Fundamentals of Pictographic Language Design "Metro" from Microsoft

Fundamentals of Pictographic Language Design "Metro" from Microsoft

Costa, Cezar de; Pauluk, Marcel Pereira

Full Article:

Pictograms are a daily part of our lives. Though their usage in computers, medicine packages, transportation and other means, they represent places, instructions, actions or restrictions regarding situations both in the real world (a city, a street) and a virtual environment (your computer desk, the Internet). In 2012, Microsoft, the giant of informatics, proposed changes in the graphical interface of one of its main products: the Windows operational system. Based in a collection of principles which originated a plain visual language which is intuitive and even fun, nicknamed "Metro", it is penetrating the visual portfolio of many of the company''s proucts, from Office to Bing, Windows Phone and XBox, creating an integrated platform which maintains visual unity and consistency. This article aims to present, discuss and understand how pictograms, the object of study in this research, have been changed and in which context such changes emerged, redefining the aesthetical coordinates followed by Microsoft.

Pictograms are a daily part of our lives. Though their usage in computers, medicine packages, transportation and other means, they represent places, instructions, actions or restrictions regarding situations both in the real world (a city, a street) and a virtual environment (your computer desk, the Internet). In 2012, Microsoft, the giant of informatics, proposed changes in the graphical interface of one of its main products: the Windows operational system. Based in a collection of principles which originated a plain visual language which is intuitive and even fun, nicknamed "Metro", it is penetrating the visual portfolio of many of the company''s proucts, from Office to Bing, Windows Phone and XBox, creating an integrated platform which maintains visual unity and consistency. This article aims to present, discuss and understand how pictograms, the object of study in this research, have been changed and in which context such changes emerged, redefining the aesthetical coordinates followed by Microsoft.

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DOI: 10.5151/designpro-CIDI-184

Referências bibliográficas

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Como citar:

Costa, Cezar de; Pauluk, Marcel Pereira; "Fundamentals of Pictographic Language Design "Metro" from Microsoft", p-1815-1824. In: In Coutinho, Solange G.; Moura, Monica; Campello, Silvio Barreto; Cadena, Renata A.; Almeida, Swanne (orgs.). Proceedings of the 6th Information Design International Conference, 5th InfoDesign, 6th CONGIC [= Blucher Design Proceedings, num.2, vol.1]. São Paulo: Blucher, 2014.
ISSN 23186968, DOI 10.5151/designpro-CIDI-184