olympics). It pains me to imagine how much Pentagram were paid for this.
efsavage 15y ago
If I had to picture "windows logo for metro" something more akin to the Black Flag logo comes to mind. Not this disaster that looks like some shareware multi-monitor utility.
lurker14 15y ago
Giving the blog a name that is easily confused with "Window Steam Blog" says a lot about the team's understanding of how to build user-friendly interfaces.
gubatron 15y ago
The new logo is an homage to the BSOD

174 points by llambda 15y ago

> very short list of agencies that we wanted to work with on the redesign of the logo and were thrilled when Pentagram agreed to join us in the project Pentagram. Sounds like an appropriate company name to work on the logo redesign.

demione 15y ago

Could someone explain what motivates Microsoft to try and "completely reimagine" their OS every time they iterate? We're talking about an OS, not a video game. I get that they're trying to innovate, but it comes across as self-deprecating. I love how Apple has maintained uniformity in their UI across the past few iterations of OSX. It's just one less thing to worry about relearning, allowing me to get my work done easier.

Game_Ender 15y ago
They seem to do it in a very odd way as well. They might change "completely reimagine" but they don't change there decade plus old network, and other, dialogs to improve usability.
untog 15y ago
Could someone explain what motivates Microsoft to try and "completely reimagine" their OS every time they iterate? They don't, though. Vista was, cosmetically, a big leap from XP, but in terms of actual UI it barely changed at all. Start button is still in the same place, maximise, minimise, etc. All still there. I do really appreciate the little touches MS add, actually. Drag a window to the top of the screen to maximise, to the left to use 50% of the screen, shake the window to minimise all the other ones... I use that stuff every day, and miss it when I go home to OS X.
- doublextremevil 15y ago
  I use better touch tool to do pretty much exactly that on OSX (along with multitouch gestures) http://blog.boastr.net/ http://blog.boastr.net/
ChuckMcM 15y ago
Perhaps they are dealing with a public perception that they are 'old sauce' which is to say "Oh my grandparents used Windows, I use <something else>." Technology has its fashion moments and this is one of them. When you elevate the OS to the level of 'brand' you enter into a world where fashion as well as features dictate acceptance. So in that world, they need to have a fashion statement as well as a technology statement. That being said, its also easy to get stuck in a rut and have that kill your project. Microsoft has perhaps more scars than many in this area. If you recall they did a 'tablet' version of Windows long before iOS, but they failed to 're-imagine' and instead they tried to 'shoehorn' ideas which didn't make sense (we'll assume you have a high precision pointing device like a stylus or mouse) and so those preconceptions prevented them from seeing what needed to be done. Mostly I think the messaging about the flag and what not is PR to try to tell people "Hey, we're awake and we're trying to innovate, and we want to be better, and we're sorry for Vista." If their stock price is any indication they are having some success there.
- freehunter 15y ago
  Well in XP Tablet Edition, people with touch screens did have a high precision pointing device. Capacitive screens were uncommon with end users at that time, and almost unheard of (completely unheard of?) in laptops. I don't know if Vista had a tablet edition, but in Windows 7 it's pretty easy to get around the basic OS with a finger. The only real difficulty comes in with third party apps that do not follow finger-friendly design concepts. Even for Windows 7 checkboxes, I've seen capacitive screen drivers/software that allow for some "fuzzing", where if you hit somewhere around the checkbox/button, it gets checked.
cooldeal 15y ago
Huh what? The UI has been pretty much the same since Windows 95. Meanwhile OS X changed the scrolling, and lost scrollbars and a whole bunch of other changes in Lion that people aren't very fond of. The public seems to have gotten along very well with the Windows 7 UI over XP without much, if any re-learning. Vista was different because it actually changed the security and driver model, breaking a lot of hardware and software. I haven't seen too many complaints about the actual UI. By "everytime they iterate", you mean Windows 3.1 to Windows 95(very well received) and Windows 7 to Windows 8(desktop mode is exactly the same) which is what, twice in 20 years? Maybe thrice if you count the taskbar changes in Windows 7.
- wvenable 15y ago
  Vista's UI is terrible but it wasn't until Windows 7 that I figured out why: Vista is the half-complete transition from the XP UI to the 7 UI. As such, it's got loads of issues and inconsistencies.
  - cooldeal 15y ago
    I know the moving control panel, network properties etc. led to a lot of annoyances, but in terms of the actual window handling, taskbar, start menu, how was it terrible? The search box on the start menu was itself a huge leap over XP. That was the single big thing I missed in XP.
    - wvenable 15y ago
      Far enough, anything unchanged from XP isn't terrible. And the start menu search box is a big improvement even if the rest of the start menu seems worse.
larrik 15y ago
Microsoft Windows's primary competitor is... Windows. Not OS X. It isn't easy to convince regular users to use the new Windows, or to do an in-place upgrade (which is hundreds of dollars, unlike OS X, and also a terrible idea usually, also unlike OS X). Apple is simply pushier, dropping support for old versions almost immediately. They also release more often, and I would say that over the same span of time their change drastic-ness is similar (intel, cocoa, app store, etc). I wouldn't be surprised if 10.9 vs 10.5 is as drastic as Windows 8 to Vista, for instance.
wvenable 15y ago
> Could someone explain what motivates Microsoft to try and "completely reimagine" their OS every time they iterate? Raymond Chen posted some reasoning for this on his blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2004/05/25/141253.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2004/05/25/14125... If they don't change anything visually then nobody thinks anything has changed under the hood.
Alind 15y ago
Directors, Managers, Employee, they want to proof they were doing something.......so this is the only way... :)

