One of the main reasons so many of us like Windows Phone is because the UI design is not only unique but equally mesmerizing. From Windows Media Center to Zune HD to Windows Phone, the Metro UI lineage is as clear as the subway signs it's based on.
The popular and influential business magazine Fast Company has named the Design Lead for Windows Phone, Jeff Fong, #81 in their 100 Most Creative People in Business for 2012. Not only is that a heck of an honor it's a telltale sign of the continued influence Metro is having on the mainstream, something that we'll see a lot more of when Windows 8 drops this fall. From the Fast Company entry for Fong:
"Airports may be frustrating, but give them this: "The signage is so clean, pure, and direct, it helps you navigate a very complicated environment," Jeff Fong says. "I wondered, Can we apply that same approach to designing our user interface?" His team culled photos from London's Heathrow and designed the smartphone's software--with its animated, colored tiles, and straightforward imagery--based on the signs' typography and simplicity."
Over at the Windows Phone Blog, they get behind the scenes with Fong and ask quite a few questions on design and what he sees as the future. Quite the interesting read both for his insight and for the fact that we get to put a face on one of the team that has brought us the fresh UI experience to our mobile phones.
A hearty congratulations to Mr. Fong!
Source: Fast Company and the Windows Phone Blog
Reader comments
Fast Company names Design Lead for Windows Phone as one of the most creative people 2012
cool
This is exactly where I want computer's UI to go
Good stuff.
Microsoft is doing most things right at the moment. I think it will give results eventually even though these things take a while.
Congrats Mr. Fong! Amazing job.
There's just something about the metro UI that's intoxicating to me, I just love how clean and bold it can be and how it makes every task a real treat to accomplish. I think its one of the true benefits of owning a windows phone over the rest, there is no consistentcy in apps or in the UI itself in any other OS, it still feels fresh, new, and I just can't get enough. MS is going to return to the dominating entity it was back in the day, not because of bullying, not because of cash, but because they truly put people first and they are designing everything around simplicity, and you know, with how complicated things have become in other avenues of life, its comforting to see the pc and phone are two things that can be taken off that list. I love my windows 8 cp and my WP and seeing were the future is heading, Im definitely wearing shades ;)
Well stated. Couldn't agree more.
Only thing I would like to see is MS giving us more choices in terms functionality/options.