A brand is something that, when people see, immediately associates itself with your business. Branding your business is vital to its growth, but is not difficult to do. It does take time to create a brand and create this type of association in the minds of others. One way to create this association is through a logo design. Your logo design should be made to make others think of your business when they see it. Your logo design can be a logo that is used with your name, or a design. Two logo designs that have been successful when it comes to branding a business are the symbol used by Microsoft and the design used by Apple.
When you see the Microsoft logo, you automatically think of the company, Microsoft. The same when you see the logo for Apple Computers. You want to create a logo as memorable as these so that your business comes to mind when people see your logo.
It’s been 25 years since we’ve updated the Microsoft Logo and now is the perfect time for a change. This is an incredibly exciting year for Microsoft as we prepare to release new versions of nearly all of our products. From Windows 8 to Windows Phone 8 to Xbox services to the next version of Office, you will see a common look and feel across these products providing a familiar and seamless experience on PCs, phones, tablets and TVs. This wave of new releases is not only a reimagining of our most popular products, but also represents a new era for Microsoft, so our logo should evolve to visually accentuate this new beginning.
The Microsoft brand is about much more than logos or product names. We are lucky to play a role in the lives of more than a billion people every day. The ways people experience our products are our most important “brand impressions”. That’s why the new Microsoft logo takes its inspiration from our product design principles while drawing upon the heritage of our brand values, fonts and colors.
The logo has two components: the logotype and the symbol. For the logotype, we are using the Segoe font which is the same font we use in our products as well as our marketing communications. The symbol is important in a world of digital motion (as demonstrated in the video above.) The symbol’s squares of color are intended to express the company’s diverse portfolio of products.
We’re excited about the new logo, but more importantly about this new era in which we’re reimagining how our products can help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential.
