Articles

Microsoft Updates Bing Logo To Complement Growth

by . January 16th, 2016

Microsoft introduced a slight redesign of their search engine Bing’s logo.

bing

(via Reddit)

The most noticeable changes are the switch from dark yellow to a more eye-friendly dark green and the shift of the lowercase “b” to uppercase. The symbol was also redesigned to feature a more flat and solid look.

In an interview with AdAge, a Microsoft spokesperson said the green “is easier to see over yellow” and the new look displays well “across Windows devices and services.”

The redesign follows their increased market share in the search engine market, with a near 1% increase from their previous milestone of 20% using November 2015 data. Meanwhile, the top search engine Google still leads with 63.9% share, a considerable drop from their 67% lead a year before.

Rik van der Kooi, Microsoft’s corporate VP of advertiser and publisher solutions, is thrilled with Bing’s growth and trajectory. “We are the only search engine that is experiencing steady, consistent growth and have increased our share for 26 consecutive quarters. And we’re not slowing down.”

Microsoft-Cortana

Bing has proven to be profitable for Microsoft, posting a revenue of 1 billion for Q1 of their 2016 operating year. Their search advertising revenue was up 23 percent. Currently, Bing is the default search engine of Windows 10 and the Edge browser.

Designers seem to favor the new design. Reddit user /u/sidekicksuicide said that the 2016 iteration of the logo is the strongest, but it still doesn’t work with the type. “The mark is uniform weight thick lines with strong geometric angles, while the type is thin with tapered line weights and prominent curves.”

I’m inclined to agree. My biggest gripe however is the change from the lowercase b to uppercase. Their symbol is a geometric lowercase b after all. Also, the kerning in the “g” bothers me. The color is the biggest improvement, with green might be a signification of profitability.

What do you think of Bing’s new logo? Comment below!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kevin is a reader first, a writer second, and a gamer somewhere in between. When not rooting for Tyrion Lannister for the Iron Throne, he's probably writing some morbid short story. He enjoys some surreal art, clever advertising campaigns, and a warm cup of coffee while reading Murakami.