Thanks, I Hate It

April 22, 2020April 22, 2020 Papa Dom

Microsoft has filed to trademark a brand new logo for the Xbox Series X, and it’s boring as shit.

There’s a lot of things that I’m probably not “qualified” to offer my opinion about on this website, but if there’s absolutely one thing I am more than qualified to speak on, it’s design choices. I didn’t go to design school for 7.5 years just to get a glorified graphic design degree that I’m never going to use – I did that so I could complain about logos on the internet, and brother let me tell you: this one absolutely stinks.

The Xbox Series X is just the latest in a series of disappointing design choices for the upcoming 2020 generation of consoles, and brings to the forefront a larger problem right now with the console market as a whole – it’s boring.

I mean, look at these old Xbox logos. Sure, they’ve never been sexy, but the trademark green and stylized “X” at least had personality, and at least were recognizable. You could slap this new “Series X” design on a toaster, a refrigerator, or a NERF gun, and I’d completely 100% believe you that it was real. It’s generic, bland, and I really don’t get it.

One could easily argue that the PS5 is no better, but at least it’s consistent. We’ve never had a different logo for the PS family, so why change it now? If anything, I’d be upset if they completely overhauled the iconic font they’ve used since 1994.

I never thought I’d see the day where gaming PCs (which used to – and in some case still do – tried to mimic the enclosed, sleek designs of home consoles) are now louder, flashier, and take more design risks than consoles do. The Xbox Series X and PS5 are gonna look like generic black mini-fridges or beefed-up Alexa devices, and gaming PCs will continue to push the envelope in terms of what makes a gaming device unique.

I don’t give a flying fuck if your gaming PC looks like a pair of light-up Skechers had a baby with a Michael Bay-era Transformer, at LEAST it has personality. And that’s a lot more than this Xbox Series X logo can say for itself.

Sigh.