# MSN new logo (2014)

> MSN launched a new logo on 30 Sep 2014. New logo.

## Key facts

- Brand: MSN
- Launched: 30 Sep 2014
- What changed: New logo.
- Industry: Media
- Logos: https://rebrandlog.com/logos/msn-2014/before.png (before), https://rebrandlog.com/logos/msn-2014/after.svg (after)

## The rebrand, explained

MSN, short for Microsoft Network, was born in 1995 as an online service for Windows 95 and grew into a portal. Over the following years Microsoft moved its services to other names, Windows Live, Bing, Outlook and Skype, and The Verge called the 2014 revival of MSN a surprise.

Microsoft previewed the rebuilt MSN on 7 September 2014, saying it had rebuilt it from the ground up for a mobile-first, cloud-first world. The new homepage put a 'Services Stripe' across the top with quick access to Outlook.com, Office Online, OneNote, OneDrive, Skype, Facebook and Twitter, followed by news from partners such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, The Guardian and Le Monde. Bing's News, Sports, Weather, Money and Travel apps on Windows Phone 8.1 were renamed MSN, with iOS and Android versions promised. Microsoft said the global launch was its largest use of Azure to that point. After a three-week preview it went live worldwide in early October, reaching more than 425 million monthly visitors, CNET reported.

The identity followed the same minimalist logic. Looking back in 2024, Creative Bloq noted that the 2014 redesign ditched the colourful gradient wings of the famous butterfly, introduced in 2000, for an entirely black, minimal design. Microsoft described the new MSN's design language as clear and uncluttered.

Ten years later Microsoft revived the brand again with another redesign, which Creative Bloq found strikingly nostalgic.

Microsoft's launch post pitched the relaunch as a site rebuilt from the ground up for a mobile-first, cloud-first world, after nearly two decades as a daily stop for millions. Beyond News, Sports and Money, it promised sections such as Travel, Food and Drink and Health and Fitness, plus tools like shopping lists, a savings calculator, a symptom checker and a 3D body explorer. Favourites set once would roam across MSN, Cortana and Bing. A portal turned into a dashboard of utilities is a reasonable bet, but it shows the brand was being asked to hold far more than a logo usually has to.

The black butterfly made sense in 2014: Microsoft's flat design language was everywhere, and the old candy-coloured wings belonged to the dial-up era. But stripping the colour also stripped most of the memory. The butterfly was MSN's only real asset, and in monochrome it read as just another icon.

In short: The butterfly goes black.

## Other rebrands of MSN

- [MSN (2024)](https://rebrandlog.com/rebrand/msn-2024/) 11 Nov 2024

## Sources

- https://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logo_for_msn.php
- https://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-unveils-msn-makeover-rebranded-apps/

## Cite this

Rebrand Log, "MSN new logo (2014)", https://rebrandlog.com/rebrand/msn-2014/, last updated 2026-10-20.