Microsoft isn’t known for its striking design concepts or its eye catching user interfaces – they are starting to make progress with Windows 8, but are still leaps and bounds behind Apple. If Apple and Microsoft were two women out for a drink at a bar then Apple would be the effortlessly gorgeous brunette standing at the bar talking to three men at once while sipping on her rum and coke. Microsoft, however would be the female bouncer at the door who plays field hockey at the weekend and whose mates call her ‘Wazzer’ because she looks a bit like Wayne Rooney.
However that could all change quite easily if Microsoft were to take a page out of Andrew Kim’s book. Andrew is a Los Angeles based design student whose website, ‘Minimally Minimal’, is full of design goodies that will make your mouth blink and your eyes water.
Andrew, who has worked with Google, Cisco, and Fujitsu in the past, has decided to overhaul Microsoft’s brand image in just three days, and as you can see from some of the images here the results are very interesting.
Andrew comments that although Windows is showing a brand vision that it has been lacking in previous years, it is a tainted branding effort that doesn’t inspire people. He also notes that the public perceive Microsoft as brand used by businesses and that Windows has a reputation for being slow and outdated. In fact, Microsoft’s only redeeming feature in the public’s eyes seems to be the Xbox brand.
His vision is that Microsoft needs to be aggressive in a way that both Apple and Google have avoided in favour of a more friendly marketing strategy. He adds that Microsoft should look to the future and offer the future today.
Will Microsoft’s current branding be enough to stay the tech forefathers in the face of more and more stiff competition, or will Windows fade into the night as more and more consumers look to design and usability over other features? Only time will tell.
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