Here is the Panorama main UI of my app looks so far.  Things are not completely final, but they are settling in nicely.

I have two great and enthusiastic people on board helping me realise this app, as well as help from a great guy at Microsoft UK.

Michael Josiah is working on building a web service which aggregates the various data feeds and API’s from Transport for London and then processes them into a powerful data pool which the app will make use of, with data optimised to run well on the phone, and provide small and compact downloads, so it should never slow you down!

Levente Mihaly is someone with experience of data driven Silverlight apps, and will be taking the UI code I am building, and making it function with the live data our app will be using.  We will be making use of the MVVM (Modal, View, View Modal) practice in building applications which he is a proponant of.

Hopefully some time soon, we will have a beta version which I will detail online and on YouTube, before testing on real phone devices in September, for a launch of Version 1.0 in October.  Apart from this initial front end UI, a lot has been done for the more detailed areas of the app, and the presentation of data in a clear and clean manner, as well as significant work on the back end.

Follow us on twitter:
Levente Mihaly
Michael Josiah

As a brit myself, there are a few things I should mention. (Regarding Microsoft’s activities in the UK)

Firstly, the video service on Xbox is absolute crud.  The worst selection of films you could ever imagine, no tv shows at all.
Media Centre and Xbox get support for Sky Player, which is a small selection of live channels, catchup and video on demand, which you need to be a sky subscriber to recieve, or pay for an online only subscription.

Media centre does not support Internet TV, but has a service called msn video, which seems never to be updated, and has a selection of video on demand programming.

The BBC is our national broadcaster.  They also have the best online service bar none in the UK.  It is provided only to UK citizens for free without any kind of advertising, because the cost of running it comes from a form of taxation called the License Fee.  If you own a television, radio, or an online device which supports viewing BBC iPlayer.

As part of its policy of providing access to iPlayer content on as many devices as possible, for free to License Fee payers, it has iPhone, Android, apps in development, awaiting permission to launch.  It has also created a unique Wii client, and an Adobe Air powered time-limited download service, as well as the iPlayer website itself.

The BBC have been working with Microsoft for years on the iPlayer features, but when it came to the Xbox version of iPlayer, they could not force people to pay again for an Xbox Live Gold subscription to access it, and Microsoft refused to budge.  There was talk of a Windows Media Centre version of iPlayer, but this has not emerged.  I do not think Microsoft are trying hard enough to support the BBC in this, because it is essentially a non-commercial prospect.

Now onto other Microsoft shortcomings in the UK/Europe.

• Zune HD never released.
• Zune service not yet available.
• Incomprehensible Zune Software restrictions (which I have to bypass for it to be fully functional) I can understand there being no Zune music yet – with deals to be done and windows phones to be released – by why no access to podcasts, and the existing miserable movie selections.
• Microsoft Stores show no signs of ever leaving the US.
• Higher prices to pay for everything.
• Apart from MS Research, and a few game studios, Microsoft have no developers in the UK, and I doubt any outside of Redmond.  The computer was invented here, so why is it so undervalued!?!?
• Bing!  Bing maps were recently updated with a new design, but check the map, the UK is the ONLY location still using the old Map designs.
• No Bing map Street Views either!

I know there is probably many more issues in the rest of europe, but I cant comment on those.  The UK has still got a strong brand loyalty to Microsoft, but we get such a raw deal in the consumer space.  Windows Phone is out soon, the first product since the Xbox 360 in the UK from Microsoft for the consumer.  The UK gets it first in October, but what will the various services look like that are needed to support the phones.

So many questions, which we need to ask, because of the way we have experienced Microsoft in the past.  If we can ever get to a point where we can hear a Microsoft announcement, and not have to wonder if we will ever see the product in our country, will be the day Microsoft starts to really establish themselves in the consumer space, and will earn mind-share from their users.

Taking advantage of the Panoramic UI, and the fact that the Windows Phone design is based on transport signage and information design, what is better than a Transport Service and Information app to really get the most out of the UI.

So far, I have taken those mock ups and have really polished them, and slowly I am getting to grips with the development tools and platform, to create (and sometimes code up) the various pieces that will be needed for the app.  I have a volunteer on board who is coding up the data and web components that are at the heart of this app, but am still looking for people with Silverlight and C# experience who could help me ensure the various controls and code I am working on will work well, and make sure I don’t screw everything up.

If anyone is out there, willing to help us out, please do get in touch via email or twitter and if the app is a success, you will be listed on the credits/about page, with a link to your twitter or website, and if we are done before october, we may even be a launch day release!

Here are some sites where I have been talking about my app:

• Windows Phone 7 Developer Forums
• Windows Phone 7 Backstage Forums
• XDA Development Forum

My Flicker Photostream Set

With the first Keynote of Microsoft’s annual Web, Design, and Development conference MIX 10, about the start in under 30 mins. I wanted to make a few observations and thoughts about what we may see at MIX this year.

