Albert Shum is the guy at Microsoft who has been playing an integral role in expanding Metro to the phone. Metro is in Windows 8, headed to the tablets and Windows 8 Servers. Those that have been following Microsoft for a while are aware about the Metro design book and Shum’s popular session on how they approached design in Windows Phone 7 Series.
At the Interaction Design Association’s Austin conference, Albert Shum gave a talk on design. He touched on Windows Phone & some other design principles. Having followed the conference updates on Twitter here are some quotes from those present.
The future of design and systems:
Q: How did the transitions on the Window phone end up so good? A: TheUX team coded all the transitions. #shumster twitpic.com/963ui8
— tori (@Tori) April 6, 2012
On post-PC:
Albert Shum, “The desktop paradigm and era is gone, it’s all about connectivity, relativity, mobility, changing context seamlessly.
— Ty Rarick (@tyscottrarick) April 6, 2012
On interface and experiences:
Success of an interface is in creating the “in the moment” experiences by stripping away distractions #shumster
— UPSTREAM (@UPSTREAMthought) April 6, 2012
Icons and interactions:
On the need for new interaction models: ‘We’ve been in a rut polishing icons, rather than creating new ways of interacting’ #shumster
— Amber Lindholm (@amberlindholm) April 6, 2012
It seems like Shum talked about Apple’s approach to design and an attendee did not like it:
If you compare your approach to Apple, you’re dead in the water. Stop talking about Apple. #shumster
— jamiecarlin (@jamiecarlin) April 6, 2012
It appears that within Microsoft there is talk about interaction design that offers seamless hardware and software interaction. Albert Shum talked about this
Listening to Albert Shum describe Microsoft’s pursuit of the “oneness” of seamless software and hardware experiences @shumster
— UPSTREAM (@UPSTREAMthought) April 6, 2012
This is probably the most intriguing takeaway from Shum’s talk, in my opinion. “Oneness” as a principle for devices and a more seamless experience suggests more focus on how devices are used and for what purpose devices/software is used. This is a different approach to development, one that does not place feature first but how the feature will be used. Exciting.
PS: The New York Times has an excellent profile on the brains behind the Windows Phone 7 design. It’s a good read.
