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Microsoft gets a new logo for the first time since 1987

seattletimes.nwsource.com

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Re: Microsoft gets a new logo for the first time since 1987

#121

Post by d4nt »

noblethrasher wrote: post #98
bjornsteffanson wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand what mean about it not being part of Microsoft's DNA, but it seems like you're trying to blame Microsoft's poor web presence on its age. How do you then rationalize other pre-Web companies like IBM and Apple who have managed to successfully embrace it?

IBM and Apple each have a more homogeneous audience. IBM is a consulting company and courts mid- to upper-level manager types with purchasing authority. After few seconds on the page you are invited to speak with a sales consultant via a popup. Apple is focused exclusively on the (premium) consumer space. Both companies represent top-down totalitarianism (I say this without value-connotation): IBM suggest corporate c…

While its probably correct to say that Microsoft does not have a homogenous audience and that that is why their online presence lacks the clarity of, say, Apple. I think the lack of clarity is a bad thing and Microsoft only really have themselves to blame for their audience.

If you're going to go after a very varied audience you should probably think carefully about whether you need to have lots of sub brands (e.g. Proctor & Gamble) so that your customers simply google for the sub brand, or whether you actually can attach some core values onto the parent brand that will be meaningful in all these different markets (e.g. Virgin or Disney). It's no good having a scatter gun product strategy then neglecting your branding and online presence because you sell to everyone everywhere.

Re: Microsoft gets a new logo for the first time since 1987

#123

Post by tptacek »

Jabbles wrote: post #96
tptacek wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are the Windows colors. They predate Google.

Oh. I wonder why Google chose those colours then? There was a rumour about their first server being made of various colours of lego bricks, but maybe someone put more thought into it...

The full-saturation primary colors, plus green? Because they're obvious.

Re: Microsoft gets a new logo for the first time since 1987

#125

Post by Trufa »

noblethrasher wrote: post #98
bjornsteffanson wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand what mean about it not being part of Microsoft's DNA, but it seems like you're trying to blame Microsoft's poor web presence on its age. How do you then rationalize other pre-Web companies like IBM and Apple who have managed to successfully embrace it?

IBM and Apple each have a more homogeneous audience. IBM is a consulting company and courts mid- to upper-level manager types with purchasing authority. After few seconds on the page you are invited to speak with a sales consultant via a popup. Apple is focused exclusively on the (premium) consumer space. Both companies represent top-down totalitarianism (I say this without value-connotation): IBM suggest corporate c…

Apple sold 18.65M iPhones in Q2 2011, that's iPhone alone, I think calling Apple's audience homogeneous is ridiculous, and falls under the same as "mac is for designers" old-fashion statement.

Re: Microsoft gets a new logo for the first time since 1987

#127

Post by notatoad »

mbesto wrote: post #113
notatoad wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft isn't changing their brand, they're updating their brand. It's something virtually every company does from time to time, and it's not a sign of the apocalypse. Microsoft isn't escaping any of their past with this change, they're still very recognizable as the same company as before. Your assumptions about the reason for updating a brand are even wronger in the case of Twitter. They didn't update their brand…

> Microsoft isn't changing their brand, they're updating their brand. Semantics. > it's not a sign of the apocalypse. I'm sorry if I implied it's a sign of the apocalypse. I didn't mean it that way. The point is Microsoft has suffered greatly due to the massive success of Apple. This is no news to anyone. They're not going to die anytime soon, but they have a MASSIVE threat. The Wire's portrayal of the character's br…

>How many people here think Google should change it's logo? The logo itself lacks any sort of design principles and very clearly was created by a techie with lack of graphic design. So why on earth hasn't Google changed it?

They have changed it. They subtly update it every couple years to keep the shading and the bevel in line with current trends.

In any case, you're either missing my point, or you're missing the point of the scene in the wire. That was about a brand escaping their old image. Microsoft isn't doing that. They're embracing their old image, celebrating their old brand, and remaining recognizable as who they were before, even though they had the new logo. That's pretty much the exact opposite of what worldcom and the barksdale crew were trying to do. If they wanted to escape their old image, now would be a perfect time to do it, with their most different products ever, but they are sticking by both the windows and the Microsoft brands.

Re: Microsoft gets a new logo for the first time since 1987

#128

Post by emddudley »

colanderman wrote: post #99
sudonim wrote: post #7

The logo is O.K. Their homepage http://microsoft.com looks like a mix between a "corporate" website template you'd buy for $50 and a domain squatting page with amazon referral links. Gosh I want to cheer for microsoft but they make it real hard.

Not to mention the URL… http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx , really? Have they not heard of internal/external URL mapping and Accept-Language? Not to mention it won't even load for me; I guess they don't cache this stuff either.

Actually I noticed that they've recently started leaving off the .aspx extension on their MSDN pages.

For example: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/tt0cf3sx

Re: Microsoft gets a new logo for the first time since 1987

#129

Post by bobsil1 »

Jabbles wrote: post #43
toddmorey wrote: post #30

Jokingly: That logo cost them $50 [1] My real questions are whether there will be a one-color variant, whether the symbol will be allowed to be displayed without the type, and how you could ever secure international trademark on four squares. My guess is that you'd have to be, well, Mircosoft. More than the logo designers, I'm really impressed by the legal team. My trademark lawyers would laugh at me. [1] http://www.…

Should I make a FourSquare reference? I'm just amazed that the colours are a rotation of Google's Favicon... Red Green Blue Yellow. (Alright so it's orange, not red.) https://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&site=imgh... Is there any way to get a compressed google search URL that's not a redirect?

Both MS and Google colors come from children's blocks, to convey ease of use.

Re: Microsoft gets a new logo for the first time since 1987

#130

Post by revscat »

debacle wrote: post #76
jlgreco wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many of those things owe their success to goodwill people have to the Microsoft brand?

Do people buy MacBooks out of goodwill to Apple, or because they're kickass hardware?

Those are wholly related. Were the quality of Apple's hardware or software to decline my goodwill towards them would take an immediate drop. The one and only reason that I use their things because I find those things, and the support behind them, to be the highest quality.
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