Does the design boldly go where others have already been?
Asus this week revealed two super-thin new laptops, which many are seeing as direct competitors to the MacBook Air. The 15 and 13-inch Zenbook models are ultra-light and portable, and feature OLED displays. Oh, and a weirdly familiar new logo.
That's right, it seems Asus has used the advent of the two laptops to quietly unveil a brand new logo – and while hardly one of the best logos of all time, it's certainly an improvement on the company's previous boring old wordmark. But as many have pointed out, it also looks rather like the Starfleet Insignia from Star Trek.
Old (left) vs new (right) (Image credit: Asus/Future owns)
The new logo appears on the Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED and the Zenbook S 13 OLED, both revealed this week. It seems the new Asus 'monogram' logo isn't entirely new – it appeared on the company's Behance page way back in 2019, and actually adorned its limited edition 30th 'leather and gold' anniversary laptop that year. But this is the first time we've seen it on any of Asus's cheaper consumer devices.
The new laptops were revealed this week (Image credit: Asus)
But yeah, it does appear to, shall we say, boldly go where Starfleet has already been. That 'A' looks quite a lot like a spaceship (perhaps Virgin Galactic might want to take notes?). And hey, Asus wouldn't be the first to take inspiration from Captain Kirk – last year, none other than the United States Space Force was roasted for its Trekkie-esque insignia.
The Starfleet insignia (Image credit: TrekCore)
Still, I'm not complaining. The previous Asus logo was utterly unremarkable, and there are worse things a logo could resemble. Like a toilet. Or Hitler. See our pick of the worst logos of 2022 so far for more). And if they're as powerful and lightweight as they sound, those new Zenbooks could well launch their way to the starry heights of our best laptops for graphic design roundup.
Daniel John is Design Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of design, branding and lifestyle tech, and has covered several industry events including Milan Design Week, OFFF Barcelona and Adobe Max in Los Angeles.
