Opinion BY Armin

The Fat O Sings

According to my Google Analytics, only 1.49% of you will passionately care about this redesign. That is, of course, the minute percentage of people reading Brand New in the Opera web browser. I have long lost sense of which of the underdog browsers has the most street (geek) cred, if it is Opera, Camino or some other cleverly named browser, but its limited market share probably gives it enough cult status and it has been around since the mid 1990s, which is a feat in itself in such a competitive market. With the release of Opera 10, the browser is updating its logo.

A critique of the old Opera logo. Credit unknown.

The old logo, even for shiny web standards, was well below average with an unappealing plastic texture and an ill-conceived shadow as aptly noted in the graphic above. It is clear that the Opera logo had to maintain three-dimensionality and that it wasn’t looking to reinvent the wheel (nor the “O”) so the evolution is purely about execution within that realm. And under that context the redesign succeeds quite well. The shading is softer, the color is more vibrant and the shadow not only makes sense now but makes the “O” appear lighter. The new icon is credited to Norway based designer Oleg Melnychuk.

Thanks to JE Vasshaug for the tip.

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According to my Google Analytics, only 1.49% of you will passionately care about this redesign. That is, of course, the minute percentage of people reading Brand New in the Opera web browser. I have long lost sense of which of the underdog browsers has the most street (geek) cred, if it is Opera, Camino or some other cleverly named browser, but its limited market share probably gives it enough cult status and it has been around since the mid 1990s, which is a feat in itself in such a competitive market. With the release of Opera 10, the browser is updating its logo.

Many thanks to our ADV @ UnderConsideration Partners