Microsoft Office Icons Are Getting a New Look - Thurrott.com

Microsoft’s Office apps are getting a new identity today. As part of the major overhaul of the platform, Microsoft felt the need to give Office apps a new logo to reflect the major changes that have been coming to Office lately.

The new icons are a major step forward from the current Office icons. So far, Microsoft has only been making iterative tweaks to the identity of its Office apps, but this year’s updates actually seem pretty major.

Design wise Microsoft is focusing on making the logos “builder, lighter, and friendlier.” The redesigned icons are pretty neat, too — for example, the Word icon includes two panels, one featuring the letter W, and the other featuring blocks of blue that are supposed to represent text. OneNote, on the other hand, has the notebook tabs, with Excel showing spreadsheet cells and PowerPoint showing charts.

And the new OneDrive icon? It’s just a cloud.

Here’s a video showing off the new icons in action. Interestingly, at one point of the video, Microsoft shows off the new icons on the Windows 10 Start Menu, along with other Windows 10 apps like Mail, Photos, News, Calculator, Calendar, etc. which also could be getting new logos.

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“From the get-go, we embraced Office’s rich history and used it to inform design decisions. Strong colors have always been at the core of the Office brand, and new icons are a chance to evolve our palette. Color differentiates apps and creates personality, and for the new icons we chose hues that are bolder, lighter and friendlier — a nod to how Office has evolved,” said Jon Friedman, the head of design at Microsoft Office, detailing the design of the new Office app icons.

Microsoft will start rolling out the new Office icons starting with mobile and web apps in the coming months, followed by other platforms.

Tagged with Microsoft Office, Office 365