Microsoft has revealed the new Windows 8 logo. I wouldn’t normally write an article about it but this is the first major redesign in 22 years. And since most of us use Windows every day, that’s a fairly big deal.
Are you ready? Here goes…
While it’s no London 2012 logo, I can’t help feeling a little underwhelmed.
Changing your brand is not something companies (should) do on a whim. Microsoft state the new logo reflects the re-imagination of the Windows operating system with clean lines, simple colors and the new Metro interface. They also admit the old logo was a flag rather than a window. Did it ever confuse you?
I’m not totally convinced. The font is a little simplistic and why is the window icon shown in perspective when Windows 8 looks flat?
It’s a bold move that’s likely to divide user opinion. Much like Windows 8. So let’s take a brief trip through history to see how Microsoft reached this point…
Windows Vista/7
The semi-transparent full-color Aero theme had a big influence on the Vista/7 logo and start button:
It’s still recognizable as the Windows logo, but the highlights, shadows and gradients made it feel more modern.
Windows XP
XP remains the world’s most-used OS eleven years after its release. Again, the logo matched XP’s default theme and, while it looks a little basic today, it was a fairly radical step forward at the time…
Windows 3+
In the decade leading to XP, all versions of Windows including 3.x, NT, 95, 98, Millennium and 2000 used a variation of the flag with familiar motion trails:
It looked fairly dated in the 1990s, but that’s the period Microsoft became the most dominant OS maker on the planet. The logo is business-like and businesses flocked to Windows.
Windows 1.0
Do you remember the original Windows logo from the 1980s? Me neither. Does it remind you of anything?…
We’ve come full circle. Almost three decades of tweaks and redesigns has resulted in a logo which looks almost identical to the one first used in 1985. I think I prefer the original — although a sans-serif font would improve it.
Whatever your opinion, you better get used to it. The Windows 8 logo will appear everywhere in the lead up to the new OS release!
Craig BucklerCraig is a freelance UK web consultant who built his first page for IE2.0 in 1995. Since that time he's been advocating standards, accessibility, and best-practice HTML5 techniques. He's created enterprise specifications, websites and online applications for companies and organisations including the UK Parliament, the European Parliament, the Department of Energy & Climate Change, Microsoft, and more. He's written more than 1,000 articles for SitePoint and you can find him @craigbuckler.