aggarwalachal 15y ago

I actually like the Windows 1.0 logo...

joezydeco 15y ago

"By that, we mean it does not try to emulate faux-industrial design characteristics such as materiality (glass, wood, plastic, etc.)." Is "materiality" code for "skeumorphism"? Either way, it's a big middle finger to Apple.

ugh 15y ago
It is. But you have it backwards. Skeumorphism is the code. He simply used words that people might actually understand, you know. Good, this echo chamber can be annoying.
mc32 15y ago
One noticeable thing, tho not jarring, is how the window panels have vanishing points but the bars (cross) do not.
- mason55 15y ago
  Oh boy I hadn't noticed that but now that you point it out... I hope they don't change it so I can point it out to people
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- some1else 15y ago
  It's probably a way to ensure the smallest incarnations don't bleed together. If bars also had vanishing points, the smallest incarnation would be defined by the narrowest part of the bar, this way the width of the bar is the unit. One thing that also plagued my Compiz logo is that horizontally asymmetric designs can look like they're about to tip over. The new Windows logo definitely feels like leaning towards left to me. I tried to solve it by adding the third dimension, but I think the answer is more vertical asymmetry.. A real perspective.
literalusername 15y ago
Ever since Windows 3.1, I viewed the faux 3D window decorations as an insulting waste of my processing time. The Windows logo was merely an extrapolation of MS's attitude that "Now that we have such powerful computers, we can merrily waste all that power with this increasingly bloated but supposedly impressive OS." That attitude was not unique to them, at all. Apple has been equally guilty of it for longer than Microsoft. It's that attitude that (in part) led me to move to Linux a decade ago, where I could merrily work without suffering the overhead of a GUI. This new Windows logo is, in my view, the sexiest thing I've ever seen come out of Microsoft. I stopped caring about Windows long ago, except to note that minwin sounded awesome (but never shipped?), Windows 8 Server could run headless (What an innovation!), and PowerShell actually does seem brilliantly innovative (although it's unfortunately integrated with all that .net crap). Now if this logo accurately reflects their change in attitude, to a minimal OS that stays out of my way, then I've got to say I'm a fan. They're unlikely to win me over from Arch Linux, but for once Microsoft seems to be on the right track. At least with respect to that logo. Edit: I'm amazed that this post is bouncing between 0 and 1 points. In a discussion of the new Windows logo, I described why I like it so much. If you disagree, feel free to comment. Down-votes should not be used to express disagreement.

lean 15y ago

Good writeup on Brand New: >I’m not saying the previous Windows icons were good, but they had enough abstraction (and gradients and shadows and highlights) to at least look techie and Microsoft-ey, but this “minimal” approach looks like, well, a window. A window in a $400-a-month studio apartment rental with beige carpeting and plastic drapes. Moving away from the more flag-like icon seems like abandoning two decades of equity — crappy equity, but equity nonetheless. http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/with_windows_like_these_who_needs_enemies.php http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/with_win...

