Microsoft hires designer who boldly reimagined its branding

Hey, remember that 21-year-old design student who completely re-imagined Microsoft’s branding in just three days? Well the Redmond-based tech giant has hired him after seeing his designs.

Andrew Kim’s proposed designs came out a month before Microsoft actually announced its new logo and gained massive traction online. The design students idea’s obviously didn’t pass Microsoft by however. In a blog post announcing that he would be working for the company, Kim said that he’d had a relationship with Microsoft for months:

It’s true. I’m going to go work for Microsoft. When my Microsoft rebranding project went viral, I frequently got asked if I was approached by them. “Yes” is the short answer but this relationship has actually been going on for nearly 6 months.

Kim, who will be working in Microsoft’s Xbox division, said the decision to work at Microsoft wasn’t an easy one especially given that he’d received numerous offers from other companies. “Some of the companies that approached were the makers of my favorite products ever. I am even a “fanboy” of some of them”. Is that last sentence a covert hint that Apple was one of the companies that approached him? Maybe, but it’s not our place to speculate.

The young designer says he chose to go with Microsoft because it excited him most:

I wanted to work at a place I can really get excited about. Working at a company is like getting married, it becomes a fundamental part of your life. I want to work with awesome people on awesome projects that I can get excited about. If you’ve been watching Microsoft over the past year, it’s been exciting, regardless of what your ecosystem preference is.

Here’s hoping he’s right and that working at the big corporate doesn’t dent his obvious talent.