MIX is a very large event spread over 7 days, made up of workshops, in depth sessions with the newest and greatest development and design tools from Microsoft, product/demo/beta releases, and 2 90min keynote addresses. Unlike Apple’s own development resources, 24 hours after the session, Microsoft provide the video and slides from these for free to anyone who was unable to attend the main event.

It is the event where Expression Studio receives its updates, where a new edition of Internet Explorer, and Windows Live products are announced. It also offers developers a glimpse into future products and development tools, and this year promises to be no exception. In fact, after all the buzz that was surrounding the unveiling of Windows Phone 7 Series, and its UI design “Metro”, so much speculation and interest was demanded for developers looking to build apps for this totally new Operating System, and the answer they all received was ‘Wait till MIX”!

Well here it is, the moment when we are all told exactly how we will all use Microsoft’s Silverlight technology to develop for this new platform and UI. But not only will we have 12 sessions on Windows Phone 7 Series alone, but general sessions on Silverlight and its bigger brother WPF, as well as tools like Expression Studio, and Visual Studio. But what of the non designers, and those without any interest in UI design and app development?

Well expect to possibly see new software from big companies that you will be using on websites and phones in the near future, as well as the next version of Internet Explorer. IE9 is a release which has been overdue in the view of a lot of users. Still the most widely used of all browsers, it will be interesting to see how much HTML 5 support it will have at this stage, as well as its touted hardware acceleration using both Direct Write and Direct 2D.

Whatever does get announced, the true brilliance behind MIX is the sessions, so if you have any interest in UI Design and Development, or Windows Phone 7 Series, or even just want to hear some great experts in their field, catch the keynotes, either live or after the fact, as well as check out some of the many workshop sessions that will be appearing online over the next couple of weeks.

For live coverage visit the MIX10 website, and for discussions and sessions visit Microsoft’s development community at Channel 9.

Photo by Tom Warren of Neowin.net

After the surprisingly statistic-light reveal of Microsoft’s brand new Windows Phone 7 Series OS at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona yesterday, I have spent time playing with my Zune HD, toying with my brother’s iPhone, and looking at images of Google’s Android UI.  What strikes me is how Microsoft has taken a very unique and unusual approach to a Smart Phone user experience, than that of the competitors, whilst still doing basically the same tasks.

When the iPhone launched, it was a revolution in not only how you use Smart Phones, but also on what people expect to do with these devices.  The UI – whilst unusual for a mobile device – brought with it the usual visual language we have been using on desktop PCs for many years – such as icons, pop-up balloons, and grid layouts – so apart from the touch gestures replacing mouse navigation, the whole experience was familiar and easy to grasp.

Apple took the approach of taking the types of activities average PC users had been doing, and condensing it with a focused intensity, removing superfluous functions like running multiple applications at one time, and command lists such as menus and large toolbars.  They found an on-screen layout which was clear to understand and control, at the expense of ‘one size fits all’ programs.

The iPhone quickly grew from the closed device which did a few things well, to a platform for developers to offer experiences and small functions which would enhance your daily life.  This struck a chord with the public, and the device spread very quickly, forever re-defining what mobile devices should be capable of, and with it led rivals to try to emulate that same formula.

The Palm Pre was the first to truly try to rival the iPhone in what it offered both visually and in adding multi-tasking capabilities, and having a tight integration of various apps like emails and contacts.  Unfortunately the application developers didn’t flock to it, and now we don’t hear so much about Palm’s WebOS platform.

Then came entries from Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, and Nokia’s Symbian operating systems.  Windows Mobile having been in use since 2000 (then known as Pocket PC), and even earlier as Windows CE, launched their 6.5 update which added basic touch capable UI on top of their original codebase.  Symbian having evolved from the EPOC OS developed by PSION, was updating to try to emulate the iPhone OS, and has recently been released as Open Source in order to be more agile in updating and modernising it for the future.

Finally a new entrant entered the arena when Google released their own operating system for mobile devices known as Android.  Whilst others have had prior experience with mobile OS solutions, Google had the advantage of not being tied to an older codebase, collection of applications, or an existing UI to work with.  As well as being a very modern OS, Google are updating it at a very intense speed ensuring their solution doesn’t become stymied and stale.

Now when we look at all of these solutions, you can see they all share many similarities from the iPhone, whilst all playing catchup in various ways.  But whilst the iPhone and Android have gained momentum and market share with consumers, Microsoft and their now business orientated OS was stagnating, despite their attempts to make Windows Mobile more user-friendly.  So when it was announced Microsoft were working on version 7 of their mobile OS, the industry did not get enthused or excited for it.  But in the last few months, rumours had begun to circulate, that Microsoft was planning to dump their existing system, and build a new one for scratch, with the consumer in mind.  Not only would the code be all new, but Microsoft would also be taking more control on what hardware the OS would run on, and control over the interface.

So when the announcement came, speculation and interest grew.

And now it was official… Windows Mobile is no more!  As you can see from the images above, Windows Phone 7 has done away with its past, but along with that, it has distanced itself from its competitors by avoiding the familiar conventions of colourful icons in grid layouts, background textures like shiny plastic and metallic chrome, in favour of a typographic, and information focused interface, where colour is used to highlight important text, rather than to brand your application or to look pretty.

