Interface Awards winner of the year — 2020
Microsoft’s Fluent Design System is the epitome of good design that has the power to connect us with the digital and natural world, while delivering an inspiring, uplifting user experience by the careful utilization of light, depth, motion, and transparency.
Windows was introduced as a GUI-based operating system for personal computers on November 20, 1985. This was the beginning of a revolution which would bring Microsoft to all-new highs.
27 years later after the release of Windows 1.0, Microsoft introduced the Windows 8 & 8.1 operating systems. Windows 8 & 8.1 was based on the Metro design language, which was introduced to the masses in the Windows 8 operating system in October 2012, with the OS emphasizing a touch-friendly user experience in the wake of touch capable devices such as laptops, convertibles, all-in-one PCs, and even mobile devices.
With varying reception from both Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, Microsoft began to reimagine the entire Windows experience with Windows 10.
Windows 10 was revealed in July of 2015, marking the start of a new era in personal computing, putting to rest several changes introduced in Windows 8 & 8.1, while recycling multiple elements such as the Metro design language and familiar construction of the Start menu.
Two years after the launch of Windows 10, Microsoft introduced the Fluent Design System, bringing an all-new look to the entire ecosystem of Microsoft products, from Windows to Office and everything in-between.
It was later put front & center with the Windows 10 20XX updates, with a careful rollout in earlier versions of Windows.
With Microsoft’s Fluent Design being more and more prominent in each update, the sensation of tactility grows stronger. The revised experience is perfectly mirrored into Microsoft’s hardware, allowing a deeper connection between the physical and virtual worlds which sync in perfect harmony with the advanced configurations presented within the Fluent Design System.
Fluent Design is also displayed in its own modification within the Office suite of software, which is displayed in new light in cinematics released by Microsoft, emphasizing the unique characteristics of Fluent Design.
Not only that, but icons which we have grown used to in recent times, were recreated with the same vision, dropping sharp corners and solid colors, with newly refreshed revisions which perfectly mimics the curves and gradients present in the developing ecosystem.
Microsoft Edge, Microsoft’s next-generation web browser which was designed to be the upgrade to the legacy Internet Explorer, also got its own comeback story as it was reintroduced using the Chromium engine, while also showcasing its own twist on Fluent Design in recent versions of Microsoft Edge.
Microsoft also made an emphasis on mobile, redesigning their ecosystem of applications that pair perfectly with their desktop counterparts, bringing a sense of unity between systems large and small, stationary and mobile, and making the task of work more enjoyable through the use of friendly, approachable interfaces that shows the good side of both Microsoft’s suite of software, as well as the devices which they are running on.
Microsoft’s Fluent Design System created a fun, imaginative design system that brought a new wave of colorful, approachable elements that come together to make a vast, expansive ecosystem of user-friendly operating systems and applications.
With that, it is deemed that Microsoft is considered the winner of the year for 2020, which is backed by Microsoft’s continued dedication to dreaming about the future of digital, physical, and everything in-between.
