Windows 8 logo: It’s a window? not a flag

18 February 2012 :42 GMT / By Stuart Miles

What’s in a logo? Well a lot if you believe Microsoft who on Friday rolled out a new logo for its Windows 8 operating method to go with its new logo operating method due out later this year.

Yep “it really is a window… not a flag” we hear you cry. Funny due to the fact that’s exactly the words the design agency supposedly employed when pitching it to Microsoft.

Designed by US agency Pentagram the story goes that the agency was confused as to why the item was known as Windows when the previous logo was a flag and so came up with the far more window looking style that replaces the earlier logos that have been used because Windows 3.1 in the 1990s.

“The Windows logo is a powerful and widely recognized mark but when we stepped back and analyzed it, we realized an evolution of our logo would better reflect our Metro style design principles and we also felt there was an opportunity to reconnect with some of the potent characteristics of previous incarnations,” writes Sam Moreau, Principal Director of User Knowledge for Windows at Microsoft.