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The Next Microsoft

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Re: The Next Microsoft

#291

Post by keithpeter »

kristiandupont wrote: post #83

I like the designs but to me, space signals "past" more than "future". Or rather, it says "future, as it looked in the last century".

Glad you said that.

I'm old and can remember the moon landings. I loved the images as well. I'm sitting in an open plan staffroom with hundreds of Windows 7 PCs with bright high colour screensavers. The room has primary colour (slightly pastel) desks and white walls with displays of student work. The building we work in is new, with curves and a 4 story atrium. Not sure how many will recognise the images here and what the younger people will think about it.

The moon shot images on my monitor just disappear into sludge from more than 10ft.

Not sure about the moon shot images or the modernist skyscrapers.... nostalgia?

Re: The Next Microsoft

#292

Post by adaml_623 »

exDM69 wrote: post #276
blhack wrote: post #73

Dear everybody, Are you paying attention? This is how you build a portfolio. Did microsoft ask this person to do this? No. But he did it, and it's brilliant, and now he can put it in his portfolio under "speculative work". And then he gets a job doing this. I can't tell you how many people I talk to (I live in a college town, and frequently go to bars and strike up conversations with people) who just finished, or are…

A couple of guys from my uni did the same with Apple. They designed a whole new UI design for a touchscreen device. They sent it to Apple and it eventually reached Steve J. who politely said their design sucks.

Was the feedback from Jobs, 'Not to my taste' or 'This is what's wrong with your design' or 'Not where Apple wants to do' or 'It sucks'?

Chinese whispers is a sad thing when it turns a potential insight into an anecdote.

Re: The Next Microsoft

#293

Post by exDM69 »

adaml_623 wrote: post #292
exDM69 wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A couple of guys from my uni did the same with Apple. They designed a whole new UI design for a touchscreen device. They sent it to Apple and it eventually reached Steve J. who politely said their design sucks.

Was the feedback from Jobs, 'Not to my taste' or 'This is what's wrong with your design' or 'Not where Apple wants to do' or 'It sucks'? Chinese whispers is a sad thing when it turns a potential insight into an anecdote.

Don't really know the specifics on the response. But the best part for the guys was probably getting feedback from Steve Jobs, even if it was negative. Probably a good learning experience.

Re: The Next Microsoft

#294

Post by brsim »

ekianjo wrote: post #208
blhack wrote: post #73

Dear everybody, Are you paying attention? This is how you build a portfolio. Did microsoft ask this person to do this? No. But he did it, and it's brilliant, and now he can put it in his portfolio under "speculative work". And then he gets a job doing this. I can't tell you how many people I talk to (I live in a college town, and frequently go to bars and strike up conversations with people) who just finished, or are…

Where does the Xbox fit in this New Microsoft, though ? There was no mention of it, while it's become a big part of Microsoft business over the years.

The Xbox user interface has been changing to look similar to the new "Windows 8 style" recently. I think you could easily take one of the proposed "Slate" images, duplicate and flip it, then overlay it over the original to make an "X" shape. That would create a nice fresh brand image for the next generation of xbox's and fit in with the proposed brand redesign as a whole.

Re: The Next Microsoft

#295

Post by lavametender »

Has some consistency issues and flaws in design. Not perfect typeface, windows logo is smaller than office/surface logo, looks as stranger in set, metro/xbox has no logo, logo/ui relations could be better across the board. But. For 3 days project, good.

Re: The Next Microsoft

#297

Post by asto »

noblethrasher wrote: post #155
ShawnBird wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you click the triangle next to the username it will 'upvote' the comment and help get it to the top. Replies have no effect on rank so there is really no reason to reply unless you have something to add.

Hi, Welcome to Hacker News. If you get a chance, check out the welcome letter ( http://ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html ) which explicitly states that empty comments are okay as long as they're positive .

+

Re: The Next Microsoft

#298

Post by gtirloni »

Lots of good intentions but by making it public, you ensure Microsoft cannot and/or will not consider it. Their marketing people might even actively try to avoid anything similar to this.

Re: The Next Microsoft

#299

Post by mkr-hn »

abrahamsen wrote: post #289
mkr-hn wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Purely digital" means it avoids real-world metaphors like postal mailboxes, analog clocks and magnetic tape.

I did notice that the proposed "Purely Digital" interface included icons representing an old style phone handle (which younger customers probably haven't seen), a physical letter (increasingly rare), and a paper wall calendar.

The difference is that they're not fundamental to the interface. You won't see an audio player that looks like a reel-to-reel or a dialing app that looks like a rotary phone.

Re: The Next Microsoft

#300

Post by foxhop »

The ev1 was marketed as "sci-fi" and "advancing the human race". It used dark settings and scared consumers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g7cgUm7o9k). If you go for sci-fi don't go for scary dark moon pictures. Personally I link the moon surface pictures to the death star.

When the Playstation 3 was running commercials they used weird sci-fi shorts that were confusing and didn't show off the product. Also ps3 did not perform (sales) as well as the wii or xbox 360.

more examples: 5gum tv marketing, Hulu's alien marketing

I would be curious to see if this sort of marketing actually hurts sales.

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