Hi everyone. Sorry I haven't done anything on our Journal for a long while - you know how it goes. Here now, and I'd like to write briefly about a specific new development from Microsoft.

The recently announced Fluent Design System looks beautiful from start to finish. Perhaps the blur technique used (macOS, anyone?) is the maker of the deal - it really changes the look and feel of Windows interfaces. With the announcement of FDS, we see that this is not all they're incorporating - it's all about depth, material (Google, anyone?), and more. It's also been shown that this will tie into Mixed Reality - looks very awesome indeed.

Anyways, I don't have time for a full review, and everyone else is doing that anyway. I'm really here because the conceptual interfaces that deviants are coming up with are really fresh, and I like to commend them for that. I've also hand-picked those I could find for the Featured folder. Here are a few of those:



To those have submitted, keep 'em coming! To those who haven't [yet], please share your designs with us - really looking forward to them.

Oh, and you may have noticed the new avatar. This was a spur of the moment type of thing, and I like the way it came out. Simple, meaningful, and without clutter (and not dull like the last one).

As promised in the previous post, I'd like to start putting some effort into selecting noteworthy submissions to feature on the Journal. Originally, I opted do a "Concept of the week/month" - however, I don't always have the time, and so cannot commit to doing this on a regular basis. That said, I'm starting out with a "Concept Spotlight", which will be a series that covers great concepts submitted to the gallery, on an irregular basis. Sometimes there may be two posts a week and at other times, once a month.

Without further ado, the first Spotlight is on:

Origami OS, by mrtomone

This concept is inspired by a few things, including Windows 10, which has been the craze since the launch of preview builds some months ago. Many designers submitted their concepts and ideas to Microsoft, and sites all over the web, including our humble little group.

Origami OS takes a clean, minimal approach to its layout, and presents everything precisely. Whilst being somewhat different in comparison to Windows 10 (regarding the File Explorer, for example), everything is where you would expect it to be. It features everything you would expect from a Windows installation (seemingly; this is, of course, only a concept), such as the task bar and start menu.

Of particular interest to me is the start menu, which seems to be an interactive panel that handles quite a few tasks. From what can be seen, it features the normal app list, which allows you to easily get to your apps, but also displays notifications, plays music, views Instagrams (I guess a normal photo viewer could be thrown in there, too), and more. What's even more interesting is the contextual area that appears in the task bar when a particular app panel is being used. So if I open up Spotify and play something, I can easily open up Word, for example, in full screen, and be able to switch between songs on the fly, without having to lose my focus on the document I'm working on. My only concern with this is that the start button/arrow is no longer available... Then again, the author did not specify exactly how this feature works. That aside, it does really look very useful.

As a designer, I fell in love with the transparent windows with blurred backgrounds. It really gives the OS a great feel, making it 'blend into its surroundings'. This cue was obviously taken from OS X, but this does a better job, in my opinion.

Multitasking seems nice, and the multiple desktop functionality gets out of your way - that is, when you're only using one desktop, there's no need to show a thumb for it at the bottom. (I'm guessing that's the intention here.)

Login screen is simple, and looks very elegant - once again, everything is where you would expect it to be.

Naturally, the 2.4.2 update is much better than 2.4.1, being much more refined in comparison.

Conclusion

All-in-all, Origami OS looks and feels really nice, and has been very well-designed. Kudos to mrtomone on this excellent concept!

CONCEPTUAL/BRILLIANCE

Rules & Guidelines / View the Gallery


[Image removed by linked site]

Folder Changes

A few small folder changes have been made, in recognition of mobile and desktop systems 'merging', as it were.

For the most part, Windows and Windows Phone were split into "Windows" and "Mobile". The "Windows" folder has been renamed to Windows + Phone, so everything can go in there. It's the same for OSX and iOS, where the "Mac" folder has been renamed to OSX + iOS, so everything Apple can go in there.

As there's not an incredible load of concept work coming in for Android, it shares space with concept and other mobile systems - all stored in Android + Other Mobile.

Recent [Awesome] Submissions

A Big Kudos to those who have been submitting some awesome, yet simple, concepts to the group over the last little while. Your work is really awesome! And it's great to see the amount of stuff coming in for Windows 10 - everyone wants Redmond to see their concepts, considering that they're listening to public feedback and requests.

Concept of the Week/Month?

As the group becomes a little more popular over time, which I'm sure it will, I'd like to recognise high quality and/or feasible concepts on a weekly basis. I'm thinking it would be great to write a little critique/review on each one... What do you guys think?

CONCEPTUAL/BRILLIANCE

Rules & Guidelines / View the Gallery

If you're an avid writer, and have a strong interest in making user interfaces and experiences better for the end-user, we invite you to write your own articles, to be displayed here on the front page of the group.

Any member can now submit their own articles via the Journal tab. Submissions will be queued up and subject to approval. If a few edits are required, those will be done before publishing. In addition, we will take care of any formatting, as well as images if there are none.

Looking forward to some creativity from our members!

CONCEPTUAL/BRILLIANCE

Rules & Guidelines / View the Gallery

I read an interesting article on Medium today about our past visions of user interfaces and experiences that blend with our very emotions.

In this dream from the 90's, we hoped for a world where every computer knows us personally. We would wake up to them, have them around us all day, and they would be the last thing we interact with before we go to sleep. They would predict our needs and wants and all interfaces would feel as natural as having a conversation with a friend. Technology would become our primary means (or only means) of communication and we would form relationships with these objects that take care of us.

I do still see this as being an entirely probable future.