Microsoft Office icons have been redesigned

It's been five years since the Office icons were updated, so Microsoft's today announcement is definitely something that the company marks as a major achievement.

As Microsoft continues to refine its Office 365 experiences, perhaps, the Office team is using the Windows 10 Mobile apps as its new testing bed for future merging user experiences that converge mobile and desktop usage. The regular apps in the Office Suite aren't the only ones to get new icons either, Skype, Teams and Outlook are getting new icons too.

Despite claims from the company, Microsoft released a batch of new features to its supposedly deprecated Office Mobile apps. These redesigned icons are supposed to reflect how Office has changed in the recent years with emphasis on new AI features and support for collaborative interface. Simplicity and harmony are key visual elements that reflect the seamless connectivity and intuitiveness of Office apps.

The new app icon designs certainly look more modern, but still retain their familiarity. "We've changed this ratio to now emphasise the symbol because, while the letter represents the tool itself, the symbol speaks more to people's creations".

Microsoft Office has been the gold standard for the word with over 1 billion users across the globe over various platforms like iOS, Android and Mac.

Microsoft said it's rolling out other design changes to Office.

The redesigns implement Microsoft's language which the company has incorporated into Windows 10 since previous year.

Microsoft has decoupled the letter and the symbol in the icons, essentially creating two panels (one for the letter and one for the symbol) that can be paired or separated.

The new designs definitely look more modern and even fun. The letters adorning each icon have been reduced in size, with the remainder of the space used to show a highly stylized representation of the application.

The new look Office logos.