New Hotmail chrome

Windows Live Essentials Mail 2011 - Message list chrome

Windows Live Essentials Mail 2011 - Compose

Windows Live Essentials Mail 2011 - Contacts

Hotmail message list filters

Microsoft describes the feature here.

Windows Live Photomail

See how photomail works here.

Quick-add pannel v2.0 / Compose Insert Bar

The quick-add panel was an existing feature from a previous wave that suffered from “Ad blindness”. Because of its location, and visual presentation the Quick-Add Panel was frequently mistaken for a skyscraper ad. Users also didn’t really understand the value of the feature - which was to surface rich content from Bing in the compose view and allow users to insert information like maps, movie times, images, videos, etc. Directly in the body of the email. 

My proposed solution was to move these content types into the rich text editor, and then animate the panel in from the left side when the user clicked on a QAP item in the editor. This solved two problems.

Users understand attaching content to mail. Representing inserting (say a map and directions) in the same way the user attaches a document makes sense to them. It made the value of the QAP clearer to the user. By animating the panel in from the right side instead of always having it open, it triggered a phenomena known as an orienting response. Motion gets noticed at a pre-cognitive level. Users notice motion and orient to it. They see the new map content there and make the connection attach workflow they just created. The user not only understands that “This is not an add” but they have a firmer understanding of what the Quick Add Panel is used for.

Microsoft Office Online: Docmail

Microsoft describes the feature here.

Docmails are special emails that enable users to create, send and share documents using Windows Live Skydrive and office online. My responsibility was to create the end-to-end workflow, prototypes, visual treatments etc. 

Hotmail Wave 4: Rich Attachements

 This design resulted from my work on Hotmail Live Views. Once the design for Live Views began to mature, we realized that we needed to unify the concept of the existing attachment well with how we were presenting other relevant information in the mail.  Our argument was more often than not, if an email has attachments, the mail is about the attachment (photos, documents, etc). That information should be presented as richly as any of the other Live Views we were creating for video, photo, and shipping URLs.

Documents Only

Mixed attachments - Photos and Documents

Hotmail Wave 4: Hotmail Live Views

Update - Microsoft is running a great overview of how Live Views work here.

Live Views were a new introduction to Hotmail in Wave 4. In a nutshell, a “Live View” is a better way to visualize certain parts of an email message. If someone sends you a link to photos on Flickr or a video on YouTube - the email isn’t about the link, its about the content the link represents -   Basically - Hotmail looks at the content of email and finds useful ways to display your mail in rich engaging ways without having to leave the inbox. 

This is one of the most significant features for the entire release, and Hotmail won rave reviews not only for the technical aspects of the feature but for its design, and the way that it dovetailed cleanly with the rest of the mail experience. 

My work on this feature influenced other areas of the Hotmail and Windows Live UI -Including the way attachments are reflected in the read view of mail. 

Photo LiveView (Flickr, Smugmug)

Video LiveView (YouTube, Hulu, Daily Motion)

Shipping Live View (FedEx, USPS, DHL)