Microsoft has designed a new logo for Windows 8, to better reflect the Metro style design principles of the upcoming operating system and reconnect with some of the powerful characteristics of previous incarnations.
Pentagram, a design agency with illustrious history, contributed to the design of the new logo. The logo is simple and carries Pentagram sense of classic graphic design, which fit well with Microsoft's Metro design principles:
"In some ways you can trace the evolution of the Windows logo in parallel with the advancements of the technology used to create logos," said Sam Moreau, Principal Director of User Experience for Windows. "From the simple two color version in Windows 1.0 to the intricate and detailed renderings in Windows Vista and Windows 7, each change makes sense in the context in which it was created. As computing capabilities increased, so did the use of that horse power to render more colors, better fonts, and more detailed and life-like 3D visual effects like depth, shadows, and materiality. We have evolved from a world of rudimentary low resolution graphics to today?s rich high-resolution systems. And what started as a simple "window" to compliment the product name became a flying or waving flag," he added.
Microsoft and Windows are all about putting technology in people's hands to empower them to find their own perspectives. Microsoft did less of a re-design and more to return it to its original meaning and bringing Windows back to its roots - reimagining the Windows logo as just that - a window.
Microsoft wanted the new logo to be both modern and classic by echoing the International Typographic Style (or Swiss design) that has been a great influence on Microsoft's Metro style design philosophy. 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.
The company added that it was important that the new logo carried Microsoft's Metro principle of being "Authentically Digital". By that, Microsoft means it does not try to emulate faux-industrial design characteristics such as materiality (glass, wood, plastic, etc.). It has motion ? aligning with the fast and fluid style users will find throughout Windows 8.