Posted by Raphael on Feb 17, 2012 in Design News, Inspiration, Logos, Typography | 0 comments

I continue being more fascinated reading or looking at an artist’s process then seeing the actual result. Give me a finished Michelangelo painting I’d be amazed sure…but show me his rough sketches in his notebook I’m even more impressed.

So this article about the thought process behind the new “Windows 8” logo design caught my attention this morning.

With Windows 8, we approached the logo redesign with a few key goals on mind.

1. We 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 our 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.

2. It was important that the new logo carries our Metro principle of being “Authentically Digital”. By that, we mean 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 you’ll find throughout Windows 8.

3. Our final goal was for the new logo to be humble, yet confident. Welcoming you in with a slight tilt in perspective and when you change your color, the logo changes to reflect you. It is a “Personal” Computer after all.

What do you think? I personally would have aimed to have at least introduced one more color into the logo but I can understand the thought process behind this. There is viable points about how this logo mark is out of perspective. And good points…if Microsoft is trying to move away from tiled “Windows” why would they continue marketing the OS as “Windows” at all? All of this illustrates how hard it is to brand a product when so many people have opinions about it.

We’ll see how it’s received.