
Microsoft hires designer behind "The Next Microsoft", Andrew Kim - dbcooper
http://www.minimallyminimal.com/blog/msft
======
forrestthewoods
Poor kid. I bet he even believes he can make a difference. He's gonna get
eaten up and spit out by the behemoth. In a few years he'll be as bitter and
jaded as the rest of us.

[http://www.bonkersworld.net/images/2011.06.27_organizational...](http://www.bonkersworld.net/images/2011.06.27_organizational_charts.png)
When this image came out I saw it posted by over a dozen MS friends (in xbox
no less) laughing/crying over how true it was.

~~~
untog
This is supposedly an MS-produced parody of it's marketing efforts. It's very
old now (I think it uses a 1st gen iPod?) but is still worth a laugh:

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUXnJraKM3k>

Thankfully MS have learnt a lot of lessons since.

~~~
devcpp
A few days ago, a Microsoft employee who has worked on Windows 7 and 8 said on
a Reddit AMA:

"There is no doubt that we have catching up to do. We even do funny ads
acknowledging how bad we were: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD9FAOPBiDk> "

They still know they're not perfect but they seem to think they're good enough
already. I hope one day they learn to do things right.

~~~
sjmulder
This: <http://karaokewebstandard.org/> (from the video) is actually pretty
funny.

~~~
DigitalSea
I wonder if anyone has thought of starting a Github repo of a JS library that
follows the pattern defined on the Karaoke Web Standards site? Could be a fun
project. Using the plethora of HTML5 API's available, I wonder if you could
get close to a working karaoke prototype using HTML5 audio and video API's?

------
bbx
Designers often come up with such kinds of "unsolicited advice", hoping to get
noticed by the big companies, and it's actually the first time I see someone
succeeding in this approach (which is a good thing I guess).

What strikes me is that he will be working in the Xbox division, which I
already consider Microsoft's most coherent and elegant division, marketing-
wise.

Andrew Kim has come up with a _branding_ concept, but I wish Microsoft would
have also considered approaching the guy behind this Windows UI concept:
[http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/24/2822891/windows-desktop-
ui...](http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/24/2822891/windows-desktop-ui-concept)
Apart from the fact that it looks gorgeous, I believe it embraced the "flat
design"concept in ways that Windows 8 has failed to elaborate.

~~~
dangrossman
That's basically a direct rip of the Zune desktop software [1] applied to
other apps. Windows Phone distinctly reminds me of the Zune HD UI once you're
past the live tiles home screen. If they wanted to do more like that, they
would only need to turn to their own people that made it. While Zune failed as
a product, its team seemingly inspired everything Microsoft's designed since.

1: <http://i.imgur.com/gb2DhNt.jpg>

~~~
Tyrant505
I disagree completely. That looks like an old and dated website and still has
loads of unflat.

~~~
dangrossman
The Zune software is from 7 years ago, and you can see every element of its
design in that blog post (sans-serif typography as UI hierarchy, no title
bars, flat minimize/maximize/close buttons, back arrows, neon color bars). It
stuck out like a sore thumb against Windows XP and the recently released
Windows Vista, yet fits right in with Windows 8 where the exact same elements
are used throughout Metro.

~~~
Tyrant505
It's cluttered, has lack of whitespace. Round buttons. Horrible grid. Flat
does not mean undesigned.

~~~
Gigablah
You're missing the point. Whatever nitpicks you have with that design is
irrelevant to his speculation that it's the _precursor_ to Microsoft's current
UI design language.

------
jkat
Link to "The Next Microsoft":
[http://www.minimallyminimal.com/blog/2012/7/3/the-next-
micro...](http://www.minimallyminimal.com/blog/2012/7/3/the-next-
microsoft.html)

And its HN comments: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4195208>

