Microsoft Apps

MSN-branded Apps (originally Bing-branded) for Windows 8, Windows Phone, iOS, and Android

Released: September 20, 2016

Role: User Experience Researcher

Where: Microsoft

When: 2011-2014

Contributions:

Defining user profiles, Heuristic evaluations, Cognitive walkthroughs and early concept testing, Iterative usability testing, Benchmarking, Competitive evaluation, STAGE (Solo Trial and Group Evaluation) testing

Not long after the formation of the “Application Experiences” team at Microsoft, I joined the team to help contribute to and refine the user experience of a brand-new suite of content apps that were to be preinstalled on Windows 8 at the launch of the new OS. My manager and I led all of the user experience research efforts for the first several months for the entire app suite: News, Weather, Sports, Travel, Finance (later called Money), Health & Fitness, and Food & Drink.

After successfully launching those apps on Windows 8, my team decided to expand those content domains to additional platforms, first on Windows Phone, and soon after on iOS and Android supporting both their mobile and tablet form factors. For these apps I was responsible for meeting with the designers and project managers on my team to identify research questions and content for testing, creating research plans, running study sessions, analyzing data, presenting the findings to my team, and tracking research impact over time.

Eventually the design language of these apps spread to the MSN.com website, where I assisted in my team’s international user research strategy by evaluating the site’s redesign in Tokyo and Montreal.

See an example of the "STAGE" study I conducted on the apps for iOS and Android here!

"But there's one group of Windows 8 apps that Microsoft got just right. This group includes News, Weather, Sports, Finance, and Travel. Nicely designed, easy to use, and chock full of details, these apps show off Windows 8 at its best."

- Lance Whitney at CNET