Exactly what was Microsoft thinking when it came out with its silly new logo for the yet-again redesigned MSN? Out of the blue, the company has created a multicolored logo of a butterfly that I think trivializes the service. The logo can also be interpreted as a political statement, which could cause the company grief.
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First of all, who uses rainbow colors in design anymore? They're generally considered cliched and mostly for little kids. My Little Pony comes to mind, as do the Care Bears. Or will Microsoft be giving away a box of Lucky Charms with a subscription to MSN? And what's the point of a butterfly? Why not a unicorn or a dolphin? I mean, how corny can you get? Microsoft seems clueless as to the meaning of the butterfly. Here's a quote from the press announcement that came out this weekend: "...Microsoft is debuting the new MSN branded logo, a multicolored butterfly that symbolizes the uniqueness, aspiration, freedom, and personal empowerment that people experience when using MSN to bring the Internet into their everyday lives. The new [ad] campaign signifies a rebirth of the service--a new and different MSN that people can use to get real things done on the Web everyday." In what book of symbology did Microsoft dig this up?
Meanwhile, a bigger problem for the company is the distinct possibility that the Bible-pounding Christian Right will take one look at this logo and see the colors of the gay pride rainbow www.enqueue.com/ria/ used by the gay community as its symbol. These particular colors (red, orange, yellow, green, royal blue, violet) are the reason most designers have stopped using rainbow colors unless they want to make a statement. For example, the NBC Peacock and the Apple logo have both recently become monochrome. If Jerry Falwell can find a gay threat in Tinky Winky or any other Teletubby, he's going to find this offensive, too. Count on it. This makes one wonder, What are they thinking?
What makes the choice all the more peculiar is the incredible secrecy surrounding the release of the logo, as well as the secrecy surrounding the redesign of MSN. Microsoft has always taken two approaches to its new products. The first is the open approach, in which it preannounces products, mostly to sink the competition. By being open, the company gets early feedback, so changes can be made. Its ultrasecret projects invariably go down the tubes because the company seems filled with bug-eyed yes-men who agree with the boss in order to keep their jobs. Apparently nobody can find flaws behind closed doors. Microsoft's Utopia Project was this way. It became Bob--the cartoon operating system. Neptune, which was detailed in this column exclusively, was shelved recently.
The fact of the matter is that the Mars project ended up accomplishing nothing other than the peculiar butterfly logo. If there was any reason to keep this project so secret, it was perhaps to keep the AOL stock from skyrocketing. The new design goes completely in the wrong direction. In the weeks ahead, I'll walk you through various screens, and you'll see that the Microsoft MSN team has done little more than add the rainbow motif and cram all it could into one screen. If you like the idea of clutter, you'll love the new MSN. The company doesn't seem to understand that most online users want simplicity, not complexity.
Below is the opening "Welcome" screen. It actually scrolls up to reveal even more clutter. I'm told that the screen represents the actual structure of MSN management, with each person's pet project on the screen. The contact list, quick links, the number of e-mails are all on the opening screen--because everyone's ideas had to be represented on the welcome page.
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I've analyzed the screen shots and uncovered some interesting tidbits that I'll discuss in the weeks ahead. One thing's for sure: This is not going to put any pressure on AOL whatsoever. I'd consider it a disaster.
