Microsoft makes the fatal error here of listening to what customers say and not what they are saying.
They do this all the time and it's why their products tend to be train-wrecks, design by committee, functions by consensus, with little personality and zero fit and finish.
This logo is an abomination. It is the kind of thing a first year design student would come up with after a weekend bender and their assignment is due first thing Monday morning. It's a failing grade.
Microsoft has invested a lot in that "flag" and people know what it means because they've seen it glued to cash registers, ATMs, their notebook computers and desktops for more than ten years. It's iconic now.
To throw that out arbitrarily is reckless. Couldn't they hire a design firm with some credibility to adjust it, give it a bit more polish, take it in a slightly new direction, without trying to literally make it a window? It already says "Windows" so why repeat yourself?
I hope someone from the Metro team goes over to whomever did this and duct tapes them to a chair and forces them to hand-write an apology note in perfect Comic Sans.
The mark was done by Pentagram (http://www.pentagram.com/), one of the top design firms IN THE WORLD. I don't know how you'd plan on giving the "flag" more "polish"... Making brand marks is a LOT harder than you make it out to be. I'm not a fan of the bright blue variant but I think the mark it does a great job matching the Metro aesthetic and will be old news by the time windows 9 comes out anyway.
OT, but wow, is it me or is nearly everything in their portfolio _terrible_. 95% of that junk wouldn't make it past the first cut on a 99 designs contest.
Really? Can you point out an example of what you mean? As a design student I sometimes feel that there is a major "design disconnect" because people appreciate/gravitate towards a particular style. Designers do it too, but out of my own curiosity I'm wondering if that is happening here.
They do this all the time and it's why their products tend to be train-wrecks, design by committee, functions by consensus, with little personality and zero fit and finish.
This logo is an abomination. It is the kind of thing a first year design student would come up with after a weekend bender and their assignment is due first thing Monday morning. It's a failing grade.
Microsoft has invested a lot in that "flag" and people know what it means because they've seen it glued to cash registers, ATMs, their notebook computers and desktops for more than ten years. It's iconic now.
To throw that out arbitrarily is reckless. Couldn't they hire a design firm with some credibility to adjust it, give it a bit more polish, take it in a slightly new direction, without trying to literally make it a window? It already says "Windows" so why repeat yourself?
I hope someone from the Metro team goes over to whomever did this and duct tapes them to a chair and forces them to hand-write an apology note in perfect Comic Sans.