Microsoft store

Overview

For my work in the Microsoft store I was in a primarily in a visual designer role, collaborating with design, engineering, and marketing. Microsoft store is the first party Appstore for windows devices, and functions as a major ecommerce platform offering Apps, Movies, Music, and TV to over 1 Billion active users.

Context

The work I did was part of overall efforts was to support renewed investment in the Microsoft store and build positive perception about it’s utility and content for customers. Beyond that there were additional efforts such as assisting and encouraging Windows developers to create compelling material and grow their business within the store.

The new Microsoft store

The old Microsoft store had been widely criticized for years for being a poor experience for both users and developers. For Windows 11, there was a major overhaul of the store, with a new design, new features, more apps, and a new focus on quality and curation. The redesign was generally well-received, however, the visuals did not support the new direction and were inconsistent with Microsoft’s Windows 11 expressive branding.

Spotlight

At the start of my work with the store, the main project that I worked on was the spotlight imagery. The Spotlight is section with a large hero image that appears at the top of the Microsoft Store home page and at the top of each section of the Store. The spotlight image is a key visual element that helps to showcase the app and attract user attention.

Format

Spotlight had a few unique challenges. The first was that imagery is obstructed by the store UI from multiple sides. Each slide displays for approximately 7 seconds before cycling to the next in the cycle. During my time working on the assets I worked with the store marketing team as well as the Store design team to create visuals that support partner goals and making assets versatile and consistent with Microsoft’s branding.

Windows 365

Overview

Windows 365 is a new app/service that essentially functions as remote computer with full windows so a person can configure whatever power they need on it. It also allows for security and flexibility. For instance someone could log in and use any device they wanted for work. The Windows 365 team had a fair amount of existing visual and branding work that had been done through an outside agency Studio Tendril. The work had been well received.

Existing Windows 365 visuals

Windows 365 was a new product, but the Windows 365 team had some initial visual and branding work that had been done through an outside agency Studio Tendril. The work had been well received. It featured a few interesting elements blocks that represent the aspect of selecting computer configuration in an abstract way. A glimmering network like lights in a fog of blue.

Objectives and Goals

The Windows 365 team had a couple needs primarily content for branding as they did their first major release as well as build which is a major conference and release event focused on developers that Microsoft does every year. The Updated visuals would also be featured in the Microsoft Store and other planned material.

Context

The Windows 365 was an interesting case in how their audience was defined. While they were technically a wide consumer offering their current pricing and feature offerings were much more business oriented. They were also in a way not an app in the traditional sense. The app was windows and only a minimal UI was used to invoke/initialize the Windows Cloud PC which is functionally just Windows 11. They also had a product that was in some ways similar to hardware. For example when you buy a plan you choose the computer’s specs as far as CPU, RAM, and SSD. That customization is a large part of the value proposition.

Treatment

For the final imagery I focused in on a more setting focused treatment that felt inviting but still reflected the professional/work specific use case. The UI/interface is often used as a key part of storytelling for digital products. However for Windows 365 the use case is more general with the UI not being as key a part of the experience and having that represented made more sense. While being front and center the device is fairly minimal, save for it being a tablet supports the cloud computing use case. Also supporting the message was a a selection of Microsoft productivity apps.

The work I did was part of overall efforts was to support renewed investment in the Microsoft store and build positive perception about it’s utility and content for customers. Beyond that there were additional efforts such as assisting and encouraging Windows developers to create compelling material and grow their business within the store.

PC game pass

The PC game pass page was made as part of an ongoing effort of expanding the Microsoft store offerings to include more editorial content. For this project the store team collaborated with the Xbox team as apart of an effort to increase awareness of the service. In this I worked with other design and engineering colleagues to create a bespoke animation. The planned goal was for this to be a starting point where we could make similar pages with additional partners.

Scroll based animations would be a new addition to the store. So there was a lot of back and forth nailing down the final treatment that aligned with the format and constraints.