Along with changing the look of the mobile OS, Microsoft has also changed the way you navigate and use the OS.  The concept of discreet applications you dip in and out of to perform specific tasks, has given way to a live approach to your content, and an integrated approach to what you do with your contacts, and media.

I am not going to explain how you use it, or go into the technical side to it, I am a designer, and I focus on the aesthetics, there are plenty of hands on reviews out there if you are interested in that part of it.  But I felt the need to comment on it, because this interface isn’t as unusual as you may think, and follows a trend that Microsoft has been moving through since the development of Windows Media Centre, and the Zune.

The similarities are obvious at first glance, and as I ditched my iPod in favour of a Zune HD – a device which hasn’t officially been launched outside of the US – I am very comfortable and pleased Microsoft has taken this approach, as I am a fan of minimalist typographic design, and eliminates the problems I have with these other smart phones, in that the size of the icons and elements you touch seem too small for me, even more so compared to the large text and boxes on the Zune HD.

Anyway, I have rambled on too much here, this comment has become an essay!  I just wanted to say how thankful I am to Microsoft for daring to be different, and taking this huge risk in taking a fledgling market in mobile devices, and re-defining it rather than iterating the ideas from the iPhone, and before that, the desktop OS philosophy.  Smart Phones are not PCs, so why should they try to act like them.

Windows Phone 7 Series Website

It takes the best of the Zune, some ideas from the HTC Sense UI, and some stylings from the current Windows Mobile 6.5 interface. As this is what the rumours are suggesting. I will post my thoughts on the interface when details are shown later today, comparing them to the iPhone and Android OS’s (as far as the design is concerned at least).

And for a hint at what we may expect from Mr Ballmer later today, here is a clip of one of his most hilarious moments.

Windows Phone 7 Announcement at 2PM London Time

Overton Darts League

I was approached online to help come up with ideas for a logo which could be used by a community darts league.  They wanted something clean and simple for print and online use.  The italicised text and enclosure give a feeling of activity and movement.

The Centre for Forensic Neuroscience

This logo design was submitted to the site LogoSauce for a competition to design the logo for a UK based agency who provide legal expert witnesses in criminal trials.  I called it scatter-brain and the idea behind it was getting to the truth through the chaos.  The general shape was meant to reflect the shape of the human brain.

Station Web Hosting

This was another submission to a LogoSauce competition, and what’s more, it was a winner!  It started off as a very roughly conceived idea for the cord of a computer forming the letter S, but as it continued, it became more refined.

Inside Big Brother and Inside The X Factor

After the first year online for Inside Big Brother (previously BBUK Site), I decided to come up with some more permanent logos which could feature on both his sites.  I wanted them to be fun, and bold, but for both to convey a uniform style so you knew they were related.

After showing them to the webmaster, he eventually declined to use them, but I still think the designs are interesting, and so they are still going into the scrapbook for all to see.

Thanks go to Lee Seaman for being my usual sounding board for ideas, and suggesting a few ideas which led to these.

CMYK Print Services

This design was another competition entry to LogoSauce. As the name suggests, the design had to reflect the world of professional printing, so I designed using colours influenced by the 4 colours Cyan Magenta Yellow and Black.

The mark design is intended to represent the types of printing marks used as indicators on the printed page for cropping, and folding etc.

It is with great relief that I post this here today.  For the past 2 years I have gone through idea after idea, and design after design in an attempt to bring my static, hand-crafted website out of the dark ages and into the present day.

Whilst not all down to my indecisiveness, and general laziness, I have had some significant setbacks in my health and general well-being which have contributed to the lack of activity.  But I have finally gotten my site setup in a way I am happy with, and I am in the process of transferring the content from my previous site and expanding upon it, and then adding some of the things I have been doing in between my personal issues.

I have been and gone from the world of Facebook, and have come to embrace Twitter and the stupendously addicting and wonderful netcasts from Leo Laporte and his TWiT Network.

So in closing, I will be adding content from here on out to the site, and once the old content is up, I will dump the old site and will then await what comes.  So thank you for visiting, and I hope this site becomes a haven from real life and issues, if not from you than for me!

Fictional Zelda Movie Logo – July 2006

As you may or may not know, I am somewhat of a fan of the Legend of Zelda videogame series. I decided to look at one of the earlier logos used in the series, and re-created it (chips, and cracks included) in 3D. Once done, it felt a shame not to animate it somehow.

BBC Parliament Ident – August 2006

I had just finished some logo ideas for the BBC’s portfolio of TV channels. I decided to take the BBC Parliament logo design I made, and design animations and graphics for the channel’s on-screen appearance to go with it.

ITV News Titles – January 2006

When ITV announced that they would be changing their corporate logo, and re-designing their channels’ branding, I decided to dip my toe into the world of ITV, and design a new look for their news bulletins, as well as their studio.