Too 15y ago

> We have evolved from a world of rudimentary low resolution graphics to today’s rich high-resolution systems ...but we still haven't learned to not save single-colored pictures as jpeg. Aaa my eyes!

jheimark 15y ago

trademark symbol really ruins it for me. Windows 1.0 is much better for that reason alone.

bostonpete 15y ago

I checked the Windows 8 wikipedia page b/c I was curious whether someone had already put this image there and I was astonished to find the page has 74 references! By comparison, the page for the Civil War has 31 references -- 22 of them from the same book.

nluqo 15y ago

Damn, the entire company (desktop, xbox, the logo) is being consumed by Metro.

flyosity 15y ago

Hey there, Shetland Islands: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shetland_Islands http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shetland_Islands

tripzilch 15y ago
IT'S NOT A FLAG

peterfschaadt 15y ago

I'm curious to see when/if they update the Windows key on laptops and keyboards.

bgarbiak 15y ago
I think they won't mind leaving it the way it is for some time. It could be used as a sort of a subconscious metaphor: keyboards/old logo is the thing of the past and touch screen/new logo is "the now".

gfodor 15y ago

Let's put tons of effort in to make a clean, simple, beautiful logo. And then let our lawyers stamp a honking (TM) on it to ruin it.

Zirro 15y ago
It annoys me too. Is there anyone here who knows if they are required to put it there to protect their brand, or if it's entirely optional?
- culturestate 15y ago
  There are some legal advantages, but it's largely optional. Note, for example, that Apple doesn't use it anywhere other than their written materials.
sixothree 15y ago
That's Microsoft for you.

Alind 15y ago

As for today, in my opinion, windows 1's logo is such a fashion.

georgieporgie 15y ago

I'm really not feelin' it. It looks like some sort of industry association sticker that I might see on a window or glass door at Home Depot. I agree with others here, too, that the 3.1 logo seems to be a better example of the clean look they're going for.

altrego99 15y ago

"Microsoft and Windows are all about putting technology in people's hands to empower them to find their own perspectives." This line could be avoided :)

m0nastic 15y ago

I've never seen the original Windows 1.0 logo before (or maybe it's just been so long that I've forgotten), but I actually think that's far and away the best logo they've ever had.

fady 15y ago
i agree. i've never seen that one before. in fact, they should take the font-style from the new logo and add the old window icon from 1.0, maybe adjust the blue in "windows" in the new logo to match 1.0 as well..
mc32 15y ago
Something interesting to me is how the Windows 1 logo looks like the old ethernet 10base2 icon. A bit ahead of its time, in that sense --I don't think windows 1 was networkable.
nirvana 15y ago
Interestingly that logo accurately represents the way "Windows" worked in Windows 1.0. It didn't have overlapping windows. So the lines within the windows represent the dividers of the UI between the window areas. You could make one window bigger by moving a divider over, making all the windows on the other side of that divider smaller. There was no concept of windows being in front of or behind each other (like there was on the mac from the beginning. Microsoft obviously started on windows late compared to the mac, and was quite behind at the 1.0 release.)
- literalusername 15y ago
  You speak about tiling window managers as if they were already an anachronism in 1985. Yet today, some of us continue to prefer them, and they remain in active development. What good is a window that's partially covered? I either want to completely see it or I want it to be completely hidden from view. The parlor trick of overlapping windows is useless to me.
  - seldo 15y ago

run4yourlives 15y ago

Sorry, not feeling it. I think the Vista one was the best, to be honest.

