Xbox360 "logo" leaks all over the place
by Ben Zackheim 
{ Apr 30th 2005 at 10:06AM }
Sure, we've received tips about this "leaked" Xbox360 logo. People have been talking about it a lot, going over the fine points of the concentric circles and the font choice. Personally, I've avoided the thing. I don't want to look at it. I refuse to believe this is genuine, especially since I'm really liking what I see of the console itself.
For the sake of argument, let's assume it is the official design…
It looks absolutely awful. The font is clumsy and bulky. The circle design looks like it was slapped together by a bad web designer circa 1997. Whoever made it was trying to be clever with the thinner lines; they ended up doling out headaches. If the logo is hard to look at, people won't look at it. Is that the point of this thing?
What do you think of it?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lance @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
The new logo makes me dizzy to look at. They should have just kept the old logo
Stefan Kratz @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Horrible! The font is way too plain, sometimes it's good with a plain font if you have a good and eye-catching logo/image, but that is sadly not the case here. Don't know what they ware thinking with the circles... I get their idea (or think I do) but it's poorly done.
Look out for the Revolution logo! =)
mull @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I really like the fint. Looks Classy, modern, certainly not bulky. Give it a much more elegant, grown up look when you compare it to the current techo-gibberish font.
The logo... Well, I like the video version in motion on the MTV promo, but that one above really doesn't capture it. It's far to hard to replicate, non linear, not 'snappy', and looks too much like the Dreamcast one... which is ominous for Microsoft.
Zeo @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Dreamcast 2.
Carl @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
The font's only problem is that the kerning is far too tight. Give the letters some space and the typeface will do what it's supposed to, which is to give the Xbox a more modern, sophisticated look. As for the little swirly bits, they look unfinished and unrefined. Kind of like a sketch. Add some more lines at the same width of the font and it might help. All this thing needs is to be finished, then it'd be fine.
Alex @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I'm convinced it's fake. The 'official' logo from the MTV ad has a slanted line on the B... And this one just looks too unprofessional to be real.
http://www.hellogamer.com/2005/04/29/the-leaked-xbox-360-logo/
Tony @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Good grief let's hope the next gen has some serious power and great games, because the marketing and design hinted at so far is flat out awful.
zach @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
If ferraris had horrible logos emblazened on their hood, would people refuse to drive them? Its not about the logo.
But I agree, its a piss poor logo.
SetupWeasel @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
The XBOX 360 is 8 years old!
And it appears Pluto is now farther from the Sun than Neptune. XBOX 360 logo learning is FUN!
Oomph @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Authentic or not, you guys are nuts. I work with a lot of graphic designers, so I'm not totally talking out my butt. First thing I thought when I saw the logo was--wow, that's beautiful, especially for MS.
Taylor Ramaekers @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
i think its awesome
elementalwinds @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Are you guys serious mad about a stinking Logo. In the words of CartMan "Ha Lame."
elementalwinds @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Are you guys serious mad about a stinking Logo. In the words of CartMan "Ha Lame."
inpheaux @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
ubisoft would like their awful logo back
Xalen @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
The font looks really nice but the actual logo part could be better worked out more like they're extravagent E3 logo.
Armaani @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I ain't no designer, though sometimes I pretend to be, but I like it. It's simple and (fairly) unique.
sam @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Bleech! First and ugly console design and now an even uglier logo. Looks like MS made a huge mistake with whomever is on there design team. It almost looks like a crappy design a bunch of annoying lawyers would come up with on the Apprentice.
I agree with the Dreamcast comments. Xbox360 is looking more an more like the Dreamcast, and that's not good. I still have my Dreamcast sitting in the closet, and IMHO it sucked from day 1. The industry needs competing consoles otherwise we would still be playing NES, and it looks like MS is dropping the ball. Oh well, maybe it's all fake.
Zeo @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
You need help if you thought Dreamcast sucked.
Dralt @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Great logo and font.
