It’s been a while since I’ve heard folks this worked up over a logotype. Microsoft’s Bing search engine has met mixed reviews from industry observers and the general public alike, but one thing that everyone seems to agree on is that something horrible happened when arriving at the final mark for the site. There are colorful comments on display all around the web including this thread over at Typophile and another at the always insightful and entertaining Brand New, where a “standardized” version of the logo is offered up by Under Consideration’s Armin Vit. Microsoft is well known for making questionable design decisions, and their aversion to paying licensing fees for proper type is the stuff of legend, however the horizontal scaling of the Bing word-mark borders on the criminal. I just can’t recall seeing design work for a company this… big looking so JV. There are other anomalies as well, like the inconsistencies in line weight around the arch of the n and the way the bulb of the g floats awkwardly above the baseline. If you’re committed to going in this direction for your logo why not just set the type (as I have in the quickly assembled example after the jump) in House Industries’ Chalet-LondonNineteenSeventy and call it a day. Please, feel free to offer up your own thoughts on the logo, in its favor or against. Everyone can’t hate it… can they?
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I think everyone can has good reason to hate it, at least in the design community. Whoever approved this mark is clearly thumbing his or her nose to all that is graceful and aesthetically pleasing with regard to logo design. Personally, I am put off the service because the mark is so ill conceived and clearly they haven’t paid attention to all the details. I’ve been a Mac user for many years (but have used PCs periodically in the past), and had to get a PC recently for web design purposes only (to do browser checks), and I was appalled that the style of the operating system is still as butt-ugly as it was 20 years ago. They might as well bring back putty.