alanfalcon 15y ago

This is great. Not the logo itself, that's just... Something. But it's a very good idea for the clean break from previous Windows logos which were getting more and more complex. And now if you see any of those colorful logos, you will think "oh, that's old", so it's a subtle push to upgrade. Unlike Vista which was like, "oh that's the same old OS wrapped in a fake Apple-like shell."

boubountu 15y ago

Too much space between "windows 8" and the actual window.

ender7 15y ago

I've actually grown to like the monochrome treatment of the Windows 7 logo: http://www.seeklogo.com/images/W/windows-logo-C2E55C2526-seeklogo.com.gif http://www.seeklogo.com/images/W/windows-logo-C2E55C2526-see... It looks quite nice on the back of monitor screens, for example. The extreme fake parallax in the new logo just ends up making it look unbalanced to me, like it's about to fall off my screen. I understand if they want to go all "Swiss" on the next logo...but if so, they shouldn't have had any parallax at all. When I see it, I don't think "Metro", and I don't think "Windows", I just think...apartment building. Also, see commentary on Brand New: http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/with_windows_like_these_who_needs_enemies.php http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/with_win...

ChrisNorstrom 15y ago
Yeah, they're going somewhere nice with it but it's just not there yet. It actually looks like the logo hates its font and is turning away from it. It's not an iconic symbol by itself and is too plain, boring, and generic to become one later on. If they decide to use it I'm sure it'll stick eventually, it's just right now, it doesn't look done.
rayhano 15y ago
Surely that new logo is meant to be animated...
sixothree 15y ago
It's the first Windows operating system designed for tablet computing which is largely portrait mode, and it's the first flag logo with panes wider than tall. I wonder if that was intentional.

Ryanmf 15y ago

"Your name is Windows. Why are you a flag?" I wonder how much they paid to listen to an expert ask that question when it was likely asked, and ignored, internally for years.

aggarwalachal 15y ago
not really a flag... i guess they look at something like this for "window" http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs15/f/2007/113/9/d/Old_Window_by_ofeliq.jpg http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs15/f/2007/113/9/d/Old_Window_by...
- cpeterso 15y ago
  That window is not flapping in the wind like the Windows logo.
- bitwize 15y ago
  It was a flag. I guess it's supposed to connote triumphalism. As in "yay, it finally shipped!" The NetBSD logo, itself based on a cartoon of daemons hoisting a flag like at Iwo Jima, has many of the same connotations. Back in Windows 3.1, by going to ProgMan's About box and Ctrl-Shift-Clicking the Windows logo X amount of times, you could trigger an "easter egg", one screen of which was a flag waving with the Windows logo on it. Another of which was a credits scroll with a cartoon figure that had one of four faces: Gates, Ballmer, the Windows dev lead at the time (I forget who but he had a beard); and a creepy looking teddy bear (some sort of internal mascot for the Windows division). Good times.
cbr 15y ago
Politically, big companies often need outside experts to come in and tell them what many employees already know: http://www.overcomingbias.com/2012/01/why-so-much-consulting.html http://www.overcomingbias.com/2012/01/why-so-much-consulting...

zaidf 15y ago

Paula asked us a simple question, “your name is Windows. Why are you a flag?” I have never really asked myself that question as a consumer. I have never felt "confused" that the logo is NOT a window. I have just generally liked Windows, the operating system, and have become fond of the brand after 15 years of use. This assumes that your logo MUST be a literal representation of your name. I'm curious to know why. Without it, it just seems like an opinion of someone named Paula.

ugh 15y ago
As opposed to an opinion of someone named zaidf?
jackalope 15y ago
I've always wondered why it was a flag. I've never liked Windows, and the logo always struck me as creepy, like they're trying to make you choose a side: "Come march under our banner!"
- flomo 15y ago
  I always interpreted it as a "flying window" (which was also the name of an old screensaver).
ahage16 15y ago
I think the question arose from the fact that the old logo looked like it was trying to be both a window and a flag at the same time. The reason for looking like a window was pretty obvious, but the reason for looking like a flag wasn't.
artursapek 15y ago
It's a stupid question. Logos aren't depictions. They're icons meant to represent something, not describe it. I never questioned the old logo. I actually liked it a lot more than the sad attempt at modernism they're announcing in this article. It's disappointing that Microsoft doesn't seem to understand this essential design rule. They should read Paul Rand. “Should a logo be self-explanatory? It is only by association with a product, a service, a business, or a corporation that a logo takes on any real meaning. It derives its meaning and usefulness from the quality of that which it symbolizes."

baby 15y ago

Okay, so I've read the comments here and I am the only one who really likes the new logo.

