Website Design / UX/UI / Product Design
microsoft / msn
Role
Senior UX/UI Designer
Duration
1 year
Work included
UX/UI Design, Product Design
Designs seen by over 170million people each month
The role
Work alongside UX designers to completely redesign the MSN brand for Windows 8.
The challenge
To create a radical new design that worked across 20+ languages and felt on-brand, whilst being completely new.
My work
I was part of a team of 3 designers and one UX designer, and I played a key role in the creation of the MSN Windows 8 redesign. The role required immense attention to detail + collaboration with a global team of developers and project managers. I also created some themed MSN pages for Fashion Week and major sports events.
Wireframing and UX
Each and every project started with a wireframe. The wireframes were low-fidelity, but highly important to outline where the content areas would sit within MSN's grid system.
Component Design
Each component on the page was created individually, designed within Microsoft's Human Interface Guidlines. The component was created within Microsoft's 12 column grid system, which created pixel-perfect layouts.
Pixel-perfect redlines
Because I was part of a large international organisation, it was important to provide redline guides for the developers. This showed developers the exact pixel sizing and spacing requirements within the grid system and made it completely clear we expected pixel-perfect development.
Grid layout and clean styling
MSN is a notoriously busy content site, with many different portals and heaps of text. I helped recreate a layout that matched the new Windows 8 'metro' styling, but housed the extensive content in an easy-on-the-eye structure. The site always followed a 12 column grid structure, creating perfect gutters and element sizing.
Standout Moments
- Complete MSN redesign
- Work commended by Bill Gates internally
- Creation of UI components to be used in 20+ languages
- Creation of FashionWeek + LivePlay branded page
