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.

Another year, another identity refresh. Grunge was coming in as a Motion Graphic/Graphic design influence, and so I started to adopt grunge like features, now I go further into that visual language but not so sparse and clichéd as before.

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For many years, I have been friends with, and have worked with a very talented web developer, Darren Kierman – With over 10 years of experience in web development it was felt he should start to work independently and so with a move to freelance work, came the need for a design and brand to help him become noticed more and to drive business and custom.

In 2008 as business was going well, Darren came to me asking if I could provide him with an updated and streamlined brand which could be used online, but also on stationary, advertisements and even his car.

As most great designers know, Helvetica is the perfect font for getting a message across in a clear and non threatening way, so that became the basis of the logo design.  With the logo done, Darren began working on a revamped website and portfolio, so I offered some design advice and developed a bright colour scheme which would show the logo and typeface at its best.

Kierweb – Web Design and Computer Support

I seem to make a new ident for my work every year, and 2008 is no exception. This I think is my best yet, and has been designed from the ground up in HD. Please note that my rooftops ident makes a cameo appearance in the background!

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Working with Kierweb over the years, I have been asked to develop web images, site design styles and occasionally logos.  In December 2007, Kierweb was hired to design a website for a local group of parish churches in the Diocese of Carlisle.

Whilst the clients never specifically asked for a logo or colour scheme brand design, they wanted the text in the website header to be styled nicely so it could be used in print as well as online.

With this in mind, I designed a simple and clean typographic logo and muted colour scheme which could also be extended to parish newsletters and other printed material.

The result is a rather nice design which was immediately accepted and appreciated by the clients.

Ambleside Church Website

Current Cubes

This is a promo I made and submitted to Current TV. This one is a simple guide to explain how Current TV works. This one was so popular, it made it on-air, and was the first promo made in the UK to feature on the channel.

Forever Forward

This is a short ident I made and submitted to Current TV. The movement over the bridge represents the non stop pace of the world, and I included a tagline, showing how Current TV is keeping up with the pace of the rest of the world.

Current Pods

Following in a similar vein to my Current Cubes promo for Current TV. This one is a slightly more in depth look at not only how the channel works, but the process you go through to submit content and have it appear on-air.