RomP 15y ago

Hmmm, I think I've seen it somewhere. Indeed: http://stocklogos.com/topic/past-and-future-famous-logos http://stocklogos.com/topic/past-and-future-famous-logos

ImprovedSilence 15y ago
Haha that's a fantastic page.
joedev 15y ago
The GAP one is especially funny.
- Roboprog 15y ago
  Yeah, but not as good as the 2015 Nokia.
ErrantX 15y ago
The Microsoft one really isn't all that far off the W8 logo...
gillianseed 15y ago
Wonderful page, laughed alot. Firefox 2012 logo with meteorite crash and then 2050 with an all water covered globe.

redthrowaway 15y ago

Does the kerning in the new logo look wrong to anyone else? That 'o' has an awful lot of space around it.

deleted 15y ago
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deleted 15y ago
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kingsidharth 15y ago
Nope. n-d-o makes it right.
cpeterso 15y ago
The kerning immediately irked me, too, but I was thinking the 'W' and 'i' were too close.
- pvarangot 15y ago
  The way the W sort of points at the dot in the i makes me feel like if someone is poking my eye.
timkeller 15y ago
I think its the dot on the 'i'. It should be square too.

sabret00the 15y ago

Is it really legal to Trademark such an image? There must be a thousand prior iterations of such a thing.

artursapek 15y ago
The trademark probably involves its usage with that brand name.
cbr 15y ago
A thousand prior iterations in the Operating Systems market? Trademarks are specific to markets; that's why UPS can have the color brown but non-shipping-companies can also use brown.
Symmetry 15y ago
Yes, but that doesn't mean that other people couldn't trademark the same image in different contexts. Trademark really isn't like copyright.

martingordon 15y ago

And here's Apple's rendition of the Windows logo (used for Boot Camp): http://www.flickr.com/photos/alanchao/127292839/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/alanchao/127292839/

artursapek 15y ago

It's rough times when a rectangle split into four is newsworthy and people suddenly realize they prefer something that was designed in 1985.

cpeterso 15y ago

I think they should have retained the distinctive red/green/blue/yellow colors of the Windows logo. And skipped the parallax. The Metro look has lots of flat, colorful squares that are just crying out to become a Windows logo. See this Windows 8 screenshot, for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Windows_8_Developer_Preview_Start_Screen.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Windows_8_Developer_Previ...

polshaw 15y ago
Agreed -- it would have been to metro what the windows 1.0 logo was to it's tiled windows. If the colours were deemed too garish, then perhaps varying lightness of one colour.

pwpwp 15y ago

Now it really looks like the Swedish flag.

heydenberk 15y ago

This gets worse with each iteration.

tikhonj 15y ago

Heh, the phrase "Authentically Digital" neatly sums up what I like about the Metro UI. If Windows Phone wasn't so locked down, I would get one just because it's the best looking option by far right now. As for the logo, I think a flag shape would be better than the window shape they have. It feels a little bit generic and almost self-parodying. That said, I definitely see where they are coming from, and it does fit in with their new Metro UI aesthetic.

chrislomax 15y ago

In the nicest possible way, I'm actually bored of this metro look already and it's not even released yet. I find that logo boring, some squares with a warp on it. I know it doesn't have to be over complicated but I don't think there is any imagination there at all. The blue is not very strong either, the branding it quite weak. Just my opinion, which I am entitled to before anyone starts giving me grief!

