How Microsoft dominates the modern digital industry
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(Metro UI Concept by Microsoft, 2010)
I'll always remember how I was blown away by the Window's Phone 7 and its Metro UI design guideline a few years ago. For the past few years, Microsoft has adopted a whole new design language to a great extent on their products and branding. And this philosophy has influenced the industry.
Early period
The new design language has been adopted in Microsoft’s earlier media player, Zune, in 2006. The Microsoft design team decided to reduce the interface, with more focus on Typography and less on UI Chrome. These principles were carried over to the Windows phone in 2010 and became the official Metro UI Guideline in 2010. Which at that time, made other companies and websites look very traditional.
Inspired from the past
The Microsoft design team have revealed its design is based on three distinct pillars on their updated design guide and renamed it "Modern UI":
The Bauhaus
This iconic design school promoted a powerful design philosophy: Remove anything that's superfluous.
International typographic style (Swiss Style)This style promotes cleanliness, readability, and objectivity as its central themes.
Motion
Inspiration from pioneers like Saul Bass, who used motion along with type and design to create beautiful title sequences for films.
Influence
Microsoft’s design philosophy has influenced other companies and is evident in many designs throughout devices and web.
Focus on Typography
Flat Design (Authentic digital)
A contrast to the skeuomorphic design. Instead of bringing a realistic calculator or address book into our devices, it should be designed in a digital way.
Grid system
The grid system is well used in the concept as well. They use a grid system layout - an interface which emphasises the content in a way which allows the user to easily scan through and dive into the content they want to reach.
Content first
Reduce anything from a page that is not content. Let content speak, not just be decoration.