The logo is unique enough, so that if you associate it with XBOX360 once, you will forever be able to identify it.
From a marketing standpoint, this is absolutely great.
The font is also very good. Very readable, close and far, in print and on screen. Very tall standing and fluid. In fact, it's probable the best font for this logo.
Just my opinion.
Tony @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I don't mean this as an attack on anyone, but I majored in Web Technology which includes Web Design, so I've studied with a lot of designers...
And designers in general have horrible tastes.
Niro @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
This logo looks like another logo I know. Look at the photo here:
http://niro.typepad.com/spark_armada/2005/04/the_new_xbox_is.html
Zack @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Hmm, the link #6 provided does make this logo look fake. I think the concentric headache circles actually make for a good logo, or will once we see the real one and not this half-assed mockup.
Xalen @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
"It almost looks like a crappy design a bunch of annoying lawyers would come up with on the Apprentice."
Come to think of it, they're probably filming the next Apprentice right now and Trumps partners on the show are getting bigger and bigger...
Oomph @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
"And designers in general have horrible tastes."
Then you've worked with horrible designers, hon.
Loki @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
This is pure rubbish... anyone with a an inkling of knowledge about logo design can tell you that this half-assed effort is in no way appropiate to represent a next-gen product such as the second iteration of the Xbox.
Jyst look at the WIDTH of the circles; totally weak and forgettable. Anyone who did this deserves to have its rectum forcibly stuffed with tender, rolled up lettuce leaves and then be thrown in the manatee tank.
Nicholas @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Wow, I'm stunned. I think this logo is awesome. It makes me interested in the Xbox again. Of course, I hated the last Xbox, and I especially hated the giant hulking black box with an ugly green X look of the last one.
This one is so much more sleek. How can you say it's ugly? The Xbox 1 was ugly.
Kim Laughton @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I'll go with the people who like it.
It all looks clean and neat, and the green doesn't shout like the Xbox's neon.
craphty @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
As a professional web designer and current owner of an xbox, I have two words for the logo currently under speculation: sux donkeys.
CaptSnuffy @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
shit logo
dreamcast kicks ass
ErbilT @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I like it.
And I also happen to like the Designers Republic mid-90's style of design anyway.
Eh, honestly I don't see why this is deserving of 30+ posts. It's a logo people!!!
Isildin @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
.."The font is clumsy and bulky. The circle design looks like it was slapped together by a bad wed designer circa 1997."...
You're an idiot. I just deleted my joystiq bookmark. Next time keep your comments in the comments section please. I came to see a logo, not some fool spouting off about opinions no one else cares about. We are living, breathing bipeds... let us form our own opinions.
Isildin @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
There's a fallacy in logic throughout the comments.
Designer != good taste
Designer != commercial accpetance
Designer != a basis for which to judge a logo and damn or expemplify it.
Designer == a job
Designer == a life
You like it you like it, you hate it you hate it.. being a designer doesnt add clout to your argument. It just fails you out of Logic 101.
Jim In Holland @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Actually, I think it's very feminine - softer colors, the round fullness of the font, with a slight touch of serif, perhaps to look just a little bit edgier. I'm sure the logo is animated in commercials, but here it's light an playful. MS already has it's male segment - and the old logo capitalized on it. This one definitely designed to appeal to women, in my opinion.
And the Xerox company - looks alot like their font.
funtographer @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
They paid someone to make this?
It's not that bad. I'm just saying.
wonky @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Take a look at the xbox mtv commercial. The xbox logo is thinner and the kerning is different.
fake - I say
OtherMan @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Regardless whether or not you like it, it's got everyone talking :) Job done.
Myria @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
"This one definitely designed to appeal to women, in my opinion."
