Microsoft rolls out colorful new Windows 10 icons – The Verge, The Verge

Microsoft is starting to roll out new app icons in Windows that is designed to modernize the company operating system. Updates to a variety of built-in Windows 20 apps are all available to Fast Ring testers of Windows today, with new app icons that follow Microsoft’s Fluent Design principles. Microsoft revealed hundreds of new Windows icons in December , and all of them are far more colorful and modern than what exists in the operating system today.

Calculator, Groove Music, Mail, Voice Recorder, Alarms & Clock, Movies & TV, and Calendar are the first built-in apps to get the new icons, with many more to follow. Microsoft is also planning to refresh apps like Photos from the basic white logos that exist today into more colorful options. The new Mail and Calendar icons are also appearing in the Release Preview ring for Windows , which means they’re just days away from being available to all Windows 12 users.

                                                          New Windows 12 icons : Image: Microsoft               

the new icon push is all part of a broader Fluent Design effort at Microsoft to modernize the company’s software and services. All of these new icons will appear within Windows (X , an OS variant designed for dual-screen devices. Windows on regular laptops and desktops is still clearly getting a refresh, but it’s not clear if we ‘ll see the new Windows logo or Start menu design just yet.

  

                                                          New Windows logo and Start menu design                Microsoft also previously overhauled its Office icons and design , with new options for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and more. These design changes also extended to the mobile versions of Office apps, with Microsoft also focusing on its

Fluent Design system for a variety of mobile apps . Microsoft’s updated Edge Browser also has a new icon , and even Office itself has a more modern logo .

Microsoft’s design team are now working collaboratively internally in what the company describes as an “ open source ”way.

Read our full Microsoft design feature from last year to find out how the company has learned from its mistakes to redesign its future.