I started my Monday with a call from a friend asking me, “Have you read Sinofsky’s latest blog post? Is that really what the life of a UI designer is like?” The post in question is an extended view of the design process behind a single Windows 8 feature --- the file name collision experience --- and brilliantly demonstrates the work that his team is putting into rethinking how users work with the OS. If they are really “reimagining” the OS as he’s stated in his blog, then I’m really looking forward to what we’re going to see in September at BUILD.
Anyone with interest in UX design should read this post for a good understanding of what the process is like. I’ve never had the opportunity to work on a project that required this degree of usability study, but it makes me proud that we take the product and key features seriously enough to warrant this degree of attention.
Of course, my friend pointed out this post hoping to get me worked up. I suspect he finds the whole design experience a bunch of psychobabble. “How does the file copy dialog make you feel….” We had the obligatory “I can’t believe this is the best they can show why can’t they show more features why aren’t they talking more about this I can’t wait until build do you know how many iPads Apple sold over the weekend I want Windows 8 now!” conversation. It’s a Monday, after all.
And Mary Jo is trying to stir the pot again regarding Silverlight/HTML 5 at BUILD. She’s posted some intel about possible speakers.