Microsoft's new logo emphasizes Windows, Metro - Page 5

Except when it came down to his own company's name.  If i remember correctly from his bio, he said they had a hard time coming up with a company name.  Someone suggested Apple.  Steve first rejected it, but kept it as a place holder.  Then they finally settled on it because he couldn't think of anything better.  So Apple it was.  After that I'm not sure how much they sweated the details of the logo design.  But I'm assuming they must have...since the outline of the logo looks highly stylized and geometric.  My guess is the graphic designer must have had a very logical system to developing the shape of the Apple Logo.  I'd love to read about it if anyone has any links for me?

oh, here's a link.  Happy reading!

http://creativebits.org/interview/interview_rob_janoff_designer_apple_logo

 

Which reminds me of a related link… 

That's odd.  According to the interview with the designer, he mentions having 2 original designs for the logo.  One with the bite and the other without.  He didn't mention if the first was ever used, just that SJ chose the one with the bite.  He also mentions that the logo was drawn free-hand, but the logo on this bag looks totally different from even the 1977 rainbow design.  I wonder what the history of this bag is?  How it came to be the logo being so different?

 

My first Apple was an Apple][e.  Came with the green screen and dual disk drive.  and an Apple Printer.  but the printer was white and not the softer light beige.  It never had a carrying case like this.

Edited by antkm1 - 8/24/12 at 3:05pm

The addition of the icon is an interesting change as it looks like a Windows logo but it's just the Microsoft logo. I recognise the diamond shaped icon seen in Bootcamp more easily and while it still represents Windows, I don't think that's a bad thing because almost everything it will be used for is Windows related:



The XBox has its own branding but the Windows icon next to the manufacturer name immediately lets people know it's the same people who do all the computer products.

I don't think the reference to tiles comes through strongly enough from the coloured squares given that the tile UI (even used on the XBox) doesn't use all square tiles. No matter how often they use the colours with their products, I don't get a strong association either. Green = XBox and Excel, Blue = Word, Messenger and Games for Windows Live, which don't match up.

I get a strong association with Adobe's apps (although they're kinda messing this up too by having so many products).

I'm sure people will get used to it the more it's used and it is a bit more family friendly with the colours and softer font. I don't think they will be able to use the tiles on their own and have people recognise it the way Apple can with their logo. I'd recognise the diamond without the text.

Where did the diamond logo come from?  Is that new also?  Seems inconsistent if it is.

 

Came from Boot Camp.  But it's a legitimate (if possibly now discontinued) logo.

Yeah, it came from Bootcamp. I don't recall Microsoft using it themselves. When I see their new logo where they'll probably want to use it, the colour one looks like it works better than the Bootcamp-style logo. The diamond one makes me think of old man socks, which is probably what I associate Microsoft with:





I just checked their actual store branding and this is similar to what they've been using for a while (over a year), it just has some concentric squares:





So the new logo looks to be a follow-on from the store branding. Kind of a backwards way to do it but whatever works. I think the concentric one works better for the message they send about their product range but the brighter colours look more friendly.

They've also used a variation of the 4 squares since at least Windows 3.1.

To represent Windows though, not Microsoft and it was always a flag. The store is the first time they used it to represent Microsoft as a company. Now they've gone the further step of removing that identity from Windows and giving it fully to Microsoft. Windows is now:



http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2012/02/17/redesigning-the-windows-logo.aspx