drewrv 15y ago
Boring can be good, from a usability perspective. Metro seems to be their big selling point now and I imagine they want the branding to reflect the usability of the product. Not trying to give you grief. I agree it's kinda boring, I'm just thinking that maybe it's boring by design.
- chrislomax 15y ago
  I think I know what they are trying to achieve, they are hoping to get the Apple simplicity, I think. I didn't think you were giving grief, sounded like constructive criticism, I don't mind that. I just don't like mindless comments that are biased. I hope this product gets them back in the game, they been a bit behind in innovation lately so I'm looking forward to something radically different.
Avshalom 15y ago
Somebody famous once said something along the line of "Art gets more beautiful with age. Fashion gets uglier" I really like metro as an idea but in practice it feels like fashion.

tripzilch 15y ago

Yeah! Let's use the flag of Shetland so ... people won't confuse our logo with .. a flag? Um? Granted they didn't pick the flag of big country like Sweden or anything, and if Shetland, Calais and Pärnu, Estonia, as well as Iceland in the past, were already using it, why couldn't Microsoft? On a more serious note, there's lots of valid criticism on this logo, the TM and (R) are clutter, their "Metro style" is not supposed to have perspective, and the font isn't particularly anything either. But then, it's not my logo :)

sixothree 15y ago
Not to mention the dot on the i looks misplaced and misshapen. My first emotional reaction to that logo was 'ewwww'. It's not a good sign when the best word I can find to describe it is gross.

kibwen 15y ago

Other than the color, it's a decent new logo. There is, however, one huge flaw: separated from the wordmark, the icon is flaccid. It looks like they were aiming for Apple-like minimalism in both color and form (which isn't to say that Apple is the only company allowed to practice minimalism), but "a skewed, doubly-bisected square" simply isn't distinctive enough to be iconic. I really hope they iterate on it for Windows 9.

molecularbutter 15y ago

Microsoft seems confused, but I am genuinely interested in Windows 8 and Metro. Hopefully they ditch their legacy stuff though and make a clean break a la iOS/OS X

cschmidt 15y ago

The Pentagram blog also has a writeup on the new logo: http://pentagram.com/en/new/2012/02/new-work-microsoft.php http://pentagram.com/en/new/2012/02/new-work-microsoft.php including a nifty animated logo

Corrado 15y ago
I really like the video as it actually gives some "context" to the window and its relation to the text. I just wish this view was more transparent in the static version.

brudgers 15y ago

The fierce reduction at the root of Metro's design allowed me to fairly accurately envision the new logo as soon as I read, "It’s a window… not a flag." One color, simple shapes, simple text - MicroSoft clearly has a design vision.

MartinCron 15y ago

2. It was important that the new logo carries our Metro principle of being “Authentically Digital”. By that, we mean it does not try to emulate faux-industrial design characteristics such as materiality (glass, wood, plastic, etc.) This is in stark contrast to everything Apple has been doing lately with address books and calendar on iPad trying to look like cartoonish versions of real materials. I prefer "authentically digital"

r00fus 15y ago
This logo also ties in with the Metro minimalist look.

publicus 15y ago

Interesting that they'd choose the Greek flag as the next Windows logo...

tripzilch 15y ago
It's the flag of Shetland, Calais, a historical flag of Iceland and some place in Estonia, but the Greek flag looks different.

jagjit 15y ago

An ode to friends in Finland? The logo looks very much like flags of Finland, Sweden etc.

functionform 15y ago

This is the first logo I haven't liked honestly. It looks unbalanced and unfinished.

some1else 15y ago

The article and shape reminded me of the logo I did for Compiz before they merged back with Beryl: http://forum.compiz.org/viewtopic.php?f=135&t=236&p=1811 http://forum.compiz.org/viewtopic.php?f=135&t=236&p=... It's by no means a perfect philosophy and account, but designers might enjoy the story.

vacri 15y ago

Using bold flat colors and clean lines and shapes, the new logo has the characteristics of way-finding design systems seen in airports and subways. Bold colors? As in plural colors? That's the first place they've failed. And trying to emulate an airport's system for moving people around is bad from the outset - those things are meant to be simple and boring. They do their task by being unambiguous, uniform, simple... and bland. Sure, make your logo work in monochrome for places where it has to be (like the plastic moulding mentioned above), but in both print and digital, a single flat pale blue is pretty tepid. It also doesn't evoke the multitude of colour panes that they're trying to push in every screenshot - why not simply move their four colours to the new 'window'?

