Microsoft’s redesigned Office icons showcase the future of the software suite

Microsoft has unveiled brand new icons for all the apps in its productivity suite.

The Redmond, Washington-based tech giant announced the sweeping changes to its Office app icons in a on Thursday. Each of the new Microsoft Office app icons will be rolling out over the next few months.

The design changes to the Office icons mark the first time in 5 years that Microsoft has updated the productivity suite logos. The apps that will be sporting redesigned icons include Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, OneNote, SharePoint, Teams, Yammer, and Skype.

The redesigns implement Microsoft’s language which the company has incorporated into Windows 10 since last year.

Head of Microsoft Office design, Jon Friedman explained the thinking behind the redesigns:

“From the get-go, we embraced Office’s rich history and used it to inform design decisions. Strong colors have always been at the core of the Office brand, and new icons are a chance to evolve our palette. Color differentiates apps and creates personality, and for the new icons we chose hues that are bolder, lighter and friendlier — a nod to how Office has evolved. 

We also used gestalt principles to further emphasize key product changes. Simplicity and harmony are key visual elements that reflect the seamless connectivity and intuitiveness of Office apps. While each icon has a unique and identifiable symbol, there are connections within each app’s symbol and the collective suite.”

The new app icon designs certainly look more modern, but still retain their familiarity. Users will instantly know which new icon represents each application.

The changes hint at some of the coming changes to the Microsoft Office productivity suite. Office has evolved from a line of apps that users download and work on from their computers to a cloud-based subscription service where they can collaborate with others across a multitude of platforms.