Windows 8 to get new logo

Windows 8, Microsoft’s upcoming flagship operating system, is not just getting new features but a new logo as well. Microsoft user experience for Windows principal director Sam Moreau said the logo – an angled blue background with a thin white cross – aims to reflect the re-imagination of the OS. “We 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,” Moreau said in a blog post. He added that with the complete re-imagination of the Windows OS, “nothing has been left unexplored, including the Windows logo, to evaluate how it held up to modern PC sensibilities.” Besides, he said an evolution of the logo would better reflect Metro-style design principles. “And we also felt there was an opportunity to reconnect with some of the powerful characteristics of previous incarnations,” he said. Moreau said Pentagram helped design the new logo, adding its sense of classic graphic design “fit well with our Metro design principles.” ‘It’s a window, not a flag’ Moreau said that during a meeting with Paula Scher, Michael Beirut and Daniel Weil from Pentagram and a few designers and marketing leaders from Windows, the team spent a full day sharing some of the Metro style design philosophy, the Windows brand history and values as well as graphic design and technology industry trends. “Your name is Windows. Why are you a flag?” he recalled Scher from Pentagram, who showed her sketches for the new logo, as saying. She was referring to the more recent logos of Windows, including XP and 7, where the Windows logo resembled a waving flag. Moreau said the origins of the logo show it really was meant to be a window. He said that with Windows 8, Microsoft approached the logo redesign with a few key goals on mind: