I tried a Windows Phone as soon as it came out, and within a month I had joined the team. I was blown away by the print-inspired design language, then called Metro. It was an honour to join and then lead the apps team.
We ask a lot out of our email apps. We want them to be easy to use and uncluttered, but at the same time have the same power we expect from our desktops and laptops. I led the design of three versions of Mail for Windows Phone, working to strike this careful balance.
Microsoft made its name with its powerful Office apps, so getting the Mail and Calendar experience right was vitally important for millions of Windows Phone customers. Notice in this design the todo app was built into the calendar. I inherited this and worked to split todos into a proper standalone app over subsequent releases.
Even back in 2011, it was clear that messaging was going to be one of the most popular categories in mobile. The best part of Microsoft's Messaging product was how it integrated with other messaging platforms into a single experience. I led the design of this for two releases.
The biggest challenge for Windows Phone was getting third party developers to write apps for the platform. I spent about a quarter of my time on design evangelism in the developer community. When Microsoft bought Skype, I helped them redesign their app. I spoke at conferences, sat for interviews, and helped envision and launch a design system and best practices website for Metro's design language.
Rooms was a great idea for adding people into a group on your phone. The vision was that you'd be able to share photos, texts, attachments, and locations in your private room. It even had integration with third parties! I'm still waiting to see a similar product in the market, because there's something special about the scenario we identified.
How do you make a single version of Word, Excel, and Powerpoint that can scale from a desktop PC all the way down to a 4 inch screen? I was asked to lead the mobile team that gave it a go, and I'm pleased to report that it shipped!
I was the lead designer on each of these projects except the third party section. Several projects such as Mail and Calendar were delegated to other designers after I started work on them. My process is pretty standard but I bet you're not super excited about seeing a bunch of pictures of people standing at whiteboards! I do have a couple process tricks, and I'd love to chat more about them in person.