Redesigning the Windows Logo
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Redesigning the Windows Logo
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Re: Redesigning the Windows Logo
#2> very short list of agencies that we wanted to work with on the redesign of the logo and were thrilled when Pentagram agreed to join us in the project
Pentagram. Sounds like an appropriate company name to work on the logo redesign.
Re: Redesigning the Windows Logo
#3Could someone explain what motivates Microsoft to try and "completely reimagine" their OS every time they iterate? We're talking about an OS, not a video game. I get that they're trying to innovate, but it comes across as self-deprecating.
I love how Apple has maintained uniformity in their UI across the past few iterations of OSX. It's just one less thing to worry about relearning, allowing me to get my work done easier.
Re: Redesigning the Windows Logo
#4I actually like the Windows 1.0 logo...
Re: Redesigning the Windows Logo
#5Could someone explain what motivates Microsoft to try and "completely reimagine" their OS every time they iterate? We're talking about an OS, not a video game. I get that they're trying to innovate, but it comes across as self-deprecating. I love how Apple has maintained uniformity in their UI across the past few iterations of OSX. It's just one less thing to worry about relearning, allowing me to get my work done ea…
They seem to do it in a very odd way as well. They might change "completely reimagine" but they don't change there decade plus old network, and other, dialogs to improve usability.
Re: Redesigning the Windows Logo
#6Could someone explain what motivates Microsoft to try and "completely reimagine" their OS every time they iterate? We're talking about an OS, not a video game. I get that they're trying to innovate, but it comes across as self-deprecating. I love how Apple has maintained uniformity in their UI across the past few iterations of OSX. It's just one less thing to worry about relearning, allowing me to get my work done ea…
Could someone explain what motivates Microsoft to try and "completely reimagine" their OS every time they iterate?
They don't, though. Vista was, cosmetically, a big leap from XP, but in terms of actual UI it barely changed at all. Start button is still in the same place, maximise, minimise, etc. All still there.
I do really appreciate the little touches MS add, actually. Drag a window to the top of the screen to maximise, to the left to use 50% of the screen, shake the window to minimise all the other ones... I use that stuff every day, and miss it when I go home to OS X.
Re: Redesigning the Windows Logo
#7Could someone explain what motivates Microsoft to try and "completely reimagine" their OS every time they iterate? We're talking about an OS, not a video game. I get that they're trying to innovate, but it comes across as self-deprecating. I love how Apple has maintained uniformity in their UI across the past few iterations of OSX. It's just one less thing to worry about relearning, allowing me to get my work done ea…
Perhaps they are dealing with a public perception that they are 'old sauce' which is to say "Oh my grandparents used Windows, I use ." Technology has its fashion moments and this is one of them. When you elevate the OS to the level of 'brand' you enter into a world where fashion as well as features dictate acceptance. So in that world, they need to have a fashion statement as well as a technology statement.
That being said, its also easy to get stuck in a rut and have that kill your project. Microsoft has perhaps more scars than many in this area. If you recall they did a 'tablet' version of Windows long before iOS, but they failed to 're-imagine' and instead they tried to 'shoehorn' ideas which didn't make sense (we'll assume you have a high precision pointing device like a stylus or mouse) and so those preconceptions prevented them from seeing what needed to be done.
Mostly I think the messaging about the flag and what not is PR to try to tell people "Hey, we're awake and we're trying to innovate, and we want to be better, and we're sorry for Vista." If their stock price is any indication they are having some success there.
Re: Redesigning the Windows Logo
#8"By that, we mean it does not try to emulate faux-industrial design characteristics such as materiality (glass, wood, plastic, etc.)."
Is "materiality" code for "skeumorphism"? Either way, it's a big middle finger to Apple.
Re: Redesigning the Windows Logo
#9Good writeup on Brand New:
>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. Moving away from the more flag-like icon seems like abandoning two decades of equity — crappy equity, but equity nonetheless.
http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/with_win...
Re: Redesigning the Windows Logo
#10> We have evolved from a world of rudimentary low resolution graphics to today’s rich high-resolution systems
...but we still haven't learned to not save single-colored pictures as jpeg. Aaa my eyes!