Back in July 2013, Microsoft came to an agreement to change the name of its cloud storage Skydrive. Microsoft took several months to investigate developing a new logo to go along with the new name, one that would fit the name and be more unique and “ownable”.
Co-Design
Rebranding was scrapped due to the brand equity
Concepts: Security; Multiple Devices; Cloud; Global; Internet; Strong; Safe
At first, the new name was a secret even to us. This gave the designs a more abstract feeling. One way to overcome the nameless issue was to put together a series of words and concepts that could direct us. We also looked at other Microsoft logos to get inspiration.
Concepts: Start; Drive; Cloud; Road; Loop; Play
Eventually, we were given a list of possible names. While we didn’t throw away our earlier explorations, we did start a new round of fresh concepts that were based upon the possible names. This did help a lot to create new unthought-of ideas.
Concepts: Start; Drive; Cloud; Road; Loop; Play
We narrowed down the concepts to include the cloud. It’s an obvious metaphor that is recognizable to users and has familiarity with the old brand.