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While the Xbox logo has gone through as much as ten alterations throughout its 20-year history, in fact, it has always been comparatively consistent in its core.
Meaning and history
One of the most successful Microsoft projects, the video gaming brand Xbox was introduced in 2001. The original logo featured the text “XBOX” next to a large 3D “X.” In 2005, the letters grew larger; now they belonged to the X360 font. The 3D “X” was placed over a grey 3D ball. The 2010 version experimented with the colors: both the grey and green grew somewhat lighter, but the gradient was still there.
In 2013, the logo went through one more update. As a result, the 3D ball grew lighter, while the wordmark itself grew darker.
Alternative emblem
In 2012, a new emblem was introduced. For one, it was flat. Now, the only color used, in addition to the white background, was a dark shade of green, which replaced the original light green and grey. The introduction of the new logo was connected with specific requirements of the Metro design language. The flat version has been seen on Xbox Live on Windows Phone and Xbox Games on Windows 8. If you take a look at some other products, like Xbox 360 and Xbox One, you’ll see a different emblem, though.
Why is the symbol green?
The reason is pretty simple – it was the only color the co-author of the logo, Horace Luke, had at his disposal when he was asked to make the design. At least, that’s the version that the brand co-creator Seamus Blackley told during an interview.
According to Blackley, initially, Horace Luke had a set of markers, and there were a lot of colors. The markers looked so cool that Luke’s co-workers actually stole almost all of them, except for “the green nobody wanted.” At that moment, the group had a task to design a logo, and there wasn’t much time left before the meeting where they were to introduce it. So, the only choice was the neon green. “Can you imagine? – says Blackley – Now, the green is on buses in foreign countries.”
Font
The name of the type used for the “Xbox” wordmark is X360. Some of the characteristic features of the font are the sharp angles on the ends of the glyphs and elongated middle bars on some of the letters (“A,” “B,” “E,” for instance).
Colors
Although there’ve been some playing around with the shades, the Xbox logo has almost always been dominated by green. While there’s also a black-and-white version, it’s just an alternative used in situations when the main color scheme is unavailable.
