Microsoft might have decided to dump the word “Metro” to describe the UI for Windows but they have remained loyal to the design philosophy in the new minimalist looking logo for Microsoft.
The new logo is a lot more simpler and stylish from its previous iteration.
The new logo for Microsoft was not surprising as it has rolled out new branding exercise for many of its products. The biggest being a new single coloured Windows logo.
Here is a video below which shows how Microsoft has brought about the new logos which have similar style for Microsoft, Windows 8, Office and Xbox.
What are your views on the the new Microsoft Logo? Do drop in your comments.
Logos are probably the most important identity of a brand. That is why even when companies change their logo, they do not opt for a complete break from the past. As you might know the Microsoft is busy building Windows 8, which might show up on tablets, mobile phones and PCs later this year. Microsoft has been developing Window 8 with metro-styled tiled layout. This is astheitcally very pleasing and having uniformity in user-interface across different devices is a good idea.
Microsoft today unveiled the new logo for Windows 8. It is going to raise a few eye brows as it has done away with the 4 coloured flag logo and opted for a single coloured logo.
Windows Logos through time
Here is a quick timelime of all the previous logos for Windows. It is interesting to note that with the Windows 8 logo has a lot of similarity with the logo of Windows 1.0.
I am not certain why they did away with the familiarity of 4 coloured scheme but I guess a simple logo with a single color scheme would make it a lot easier for manufactures to print the brand logos on mobile phones and tablets.
I sort of like the new logo but not sure how it will look on the OS. What are your views? Are you happy with the new Windows logo?
Ever thought how many colors does the regular Google logo have? Did you know that when the traditional logo encapsulates the 3 primary colors Blue, Red, Yellow- ‘Green’ came in as Google did not want to merely ‘follow’ rules. This list is all about the best Google doodles we have seen in the past decade. So which one of those make it to my top 10?
I must admit that this has “NOT” been an easy task. I had more than plenty to choose from.
#1. Burning Man (1998): Google’s first ever holiday doodle. This one may not be artistically the best, but its the first time Google added a little something to its logo. Burning Man is a popular American event celebrated as a symbol of ‘self expression’ – used and understood aptly by Google.
#2. Teacher’s Day(2005): In honor of the US Teacher’s Day, Google designed a quirky logo. The reason its on my list is because it cleverly sticks to the color theme of the original logo as well as merges it well to the classroom environment.
#3. Louis Braille’s Birthday(2006): Google nailed it with the logo written in the Braille system honoring the birthday of the Frenchman who invented the Braille system for the blind. It smartly retains the trademark colors.
#4. Earth Day(2007): When it came to Earth Day specific logos, I had way too many to choose from. This one stood out as a clear winner. The courage to break away from its traditional colors and speak up against global warming, made an impact with all its users.
#5. LEGO’s Anniversary(2008): Next on the list is the logo celebrating the 50th anniversary of LEGO Bricks, the popular toys used to build structures and now the Google logo. 😛 I like it because its simple and smart.
#6. USA Election Day (2008): Next on my list is the Election Day (November 4) doodle encouraging citizens to vote. Obama should thank Googlers for finally budging from their computers to the voting booth just like the alphabets of ‘Google’ did.
#7. Radio Day(2009): Google’s doodle honoring Alexander Popov, inventor of the radio, is among my favorites. The logo is reminiscent of the first radio ever created. What stuck with me though is how the wire slyly forms the lower part of the letter ‘g’.
#8. Bar Code(2009): October 7, 2009 saw the Google Bar Code logo in honor of the invention of the Bar Code. It sure takes courage to deviate from one’s own logo to such an extent. Google seemed to carry this one-off with ease. Wonder what the price would translate if one really put a bar code on this multi-billion dollar enterprise.
#9. Pac-Man Anniversary(2010):Earlier this year, Google took us all back to our childhood when with a Pac-Man themed logo. When I first saw the logo, I liked it. Then I realized one could actually play the game. That’s when I loved it. I think I forgot what I was even trying to search for. 😛
#10. Indian Independence Day(2010): Recently Google honored India’s 63rd Independence Day with an animated logo. The ‘o’ starts out as a traditional Indian artwork – ‘Rangoli’ and ends with the colors of the Indian Flag. Google has done some brilliant doodles for USA, France and many more. However I had to narrow down this list, so took the ones that stood out the most.
So those are my top ten picks of the Google doodles. The colorful ‘Google Search’ icon has become a part of our life. The one major reason Google is so amazing with its logos must be because you easily spell the word ‘LOGO’ using the letters of ‘Google’. 😛
If you want to view all the Google holiday doodles, check them out at the Google doodle gallery here. Which ones are your favorites? Let me know your views. Drop behind your comments below.
A logo is very important as an identity for a company or a brand. A logo ideally is expected to be creative and interesting. Many companies do a lot or research and take efforts to come up with that one awesome logo which signifies their company. Most times such logos say something more than what appears to be.
Here are some interesting logos of brands and learn about hidden meaning behind them. 😉
Formula 1
The logo at first glance looks quite simple and boring. But give it a closer look. There you can see the symbol of ‘One’ inside the blank space between ‘F’ and red colored ‘1’.
Toblerone is a company that makes chocolates. It originated in a place called Bern, Switzerland. This place is called the city of bears. You can see the outline of a bear on the mountain. Try looking for a standing bear. 😉
ED is an Italian company into domestic electronic appliances. This logo of ED shows a black colored electric plug. But the contracts with white gives the illusion of the characters ‘E’ and ‘D’.
Sony Vaio
The Vaio logo also has a secret. The ‘va’ part represents the basic analogue signal and the ‘io’ looks like the binary 1’s and 0’s.
Baskin and Robbins is famous ice cream brand. It has 31 flavors of ice-cream. The logo shows the letter B and R. Just looking at the pink part of the logo will show the number ’31’.
Continental is a company which sells wheels. At first glance it looks like the simple word ‘Continental’. Look at ‘C’ and ‘o’ closely and you will see that it creates the illusion of a tyre.
So these are some of the logos around with some hidden meaning. Next time you look at a logo of a brand, spend some time to find some hidden meaning. You might be surprised at what you see.
Logos are something that really makes a company or service instantly identifiable. For instance a “t” symbol of Twitter on a webpage is enough for anyone to guess it leads to a link to a Twitter profile. An image is probably the most easily recognized by anyone. That is the reason bloggers will have the same display pic in the Gravtaar, Facebook and Twitter profile.
Here is a online guessing game which you can play to see if you really identify popular logos correctly.
The game is simple. There are 6 images to choose from and each is very similar to the other except one is the correct one.
A counter checks the time it takes for someone to choose the correct image. Two seconds are added for every wrong answer.
The twist in this website is it checks how well we remember logos of famous brands like Google and Yahoo. A small difference in color or styling is sometimes almost impossible to notice or sort out.
Users are also allowed to submit their URL logo to the website to be introduced on the website as a feature. Considering millions of people visit this website to check their brand knowledge it would also mean a great deal of exposure for a new brand logo. At least it is cheaper than branding a whole acre of land for Google Earth. 😛
Do try out and let us know your score by dropping in your comments. 🙂
