Apple's sleek, ergonomic devices are just as pleasing to look at as they are to operate -- this fact hasn't been lost on Microsoft, who was said to have doubled its design teams over the course of four years as its philosophy of art.
Microsoft is said to have a workforce composed of approximately 1,400 designer, though its design teams have been dwarfed by its estimated 64,000 engineers. But several Microsoft designers have recently spoken up, heralding a shift in the tech company's philosophy on aesthetics.
Steve Clayton, Microsoft's chief storyteller and "digital anthropologist," said he joined Microsoft about 16 years ago, back when utility dominated all of the company's products. It went that way for a while, he said.
"That is, until about three years ago when a brilliant community of designers started to think differently about design and ultimately established a Microsoft design ethos. Since then a remarkable shift has taken place," said Clayton. "Though 'flat design' is a popular meme right now, there is something much, much deeper going on here at Microsoft."
"With my own lifelong passion for design I immersed myself in the community and got a front-row seat on a journey that has its roots as far back as the late '90s with Encarta's bold use of typography and clean interface," said Clayton. "But it truly sprang to life in late 2010 with the launch of Windows Phone and in the last few weeks has advanced even further with Windows 8.1 and Xbox One."
It hasn't been just Apple that has been outclassing Microsoft in the design department. Microsoft utilitarian hardware and software has lost ground to trendy offering from Amazon and Google as well -- it must be said that the hardware and software developed by Microsoft's Xbox division has garnered the console a massive following, even though many Xbox owners still prefer other companies for non-gaming hardware and software.
Evidence of Microsoft attempts to elevate the design of its products began appearing, some would say, around the release of its Windows Phone in 2010 -- Clayton shares this belief. Windows Phone arrived after the termination of the unattractive, though extremely powerful, Windows Mobile series of devices and was followed up with the likes of the Surface series of tables and the drastically overhauled Windows 8.
Steve Kaneko, design manager with Microsoft since 1991, said he has the ear of CEO Satya Nadella and said the company would like to invite consumers into the conversation. Both Kaneko and Clayton asserted that Microsoft's "design ethos" has changed much more than many consumers have realized.
"I started from the very place I bet you are right now -- disbelief that Microsoft is leading the way on design," Clayton said.
