The proposed new icons have colour gradients, adding more depth to the layers, confirming that 3D is very much back. This makes them feel more fun perhaps – less dull and serious Microsoft Office.

An Excel sheet containing four icons. Two are male (one filled, one outlined), and two are female (one filled, one outlined). An Excel chart, with one of the columns replaced by a male icon.

For instance, the proposed designs for Word and Excel are notably more distinct in this new iteration. This redesign comes more than six years after Microsoft last updated its Office app icons.