the last post when I said I thought it was ugly so I wanted to create this addendum to clarify a few things.
First of all, yes I realize that it’s similar to the logo Microsoft says it used in Windows 1.0.
[caption id="attachment_13816" align="alignnone" width="560"]
Windows 3 Logo[/caption]
Doesn’t change a thing. The old logo was better – more creative. The new one is stunningly bad.
Second and more importantly, yes I know that the logo was created by Pentagram and the highly renowned Paula Scher of Pentagram. She’s uber talented. It’s been reported that as part of the lead up to the logo, she asked Microsoft a simple question, “Your name is Windows. Why are you a flag?“
On it’s face, that makes perfect sense. To be perfectly clear, I have no attachment to the previous flags and am more than thrilled to have the Windows logo be um… a window.
The issue is that there are 1000 more aesthetically appealing ways this could have been done. My opinion.
Third, it’s really not just my opinion. I took a 20 minute Google search of MAJOR publications who expressed an opinion. I found some solace and assurance that I wasn’t crazy.
Joe Wilcox – Betanews “The new logo is a mistake and one Microsoft could and should correct before Windows 8 ships in the autumn (well, presumably).” Scott M. Fulton, III – ReadWriteWeb “Years ago, Microsoft told me that after the development team met one of its early milestones and the campus celebrated, they hoisted a flag of the existing Windows logo – which looked at that time like a sideways cinder-block – over Redmond headquarters. Someone, perhaps Bill Gates, said the logo should become a flag and represent all colors of the computing spectrum. It’s interesting that the company should heed an outsider’s advice and discard that important symbology.“ Larry Dignan – ZDNet “Summary: The Windows 8 logo gives me a window, but I want to jump out of it.” E.D. Kaine – Forbes “But does it work? It’s hard for me to see how this is a great leap forward in design from the Windows 1.0 logo. I realize that this is all very much a matter of taste, but to me the blue window panel in the original is more eye-catching than the tilted blue panel in the Windows 8 version. ….What do you think? Am I crazy? Does the colorless logo make sense when the new Windows 8 operating system is so damn colorful?” Buster Heine – Cult of Mac “Yep, we said it. The new Windows 8 logo is pretty ugly. It actually looks a lot like the Windows 1.0 logo, only slightly worse. Say what you will about using big kitties as the title and logo for an operating system, at least the OS X logo doesn’t look like it was drawn by a 10 year-old using Microsoft Paint.” Armin – UnderConsideration “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.” Sean Ludwig – Venturebeat “You might say this is Microsoft’s Gap moment, that uncomfortable situation in which a company chooses a new logo that takes away from its history and chooses blandness over anything striking.” Mark Hachman – PCmag “Microsoft Unveils Bland, Blue Windows 8 Logo” (This next one was funny, he liked it right? – Not sure) – Harry McCracken – Time Magazine Windows 8’s Logo Is a Snoozer? Good! I like the logo. Or at least I don’t dislike it. I don’t think Microsoft is attempting to provoke profound emotions here–it’s a simple, low-key iconographic representation of the concept of Windows, and it expresses the same aesthetic as the Metro user interface which is Windows 8’s most important new feature by far. (It’s also remarkably reminiscent of the original mid-1980s Windows logo that nobody, including me, remembers.) …But even though I find the Windows 8 logo bland, I find that approach appropriate.Well I hope that answers the emails I’ve been getting. It is what it is – I personally think Microsoft (like GAP) need to take a very serious second look at this logo. A lot of you seem to agree. It is what it is…]]>
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