Windows Phone Design, Part 2: Windows Design Language

On and on I am reminded of how Windows Phone is not only much more mature than Windows 8 from an improvement-over-time point of view, but also since its inception. Windows Phone 7.0 already had most of the principles and attention to detail explained in this video.

The bit where he shows off the Typographical Hyerarchy used in the Messaging and Mail apps in Windows Phone leaves no room for debate: the Mail app in Windows 8 is not using most of the metro design principles. Typography over white space is not all there is to it.

Now that there are already more Windows 8 and RT users in the world than there are Windows Phone users, it's becoming commonplace (at least for me) to hear complaints about such simple things, and it's embarrasing to offer the defense that "well, it's much better in Windows Phone, so they'll probably get there".

Will they?

The Outlook.com Android app team did not use the design principal at 9:59, but I guess this is a video for designing WP apps.

Still, I love the SkyDrive app on my Nexus 10. So maybe the design principle still applies to Microsoft's Android apps.

Oh, and while Windows Design Language isn't as sexy as Metro, it's better than the previous names.

The pic that says "Skytrain" and "GST Refund" must be from Vancouver (BC, not Washington), since the Canadian national tax is called the GST, and the other is the name of the subway/monorail transit system.

edit: It USED TO be called GST. Many provinces harmonized with the federal tax, so in those provinces it's known as HST.