Windows 8 Modern UI Design Concepts

Modern UI Style Overview

Jake Taylor
10.19.2012

What Are We Going To Cover?

 General Design Concepts and Guidelines

 Navigating the Windows 8 Modern UI Experience

 Some Apps Are Doing Modern UI Well

 Some Apps Are Doing Modern UI Not So Well

 What Does This Mean to Us?

2 Modern UI Style Overview / Jake Taylor / 8.24.2012

General Design Concepts
“Content is the heart of Metro MUI style apps, and
putting content before chrome is fundamental to the
design of Metro style apps.”
~ Microsoft

 Clean and Open Layout

 Clear Information Hierarchy

 Leverage the Edge

 Invest in a Great Tile

 Design for Touch and Be Fast and Fluid


Clean and Open Layout
 Leave only the most relevant elements on screen.
 Give content breathing room by removing lines, boxes, and unnecessary graphical effects like blurs and gradients.
Use open space to frame the content.
 Limit navigational chrome that is persistently on screen, such as tabs. Let people focus on the current content, and
avoid distracting them with way-finding chrome.
 Cinematic letterbox layout – Horizontal layouts instead of Vertical
*From Microsoft

engadget Homepage engadget Details Page


Clear Information Hierarchy
Use size, weight, and color in text consistently to convey information on a piece of content's importance. The set of
variations should be small, so people can easily see how content fits together in the overall hierarchy.
*From Microsoft

Reference: Guidelines for text and typography Stockholm Travel Homepage


Leverage the Edge
 Place commands in the app bar, which can be brought up on demand through a swipe from the top or bottom edge,
and can be dismissed when users have completed their actions.
 Leverage the charms, which can be brought up on demand through a swipe from the right edge, for invoking the
Search, Share, Devices, or Settings charms.
*From Microsoft

SkyDrive app bar Bing Sports app bar


Invest in a Great Tile
“A tile is the front door into an app. Sitting on the Start screen, it is an extension of the app and can provide
much more personal and engaging information than a traditional icon. Invest in designing a great tile to draw
people into your app.”
~ Microsoft

Good Bad


Design for Touch and Be Fast and Fluid
“Metro MUI style apps are designed to be touch first. They leverage the hands and
fingers for what they are great at, with comfort and ergonomics in mind.”
~ Microsoft

 Leverage the Animation Library's set of scenario-specific animations, designed to
convey information.
 Think Mobile First. How would I interact with this design on my Phone or Tablet?


Navigating the Modern UI Experience
Start Screen Application Name

User Name and Profile Avatar

Tile based application launch

Zoom out
You still have the old desktop Horizontal scrollbar


You can zoom out and name your groups of tiles

Click on the Zoom Out button in the lower right corner Right Click on a group of tiles to name them
Right Click on the Desktop


You can use the app bar to pin/unpin tiles and make them large or small

Available actions for a single tile selected using Right Click Available actions when multiple tiles are selected


Hot Spot/Hot Corner On Hover Menus

Hover against
the left side of
the screen Hover in the upper
right corner or
bottom right corner
Currently open of the screen
apps menu
Charms bar


What is the Charms bar?
The charms bar can be accessed at anytime by hovering on the upper right or lower right corner of your screen. On a
tablet it would be a swipe from the right edge of the tablet.

Search is contextual to where you are. If your on the Start screen and search you’ll be searching your
entire computer, if your within an app you’ll be searching the content within the app.

If the content within an app is shareable this will be the easy way to share the content you are viewing
via any service you might have connected to your account. Twitter, Facebook, Mail, etc…

Will take you back to your Start screen

Allows you to print or send content to other windows 8 RT devices (phones & tablets)

Similar to the Search feature, Settings is contextual and will apply to where you are.


Hot Corner On Hover Menus cont…
Hovering over the upper left corner will show you the last application you
used and you are able to left click and quickly cycle thru your open
applications

You will always be able to get back to the Start screen tiles by hovering
over the bottom left corner and using a left click


Some Apps Are Doing Modern UI Well


Some Apps Are Doing Modern UI Not So Well



22 Windows 8 UI Style Overview / Jake Taylor / 8.15.2012

What Does This Mean to Us?


What Does This Mean to Us?
 Review the Modern UI online style guide to ensure you are leveraging inherit interactions

 Design with content over chrome in mind, make use of typography and good imagery

 Leverage areas like the app bar (for navigation or actions) and charms bar (for sharing)

 When creating content layouts think horizontally instead of vertically

 Think mobile first and design for touch (where applicable)


Bonus Resources – Axure MUI Library


Bonus Resources – Metro Studio 2


References
Modern UI Style Guide PDF:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh465418.aspx

Designing UX for apps:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh779072.aspx

Make great Metro style apps:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/apps/hh464920.aspx

Mobile First:
http://www.lukew.com/resources/mobile_first.asp
http://www.abookapart.com/products/mobile-first

MUI Axure Libraries:
http://netcraft.co.il/metrowidget/home.html

Metro Studio 2:
http://www.syncfusion.com/downloads/metrostudio

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Windows 8 Modern UI Design Concepts

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