Only if they're colour-blind. That 'Xbox Green' looks like something that came out of an infant's digestive tract, and I'm not even sure out of which end. Whichever the case, definitely not a colour designed to appeal to any woman I know. Beyond that, if you look at the thing it's clear it's supposed to be vaguely three dimensional, a rounded cone. In point of fact it isn't much of a leap to describe it as a crudely drawn breast, areola, and nipple, presumably not an image targeted at women. Granted, sometimes a logo is just a logo, but...
Freudian speculation about the artist's presumed oral fixations aside, I'm rather surprised by the amount of interest there is in the console's physical design, naming, and logo. Do people care that much, or are they just bored? I certainly could understand such concern over the appearance of a new outfit or hair style, but critiquing the fashion sense of a console design? That one I don't get. I have a lot of worries where the next console from MS is concerned, frankly, as much as I love the Xbox, I'm having my doubts that I'll bother with the next one. But what they call it and what the exact design is isn't going to affect that decision by one iota nor are they, in the end, going to make any significant difference in how many consoles MS sells.
OtherMan @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
So, the design doesn't matter? If you had a lime green fluffy console with blue lights and orange stripes sitting under your ultra modern Sony TV in full view, you wouldn't mind that?
Oomph @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
#36: as well-written and shrewd as your response was, it doesn't make much sense. How about if the 360 looks like a baby's arm holding an apple? or an exploding squirrel? Maybe a pink box smothered in cheese? From iPod to Porsche, great designs exert a pervasive influence in our lives. Christ, just look around you.
FuLouZero @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Apple needs to make a iBOX :D
Logo is not that bad the font is great but for god sakes makes a logo solid....
Matt L @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I was watching Pimp My Ride earlier today, and a commercial for the xbox unveiling showed, and the logo flashed at the end - with the same concentric circles and crappy font. Oh well, What it lacks in one department it surely will make up for in another!
Mat @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Whoever says that the logo isn't that great needs to realize that the damn thing was leaked out before the console has even released. Bunch of idiots judging before it's even SUPPOSED TO BE OUT!! It's like judging the Windows Longhorn logo, when the new OS isn't even released. Get a fucking life. Aside from that, I'm a graphic design artist and the logo is not only clean, but very, very versatile. It's main reason is to accentuate the power button as the center of the box's attention. And whoever said that apple needs to make an iBox needs to read the info on them working with apple to possibly use their risk processor... as long as they don't use their operating system designed for granola eating idiots who are afraid of pc's.
Genghis @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
as a pc and mac lover and a graphic artist, 'Mat' is in no way qualified to speak at all. ever. the least we are doing on this post is commenting on a concept of a form of the new logo. products can come with many corporate identifiers, and this may be one of them. have you seen the ps2 game commercials? (of course you have) the blue PS2 logo and the original playstation logo are used interchangably and sometime at the same time. just like the current xbox logo (albeit with a white background rather than black) and this concentric circle one.
i rule.
Mat @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
You're a homo.
I'm a graduated graphic artist with a masters degree and work for the 5 largest newspaper in the US. Don't tell me I'm not qualified you weasel nutted squeak. Be a sheep and follow the rest. The xbox360 is based on a risk processor designed as a powerpc (for those who like macs). I work on literally hundreds of mac's per day and they're the largest waste of money out there. The only reason that they're so popular with design is the fact that they have an extra button and that is what students are trained in. Those that don't know PC's or who couldn't comprehend how to use a PC to it's fullest capabilities, stick with MacIntosh. And "Ghenghis" nice name, fucktard. The only thing you rule is the uncomprehendable state your mind confuses itself in. You rule no-one.
J-Kwon @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Xbox 360 logo is shit
craphty @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
After the E3 marketing blitz it has become quiet clear that the logo at the top of this post is NOT the official logo, rather it will be the circle with a carved out X in it. Allow me a moment to gloat over the fact that all these fanboys were kissing the ass of the "circle in circle" logo, ignoring the fact that it was hideous. Use some discernment and call a spade a spade, or in this case, an ugly concept logo a ugly concept logo. Those who decried the abomination have been validated. =)