Microsoft app icons redesigned after 5 years

Tech Blog
December 6, 2018
microsoft redesigns app icons

In a new announcement, the Office 365 icons that we have come to know and love are getting revamped throughout the next few months. We’re talking about the most famous apps such as Word, Outlook, Powerpoint, Excel, and so many more. The modernised icons seem to be a lot more vibrant and 3-dimensional, whilst still remaining simplistic and recognisable.

Microsoft have said that the reasoning behind their decision to change the look of their apps is due to that fact that Office is now more of a cloud-based service available from multiple different devices, rather than a software suite. It was back in 2013 when Microsoft last updated their icons, with over 1 billion people religiously using their apps since. Most people who use Office 365 jump from one app to another, and with Microsoft’s updates over the years, people can seamlessly do so. Alongside Microsoft's release of their refreshed app icons, they have also released some new apps to the suite, such as their AI-powered meetings and chat service, Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Updates App Icons Excel The One Point Blog Post

Microsoft Office’s design head, Jon Friedman, has said in a recent blog post: “Our design solution was to decouple the letter and the symbol in the icons, essentially creating two panels (one for the letter and one for the symbol) that we can pair separate”. The icons are modernised but familiar, in the hopes that the icons will be accessible and familiar to all 5 generations of Office users.

Here is Microsoft’s app icon evolution below, showing exactly what Friedman means by his design:

Microsoft Updates App Icons Word The One Point Blog Post

The new icons will be introduced throughout the next coming months, starting with web and mobile.

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