TO LAUNCH ITS LATEST OS, MICROSOFT HIRED MORE DESIGN AND MARKETING TALENT THAN MOST COMPANIES COULD FATHOM. WE SPOKE WITH WOLFF OLINS, COORDINATORS OF THE REBRANDING, ABOUT THE OVERARCHING STRATEGY.
Remember those horrendous Windows commercials with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld? Running in late 2008, the ads proved symbolic of Microsoft’s own failings at the time: What were they about? Was Microsoft Vista? Was Microsoft tablets? Could they be on phones anymore? While Apple and Google were reinventing themselves for the mobile era, Microsoft was making commercials about nothing.
Windows 8's new branding is a framework to a new Microsoft (Click Image To Enlarge)
Today, the stakes of Microsoft’s identity are even higher. They need to leverage their Windows 8 OS to retain a foothold on PCs and find that lost chunk of the mobile market through Windows Phone 8. The Surface has to take off. The inevitable Xbox 720 needs to be as relevant as the Xbox 360. And it all starts with Metro, the design language that holds everything together like glue.
About a year ago, Microsoft tapped Wolff Olins to handle branding on Windows 8, the OS that would spill over into every other device Microsoft had planned. Branding their crown-jewel operating system is as much of an affiliation with Microsoft as Wolff Olins can disclose, but from a product architecture standpoint, the Windows 8 brand would naturally be bigger than Windows 8 itself. It would have to redefine Microsoft and its products as competitors--the OS would be the “tip of a spear” in a new, design-forward line of products, some of which haven’t even been announced yet.
Its basis is energetic, global, lifestyle photography … (Click Image To Enlarge)
And on top of that? Wolff Olins wanted staying power. They wanted an identity that would last longer than a few Seinfeld spots.
Executive Creative Director Todd Simmons tells me.
“When we built the [branding] system, it’s not just for Windows 8 It’s actually built for Windows 9, 10, 11, and every Windows to come.”
A project of this magnitude was too much for any one company to handle. Simmons says.
“Our role was kind of like the conductor of this concert, if you will.”
Wolff Olins created the brand standards, but Pentagram crafted the logo. Crispin Porter + Bogusky made the TV commercials. R/GA handled digital ads. Ideo was brought in for product packaging. And we’re probably overlooking a dozen other companies who handled various significant pieces. (Wolff Olins cheekily calls this engineer-like system of organization a “brand OS” of its very own.)
The end result redefines Microsoft and Windows 8 as a bit of a boy band--one that assembles several distinct, likable products into one powerhouse umbrella (Click Image To Enlarge)
The new strategy was about scale and diversity, consumption and creation. To Wolff Olins, it was time for Microsoft to remind the world that they were Micro-mother@$#*ing-soft.
Simmons says.
“If you’re serving a billion consumers every single day, and you’re all around the world, that’s a pretty enviable position. That must mean you have a point of view on the role you’re playing, and you have an incredible window into that world. We wanted to pull that back into the brand and not be shy about the scale of Microsoft.”
To capture the scale, Wolff Olins traveled the world, twice, with photographer Todd Selby, building a photography and video library that would help redefine the identity of not just Windows 8 but Microsoft as a whole. They’ve shot in places like Los Angeles, Barcelona, Beijing, Tokyo, Berlin, Paris, Dubai, and Mumbai.
Simmons says.
“We’ve gone all around, and the idea is to reflect with the Windows brand the context in which these products play roles in people’s lives--and do it in a really celebratory way. The Windows audience is everyone. It’s open. It always has been.”
MICROSOFT: EXACTLY A SUM OF ITS PARTS
It just so happens that, when it comes to smiling faces using Windows 8 products, there’s a huge opportunity for overlap with other Microsoft products. That includes Surface, sure, but also Bing, Office, and Internet Explorer.
Simmons says.
“They have all these brands. What we wanted to do is get them working better together and be the sum total of Microsoft as an ecosystem. We wanted to allow each member of the brand to be themselves as well. We don’t want to create a monolithic version of Microsoft to apply to everything; while we may have a set of common elements, we wanted each of those to manifest uniquely to that brand.”
Microsoft's new Windows 8 sets a new standard for Windows operations systems (Click Image To Enlarge)
Human photography was a big common element, as were your more standard branding staples, like typography and color palettes. Wolff Olins also spent a lot of time on the voice--the precise diction--of Windows 8.
Simmons says.
“You’ll see a lot of ‘we’ statements. It speaks to the collective audience Microsoft serves. The tonality of being colorful, diverse, vibrant, and inclusive was how we wanted the brand to get to you through all of its pores.”
… and a series of typography and colors that stem from the Metro experience (Click Image To Enlarge)
CAN IT LAST?But whether or not you like the new branding, you have to wonder, is Wolff Olins asking for too much? In the fastest moving industry in the world, the team sought to create a brand that will define Microsoft’s flagship software product for potentially decades to come, while at the same time transcending any individual product.
Why not just focus on Windows 8 the operating system--the most important gamble in Microsoft’s history? Isn’t that enough for now? Simmons, very precisely, disagrees.
Microsoft's new Surface tablet comes loaded with the new Windows 8 operating system and was the star of the new product launch (Click Image To Enlarge)
He says.
