Microsoft's New Design: Looking Back A Year On

​Microsoft unveiled their new logo after 25 years of black, white and italics. Everyone seemed to have an opinion. We reflect on this monumental change.

As designers, we often use design to make things pretty. Quite often, what's prettiest and what's the best for the user is at odds. Our job is to put the two together and ensure the user experience is at the heart of creative design.

We'll use the majority of Internet Explorer's demographics as an example, the older audience - those that couldn't care less of the brands bad reputation in the developer world. What is most important for most of the audience is that the "e" is the icon that brings the Internet. The first thing they will look for is that familiar "e". Microsoft right keeps familiarity centre stage.

​Whilst Microsoft shied away from its old corporate logo, rival Apple covered the entire country with its stores and its glowing apple as a beacon of simplicity. Microsoft’s new graphic simplicity is what originally attracted so many to Apple and its elegant products in the first place and now that that the difference between the two mega brands is eroding, it leaves these four squares as the next beacon of simplicity.