politician 15y ago
Well, really, why shouldn't an operating system be "simple" and "boring" and "bland"? I don't need an exciting OS -- it needs to be dependable.
- vacri 15y ago
  It doesn't matter how simple, boring, bland and dependable your product is, your logo should not be bland, especially if you're marketing to the general public.

lupatus 15y ago

If it didn't say "Windows 8" next to it, I wouldn't have known that it was the Windows logo. Frankly, it is kind of a let-down. The Vista & Windows 7 "pearl" logo is cool - it is flashy and is artistically impressive with it's lighting effects on the rounded semi-reflective surface. It draws the eye to itself. The new logo is a bland blue monochrome square whose slight tilt causes the eye to passively move right over it without notice. Is this the first hint that Windows 8 is an operating system to "pass" on instead of adopting? If Microsoft wants this operating system to grab market share, a bland Germanic logo that tells the user "don't mind me, but your next exit is in half a mile" is a poor first step at grabbing the market's attention, IMO.

mikemaccana 15y ago
Really? I bought the shiny blue liquid vista pearl looked a lot like a poor, and very self conscious, attempt to imitate their competitors.

sjm 15y ago

This is far better: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36724189@N05/6892887709/in/photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/36724189@N05/6892887709/in/phot...

grandpoobah 15y ago
OOo an opening window. I like it. That's re-imagination right there.

icarus_drowning 15y ago

What makes the new Windows logo appear so weirdly revolting to me is the fact that it is minimalist, but not distinctive. Contrast this to the simplified Apple logo that one sees upon booting OS X-- minimalist, but entirely distinctive. The new Windows logo is a weirdly parallaxed set of rectangles. Nothing specifically diacritical at all. EDIT: I think this is why the monochrome Win7 logo that has been posted here is better. It is distinctly Windows, building on decades of brand identity, and a truly unique and iconic. It is almost as if the "flag" shape that Microsoft seems so eager to drop is perhaps their greatest asset. They've missed the point: minimalism for the sake of minimalism isn't "better". Simple is simple. Beautiful is beautiful.

sniperjoe 15y ago

well, it's well crafted, elegant, and minimalistic. however, deep down I just feel microsoft is far too sophisticated a company to be monochrome.

dkrich 15y ago

Microsoft's main failure for the past decade or so is that they have repeatedly enacted a flurry of short-term strategies in reaction to whichever direction the industry winds happened to blowing, and did so for just about every consumer tech industry. Xbox to Playstation, Bing to Google, Zune to iPod. In the process they did very little leading along the way and hemorrhaged money from all of these businesses. I still like and respect Microsoft as a company and think they can still produce great things, and I hope that the next decade sees them develop some leadership and return to innovation.

deleted 15y ago

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lwhi 15y ago

I think the metro UI is genuinely interesting and (dare I say it) exciting. The logo redesign fits with our times - but it's incredibly safe .. verging on dull. Large corporations have so much ubiquity .. we encounter them so many times throughout our day. Daily exposure ensures familiarity and this familiarity eventually leads to acceptance; in one sense the logo could be virtually anything and would still serve its purpose (e.g. Pepsi redesign). The age of the logo is over in my opinion .. these days the prominance of a logo has been supplanted by a fuzzier, more Machiavellian concept - the ability for a brand to connect with its audience on a personal level. In that respect a logo is sometimes simply fodder to for the latter; ensuring the brand and company are spoken about socially (e.g. the gap redesign / 2012 olympics). It pains me to imagine how much Pentagram were paid for this.

efsavage 15y ago

If I had to picture "windows logo for metro" something more akin to the Black Flag logo comes to mind. Not this disaster that looks like some shareware multi-monitor utility.

lurker14 15y ago

Giving the blog a name that is easily confused with "Window Steam Blog" says a lot about the team's understanding of how to build user-friendly interfaces.

gubatron 15y ago

The new logo is an homage to the BSOD