“I think it’s going to be important for all of these brands to have continuity when everything else is changing.”
Because if Microsoft really is reinventing itself today, we’ll still need to recognize them tomorrow.
COMMENTARY:
Windows 8 - New and Changed Features
New features and functionality in Windows 8 include a faster startup through UEFI integration and the new "Hybrid Boot" mode (which hibernates the Windows kernel on shutdown to speed up the subsequent boot),a new lock screen with a clock and notifications, and the ability for enterprise users to create live USB versions of Windows (known as Windows To Go). Windows 8 also adds native support for USB 3.0 devices, which allow for faster data transfers and improved power management with compatible devices, along with support for near field communication (NFC) to facilitate sharing and communication between devices.
Windows Explorer, which has been also renamed File Explorer, now includes a ribbon in place of the command bar. File operation dialogs have been updated to provide more detailed statistics, the ability to pause file transfers, and improvements in the ability to manage conflicts when copying files. A new "File History" function allows incremental revisions of files to be backed up to and restored from a secondary storage device, while Storage Spaces allows users to combine different sized hard disks into virtual drives and specify mirroring, parity, or no redundancy on a folder-by-folder basis.
Task Manager has also been redesigned, including a new processes tab with the option to display fewer or more details of running applications and background processes, a heat map using different colors indicating the level of resource usage, network and disk counters, grouping by process type (e.g. applications, background processes and Windows processes), friendly names for processes and a new option which allows to search the web to find information about obscure processes. Additionally, the Blue Screen of Death has been updated with a simpler and modern design with less technical information displayed.
Interface and desktop
Windows 8 introduces significant changes to the operating system's user interface, many of which are centered towards improving its experience on tablet computers and other touchscreen devices. The new user interface is based on Microsoft's Metro design language, and features a new tile-based Start screen similar to that of Windows Phone, which has replaced the previous Start menu entirely. The Start screen displays a customizable array of tiles linking to various apps and desktop programs, some of which can display constantly updated information and content through "live tiles". As a form of multi-tasking, apps can be snapped to the side of a screen.
A vertical toolbar known as the charms bar (accessed by swiping from the right edge of a touchscreen, or pointing the cursor at hotspots in the right corners of a screen) provide access to system and app-related functions, such as search, sharing, device management, settings, and a Start button. The traditional desktop environment for running desktop applications is accessed via a tile on the new Start screen. The Start button on the taskbar has been removed in favor of the Start button on the charms bar and a hotspot in the lower-left corner of the screen. Swiping from the left edge of a touchscreen or clicking in the top-left corner of the screen allows one to switch between apps and the Desktop. Pointing the cursor in the top-left corner of the screen and moving down reveals a thumbnail list of active apps. Aside from the removal of the Start button, the desktop on Windows 8 is similar to that of Windows 7, except that the Aero Glass theme has been replaced by a flatter, solid-colored design inspired by the Metro interface.
Safety and security
Additional security features in Windows 8 include two new authentication methods tailored towards touchscreens (PIN numbers and picture passwords), the addition of antivirus capabilities to Windows Defender (bringing it in parity with Microsoft's Security Essentials software), SmartScreen filtering integrated into the desktop, and support for the "Secure Boot" functionality on UEFI systems to protect against malware infecting the boot process. Parental controls are offered through the integrated Family Safety software, which allows parents to monitor and control their children's activities on a device with activity reports and safety controls. Windows 8 also provides integrated system recovery through the new "Refresh" and "Reset" functions.
Online services and functionality
Windows 8 provides heavier integration with online services from Microsoft and others. A user can now log in to Windows with a Microsoft account, formally known as a Windows Live ID, which can be used to access services and synchronize applications and settings between devices. Windows 8 also ships with a client app for Microsoft's SkyDrive cloud storage service, which also allows apps to save files directly to SkyDrive. A SkyDrive client for the desktop and File Explorer is not included in Windows 8, and must be downloaded separately. Bundled multimedia apps are provided under the Xbox brand, including Xbox Music, Xbox Video, and the Xbox SmartGlass companion for use with an Xbox 360 console. Games can integrate into an Xbox Live hub app, which also allows users to view their profile and gamer score. Other bundled apps provide the ability to link to services such as Flickr and Facebook.
Internet Explorer 10 is included as both a desktop program and a touch-optimized app, and includes increased support for HTML5, CSS3, and hardware acceleration. The Internet Explorer app does not support plugins or ActiveX components, but includes a version of Adobe Flash Player that is optimized for touch and low power usage, but works only on sites included on a whitelist. The desktop version does not contain these limitations.
Windows 8 also incorporates improved support for mobile broadband; the operating system can now detect the insertion of a SIM card and automatically configure connection settings (including APNs and carrier branding), track and reduce bandwidth use on metered networks. Windows 8 also adds an integrated airplane mode setting to globally disable all wireless connectivity as well. Carriers can also offer account management systems through Windows Store apps, which can be automatically installed as a part of the connection process and offer usage statistics on their respective tile.
Courtesy of an article dated October 31, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design
I admit that you are very talented when it comes to marketing design. The videos are good. I think your design will not be rejected. :) you really did a good job.
Posted by: Harold Klien | 01/25/2013 at 07:58 AM