Microsoft Design

We are Microsoft Design, a global UX community exploring and shaping the future of ~~technology~~ humanity.

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UX Research

The missing seat at the frontier team table

How user research and data science can together shape LLM evaluations

Evals UX/UI

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Community

Self potraits: You Zhang

A former motion storyteller turns to design systems and prototyping, using AI to sketch wireframes and make widgets feel real.

People Profiles

Craft

Paper, please: The box that did more with less

How Microsoft reduced single-use plastic in packaging to just 0.07%

Inclusive Design Surface Sustainability Xbox

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Product

Design isn’t dying. It’s shifting left.

When the model is the new medium, shaping how it behaves in humanistic ways is design

Design Thinking UX/UI

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UX Research

Think First: How it started, where it’s going

Think First

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Product

Fluid forms, vibrant colors

How a subtle refresh of our Microsoft 365 icons signals deeper change.

Iconography M365

Abstract 3D icons for user profiles, messaging, and calendars are arranged in a row with magnifying glass symbols. Around them are colorful UI elements, avatars, chat bubbles, links, and schedule grids on a white surface.

Product

From incubation to impact: Microsoft 365 Companion apps

How scrappy prototypes became polished apps—shipped on the taskbar, grounded in Fluent, and refined by research.

Design Thinking M365 UX/UI Windows

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Inspiration

Evolving the Microsoft Inclusive Design website

What we learned rebuilding the Microsoft Inclusive Design website with the communities we serve

Inclusive Design

A futuristic, white interface displays a message: “Create an agent with a natural, but professional tone.” Various colorful icons, sliders, and buttons surround the central dialogue box.

Product

When AI joins the team: Three principles for responsible agent design

A practical guide to build agents that stay differentiated, intent-aligned, and bias-resistant

Because some paradigms were ahead of their time… here's to designing the next 50 years with you.

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UX Research

Product

The new UI for enterprise AI

Evolving business apps and agents through form and function

Iconography M365 UX/UI

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Craft

Outcomes over output: Designing shared cognition

How we are shaping systems that help people think better, not just type faster.

Design Thinking

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Craft

We can all be friends: Times New Roman vs Calibri

Explore how typography decisions really affect readability, accessibility, and brand expression.

Typography

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Craft

From paper to pixels: The evolution of ClearType and onscreen reading

How we made digital text like printed words on paper

Design Thinking UX/UI

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UX Research

Making UX research insights and frameworks beautiful

Discover how one team transformed a complex UX research framework into a visually engaging artifact to make insights stick and spark alignment across teams

Design Thinking UX/UI

Get to know us!

Meet the thinkers and tinkerers at Microsoft Design.

A stylized illustration of a bearded individual with large black-framed glasses, a cigarette in their mouth, and a playful expression. The background is blue with the name "Jason Custer" written in white, bubbly letters on either side of the figure. — Jason Custer

What does an icon designer do?

A colorful illustration of a smiling woman with short black hair, labeled as a "Principal Design Researcher." The background features abstract patterns and silhouettes of people in vibrant shades of pink, blue, and purple. — Adoley Azu

How a Principal Design Researcher is bridging the digital divide

A colorful illustration of a bearded man with a smiling face, wearing a red shirt with patterns. The background is an abstract mix of vibrant colors. The text "Leitin Pedro" and "3D Designer" is written in a playful, white font on either side of the man. — Leitin Pedro

A 3D visual designer talks designing to scale

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Innovating in pursuit of the ultimate customer experience

A stylized digital illustration of a smiling person with long, twisted hair, wearing hoop earrings. The background features bright patterns in yellow, blue, pink, and black. A label on the right reads, "Samantha Kitetu, UX Designer. — Samantha Kitetu

Samantha Kitetu, a UX designer, sits down to talk with Ohemaa Dixon to discuss her journey in UX design so far in Nairobi, Kenya

Jenny Williams, Content Designer — Jenny Williams

In the age of AI, will content designers become extinct?

Resources

Whether you want to practice new skills, develop new concepts, or create prototypes, these toolkits are your place to start.

Wallpapers

Download your favorite wallpapers from Microsoft

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Secure UX

Guidelines, best practices, conversation cards, and workshop tools for creating secure and empowered user experiences.

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Inclusive Design

Toolkits, activities, and principles for designing inclusive experiences that draw on the full range of human diversity.

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Responsible AI

From the latest research and policy changes, to concrete tools and practices, these resources help ensure the ethical advancement of AI experiences.

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Fluent Design System

Visit the Fluent Design System website to get your app started with templates and samples.

Microsoft Design

The missing seat at the frontier team table

Self potraits: You Zhang

Paper, please: The box that did more with less

Design isn’t dying. It’s shifting left.

Think First: How it started, where it’s going

Fluid forms, vibrant colors

From incubation to impact: Microsoft 365 Companion apps

Evolving the Microsoft Inclusive Design website

When AI joins the team: Three principles for responsible agent design

The Next-Gen Research Stack: Agents, Experimentation, and Evaluation

Human-Centered Research in an AI-Driven World

Co-Create, Iterate, Keep the Human at the Core

Debug Faster, Think Deeper: AI for Coding and Quant Research

AI-accelerated research: Speed and scale, without compromising rigor

Expanding human intelligence, not just automating tasks

The new UI for enterprise AI

Outcomes over output: Designing shared cognition

We can all be friends: Times New Roman vs Calibri

From paper to pixels: The evolution of ClearType and onscreen reading

Making UX research insights and frameworks beautiful

Trending

The vibrant evolution: Microsoft’s colorful transformation

Prioritizing inclusion over convention: Rethinking how we design packaging

Designing for humanity in the age of AI: Reflections from India UX Day 2025

Secure by design: A UX toolkit

Behind the design: Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S

Get to know us!

Jason Custer

Adoley Azu

Leitin Pedro

Kelly Gorr

Samantha Kitetu

Jenny Williams

Resources

Wallpapers

Secure UX

Inclusive Design

Responsible AI

Fluent Design System