News

Microsoft Unveils New Windows 8 Logo

• By Kurt Mackie
• 02/17/2012

Microsoft explained the design philosophy behind its newly unveiled logo for Windows 8. According to Sam Moreau, Microsoft's principal director of user experience for Windows, said in a blog post that the intention of the design was to reflect the Windows 8 Metro user interface, while staying within logo traditions used for past Windows products all the way back to Windows 1.0. The new design has lost the multicolored panes and flag-like aspects seen with earlier logos, he explained.

The new Windows 8 logo.

The new logo is squarer and flatter than recent iterations, much like the Windows 8 user interface itself. Microsoft has previously explained that the Metro UI used in Windows 8 was designed to make it easier to access to programs that were getting buried in the start-screen menu system. Microsoft made the access more direct through its tile-like UI in Windows 8, while also facilitating touch interactions.

With regard to the font used in the logo, Moreau said that Microsoft is using "the International Typographic Style (or Swiss design) that has been a great influence on our Metro style design philosophy." He said the font is typically used to indicate directions in subways and airport terminals.