~~~
mynameishere
Bleh. Something inherently unappealing about rhomboids, especially when
they're framing photographs.

~~~
Luyt
Also, the dot on the 'i' is missing.

------
bstar77
I thought the best part of his "The next Microsoft" was choice of font for the
logo- it has a softness that fits the name perfectly but stands out boldly. I
always felt MS' sharp, italicized font was inappropriate. Besides, any move
away from italics is a good move, imo.

Old font:
[http://static.squarespace.com/static/50271a61c4aab6c54f9af5e...](http://static.squarespace.com/static/50271a61c4aab6c54f9af5ee/5028140ee4b0195d2ee37559/5028140ee4b0195d2ee37f6e/1341178784035/1000w)

New font:
[http://static.squarespace.com/static/50271a61c4aab6c54f9af5e...](http://static.squarespace.com/static/50271a61c4aab6c54f9af5ee/5028140ee4b0195d2ee37559/5028140ee4b0195d2ee37f70/1341178799513/1000w)

~~~
bbx
Microsoft actually did update its logo recently:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Microsoft.svg>

It's not italicized anymore but I prefer the old one, though Andrew's choice
of font is nice as well.

------
lionspaw
Whatever you want to say about Microsoft, they have a pretty solid recruiting
pitch. The kid is in for a rude awakening once he starts there though.

~~~
pixie_
It's funny how it's so plain to us.

------
mtgx
Oh, so this is that marketing guy? I wasn't too impressed the first time
around. I didn't think his changes would make that much of a difference or
actually turn Windows 8 into a big success. When I first read this headline, I
thought they hired that guy who remade how their desktop should actually look
with the "Metro" design thinking, which was far better than what Microsoft has
now. What they have now is basically the Windows 7 Basic theme. They didn't
really metrofy anything in it. That's just one of the reasons why Windows 8
looks so incomplete and so disconnected from with its other parts.

------
ricardobeat
Does he mean to say Apple has also approached him (products I like, fanboy)?
That could be Google too, would make much more sense.

~~~
ameen
He interned a summer at Google, so it's quite possible that he had been
approached by them.

------
kaze
Market a product whichever way you like. If the core engineering is flaky, the
product will always be despised.

~~~
doktrin
I disagree. Take Facebook, Twitter or Wordpress. All succeeded despite their
original engineering - not because of it.

~~~
onlyup
I've always thought Facebook has been awesome. In my experience of the web,
they were one of the first websites I used daily that pushed that much ajax..
and I loved it.

------
jongold
Been following Andrew for years; this is great news.

For those of you who only know him for the Microsoft branding I highly
recommend you read the rest of his blog. I think he's the most promising
industrial designer of our generation; the next Ive/Rams.

------
chris_wot
I hope that he shows how to do design _without_ skeumorphics.

Worst thing Steve Jobs ever gave us.

------
kmfrk
Andrew Kim was going to get hired by one of the big companies sooner or later.
He's just so ridiculously talented that it had to happen eventualy.

------
ameen
I've been following Andrew Kim since 2010 (since his HTC Concept). Andrew's
designs and general design sense has always inspired me. Looking forward to
great things from Andrew.

------
chucknelson
Inspirational. While I don't always like Kim's work, I admire how he kept
putting his work out there, and it paid off.

------
argimenes
The guy talks about himself in the same breathless manner as Apple's
marketing. Hubris comes to mind ...

------
woah
Wow, new ads.

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dakimov
I am surprised that his concept totally sucks. Both the font work and the
logo. They are so utterly bad, that even I, being just an amateur designer,
clearly see how it is bad and where it is bad, and even I could probably make
something much better. Apparently, this is the reason why he was hired, as
Microsoft is firmly set on the course of sucking.

(By the way, a note for the straightforward thinking folks: the fact that this
particular design sucks does not mean the guy is not talented or promising,
especially given his young age.)

~~~
chris_wot
You haven't really told us why it is so bad. I'm curious why you don't like
it?

In a team, the design would be pushed and polished by a number of other team
members. This was a one man job, on a team he'd collaborate and come up with
more awesome designs. He'd get _feedback_ , where in this case he only got
people sniping from the sidelines... people like yourself.

~~~
dakimov
I've thought of that for a while: if someone doesn't see what's wrong, it's
just like they're blind. Obviously, it doesn't make sense talking to them.

~~~
chris_wot
Let's hope they never put you in front of a client!

