Microsoft Redesigns Its Illustrations ⇥ microsoft.design

Jay Tan and Alexis Copeland, of Microsoft:

Our studies showed that while our illustrations could be described as colorful, inclusive, and genial on a surface level, they were received within consumer culture as uninteresting and emotionless. The flat vectorized style that was once hugely popular across the industry was now communicating sub-optimally and potentially evoking ideas and themes that were misaligned with our company values.

To continue being relevant and create delightful customer experiences, we had to apply the lessons we were learning from our current illustrations and progress in tandem with Microsoft’s evolving brand and culture.

Without intending to be cruel to the two credited authors of Microsoft’s blog post, the language used is indicative of a pretty bleak design practice. Over a thousand words are used to say there is a new suite of illustrations which is more dimensional in a soft and trendy way, and based on a new palette of colours. There is some reasonable justification, too. But most of this feels like it was written by an MBA who once heard about the value of design thinking from a TED Talk.

Also, while there are plenty of visuals shown, there are only two examples of these icons in use — and only one of those feels beneficial to its context. This is true despite Microsoft insisting “illustrations were approached more as an afterthought” but is now “turning them into visuals that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also rich in meaning and emotion”.

Sebastiaan de With reacted to the embedded sizzle reel:

My theory is that the designers making all these slick marketing graphics are kept away from the people making the software at all costs. Armed guards are involved. Whatever happens, this joy and whimsy cannot touch the actual software.

This is a consistent problem with Microsoft’s concept videos and the reality of its products. I use a Windows 11 PC at work and it is fine — it is probably the nicest Windows has ever looked. But these concept videos give the system an unearned abundance of richness, texture, and visual interest. The actual system has vast swathes of off-greys, brittle buttons, and misaligned window elements. There are plenty of hard-to-read panels made of a material that looks simultaneously very thick, owing to the amount of background blur, yet entirely lacks any feeling of depth.

Apple is not innocent of this crime, either. Its MacOS Big Sur design video presents window elements and the Control Centre with a structure and crispness not actually present in the shipping version. Instead, we are treated to a sea of blur.