Microsoft Design is now on Dribbble. I know, “what kept you?” right? Well many of us have been there, but with a largely ad-hoc approach to posting. This year we decided it was time to create one account showcasing all the great work happening across our different teams. Especially with the launch of Fluent Design—it felt like timing was right. Here are our favorite shots for 2017.

Make sure to follow us. We have some more great shots lined up.

Fluent Design

The Fluent Design System is all about cohesion. …

What’s a Sprint? It’s a user-centered design methodology for teams to brainstorm and test solutions before spending a lot of engineering hours on actually building an idea. It’s a smart way to make decisions specially when you feel stuck on what to work on next.

I recently read Jake Knapp’s latest book, Sprint. I thought I would share some lessons I learned when I ran similar group workshops back when I was a designer at Spotify.

— If you’re leading the sprint, follow your timeline and know what you’re going to say before hand. Don’t wing it!

— Make sure the decision maker believes in the purpose of the sprint.
It’s very frustrating to come up with a great solution and have it shut down.
This tends to happen in bigger companies. …

I’ve been living off the F train in New York City for the last 5 years. Like most New Yorkers, not knowing when the next train is arriving drives me crazy. In the spring of 2014 I decided to do something about this issue. I reached out to my good friend Ozzy and asked if he’d be down to build an app that would just tell you when the next train is coming. I ended up designing Tic Toc Transit while I was vacationing in Berlin — I was amazed at the German system, it felt so futuristic compared to our beloved MTA. …

by Miles Fitzgerald

From 2012 until recently I was a freelance product designer in New York.
I thought I could share some lessons I learned during my time as a free agent. I asked Twitter what I should talk about.

For context — I helped startups, large companies and agencies innovate by applying user-centered design to launch new products. Some great design teams I worked with along the way: Adobe, Spotify, Condé Nast, Warby Parker, and more.

Here are my answers to your questions:

How you made contacts / got into agencies. Negotiating your day rate?
— Kate Proulx

New contacts — I used Twitter and events to meet up with other designers. I would reach out and just ask them to grab coffee. Most of these people ended up becoming acquaintances (sometimes friends) and they all worked for New York based startups or agencies. If a contract position opened up they would reach out because we had already established a level of trust. …

Communication in the future

Over 60 designers and students were invited to Spotify’s office in New York to spend the day brainstorming and designing the future of communication in 2025.

I was invited to lend a hand as a product designer for the event. As a Founding Member at Roger Talk I spend my time thinking of ways to improve voice communication. So I was excited to brainstorm with the young minds of the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club and make some predictions on upcoming tech communication trends for the next 10 years.

Here’s 10 communication ideas for 2025 that were presented by Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club students during the day:

1. Texting ☠

Texting wasn’t even mentioned as a way of communicating in the future. It doesn’t seem to be part of their future, at least not in its current incarnation. …