Microsoft Presents its First New Logo Since 1987

Microsoft Presents its First New Logo Since 1987 by Katrina Radic

August 24, 2012

On Thursday, Microsoft revealed its new logo. The brand hasn’t changed its four-colored ‘window’ logo since 1987, which surprisingly survived until now. In other words, Scott Baker, the logo’s designer, did a good job back in 1987, but I think we all agree that 2012 is a year too much for Microsoft’s old design, especially with the new Windows 8 coming out and, of course, its apple-shaped competitor.

New & old logo

“The Microsoft brand is about much more than logos or product names. We are lucky to play a role in the lives of more than a billion people every day. The ways people experience our products are our most important “brand impressions.” That’s why the new Microsoft logo takes its inspiration from our product design principles while drawing upon the heritage of our brand values, fonts and colors,” Microsoft wrote on their blog. They added that “The symbol is important in a world of digital motion. The symbol’s squares of color are intended to express the company’s diverse portfolio of products.”

I’m never a fan of refreshing or redesigning old and well established logos, but if such an action must be done, this logo is a good example of how to do it. Decrease the elements, shape it up into a complete and compact form, leave all the recognizable forms, colors and fonts the same or similar and – voila – a new, fresh, and somewhat exiting logo is made to welcome new products and generations.

I feel a bit nostalgic for the old look now – all those days as a kid, turning on your computer, seeing a wavy four color window greeting you while you can’t wait for it to go away so you can play your, now unbelievably retro, favorite games.

The only thing I don’t like about the new Microsoft look is the presentation, which could have gone much less cheap-looking and the Windows 8 logo which reminds me of a post-apocalyptic ’90 movie. I can’t say anything for the brand’s Windows 8 look since I’ve seen only previews of it and, for now, I’m not impressed, although I am a bit excited about it as I am a dedicated Windows user myself. Time will tell how the new Windows 8 will suit customers, but for now, let’s enjoy the well-done job of refreshing a well-established logo and not making it worse for a change.

What are your thoughts about the new logo and look? Is it just what the brand needed or are you not a fan of the direction it’s going in?

BY Katrina Radic

Author

Katrina is a graphic designer based in Belgrade, Serbia. Mixing the two worlds, creative and corporate, she delivers the freshest and most creative news from the industry to the readers of Branding Magazine.

coshbuc

I love the new logo. I even liked the presentation.
Sebastian

Where do you guys take your “branding” lessons from? Donald Duck? A good logo? How is a Corporate Brand logo supposed to work when it inherits the symbol of one of their already well known products? People ALREADY confuse “Windows” with “Microsoft”, how are they now going to be able to distinguish them? “Microsoft” is an umbrella (family) brand and that’s the role it should play in their strategy, and not the other way around. Imagine windows’ packaging with window’s logo on it, and on the right bottom corner “microsoft” ‘s logo with what used to be window’s logo. Why on earth would one want to do such a thing? You have a brand (windows) that works well, don’t kill it! And to “branding magazine”, maybe you should consider hiring older journalists.
- katrinaradic
  
  Dear Sebastian,
  I’m sorry this article frustrated you enough to wright such a big comment.
  The article is a slight observation and it is entirely my opinion – it doesn’t mean that I am right and everybody else is wrong. It doesn’t mean that your opinion is wrong, or that what you just wrote doesn’t make sense. It is, and I repeat, an o p i n i o n , so there’s no need to be mean. Thanks.
DecaSolitera

Sebastian, Microsoft wouldn’t be what it is without Windows as their leading product, so they made pretty brave and wise move with this new logo. And, no, people aren’t puzzled with this change, as you claim.
http://www.facebook.com/stoljagic Srđan Toljagić

@3312f4eb0a12d567fbe897a056458371:disqus “The Microsoft brand is about much
more than logos or product names. We are lucky to play a role in the
lives of more than a billion people every day. The ways people
experience our products are our most important “brand impressions.”
That’s why the new Microsoft logo takes its inspiration from our product
design principles while drawing upon the heritage of our brand values,
fonts and colors,”

Windows logo’s http://www.brandingmagazine.com/2012/02/20/microsoft-unveils-the-new-windows-8-logo/

I’m not sure that Donald Duck gives branding lessons however, will look that up with some of our older journalists. http://www.brandingmagazine.com/category/columns/
- Sebastian
  
  Of course.. that’s what Microsoft says, and how we all know big brands have made HUGE branding mistakes in the past (Holiday Inn, Coca Cola, Miller, etc.). The fact that this statement comes from Microsoft doesn’t mean they’re doing it right. On the opposite, Microsoft has clearly failed with their branding strategies in the last 10 years, and judging by this I am sure they’re going to keep losing market share to Apple (if Apple can still keep up with its pace, even after Steve Jobs’ death).
Ben Leoni

That’s cute. I remember when I did my first logo.

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