Zeichick's Take: Riding on the Metro, or the Windows 8 style UI

By Alan Zeichick

August 10, 2012 — (Page 1 of 2)
"I remember searching for the perfect words
I was hoping you might change your mind
I remember a soldier sleeping next to me
Riding on the Metro"

The group Berlin wrote the song "The Metro" in 1983. The lyrics evoke rail trips through London and Paris, walking along the Seine, and of course, a romantic breakup. It’s a great song.

Microsoft used the word Metro to describe the design language and user interface introduced for Windows Phone. Consisting of an array of different-sized tiles in bright primary colors, Metro was reminiscent of the game Tetris, and also of a tic-tac-toe board. The Metro interface is crisp, clean and fresh – and when combined with active content (aka Live Tiles), it brought Windows Phone a user experience that was both attractive and functional.

Microsoft loves Metro. After Windows Phone hit the market with the Metro UX, the design began finding its way into everything from Microsoft marketing (like for the Build 2011 conference and numerous web pages) to the forthcoming Windows 8.
According to Microsoft’s developer tutorial, {http://www.microsoft.com/design/toolbox/tutorials/windows-phone-7/metro/}
Metro is the name of the new design language created for the Windows Phone 7 interface. When given the chance for a fresh start, the Windows Phone design team drew from many sources of inspiration to determine the guiding principles for the next generation phone interface. Sources included Swiss influenced print and packaging with its emphasis on simplicity, way-finding graphics found in transportation hubs and other Microsoft software such as Zune, Office Labs and games with a strong focus on motion and content over chrome.

Not only has the new design language enabled a unique and immersive experience for users of Windows Phone 7; it has also revitalized third party applications. The standards that have been developed for Metro provide a great baseline, for designers and developers alike. Those standards help them to create successful gesture-driven Windows Phone 7 experiences built for small devices.

Alas, Microsoft doesn’t love the Metro name, not any more. The company is slowly scrubbing the Metro name from both Windows Phone and Windows 8, in favor of the less-colorful phrase “the Windows 8 style UI” for the design language. At press time, the developer tutorial about still referred to “Metro.”

Related Search Term(s): Microsoft, Metro, Windows Phone, UI

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Comments

08/14/2012 02:42:45 AM EST

I really like Metro name for WP and Windows 8 UX. Microsoft need to find another pitching name if they will drop current name. "the Windows 8 style UI" doesn't sound good. "the German company Metro AG ... has told Microsoft to cease and desist". I hate when things like this happen. There was wise decision in EU saying API definition is not IP and cannot be restricted for alternative implementations. I believe they should do the same with any common word that appears in official language dictionaries. These words should not be copyrighted or trademarked.

UkraineAndrii

09/03/2012 01:07:13 AM EST

Maybe Microsoft could have just relabeled the new UI "WinTiles" or even "Windows 8 UI."

United StatesMichael

Ballmer announces Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 betas
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer used the CES 2009 spotlight to announce the availability of betas for the upcoming version of Windows. Preview versions of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 have been distributed to testers, with general availability coming tomorrow Read More...