Microsoft has announced renewed thrust on improving the mobile experience, the 1st after its 1st attempt at the same in the form of the (by now failed) Windows phone. As part of this Microsoft Fluent plan, it has unveiled redesigns to its flagship mobile apps, including Outlook, OneDrive, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Users, it said, can also newer versions of Teams, Yammer, & Planner soon.
We’re excited to build entirely new mobile experiences with Fluid, whose dynamic components foster microtasking by updating in real time and making it easier to collaborate. As phones increasingly bridge into augmented- and mixed-reality spaces, we’ll be evolving Fluent mobile to design 3D experiences that are especially promising for firstline workers and students. Finally, expanded investments in inclusive design propel us beyond leveraging existing accessibility technologies and toward designing entirely new voice interactions for innovative experiences on Surface Earbuds.
– MIcrosoft Design Team
Fluent for iOS & Android is a “mobile-born interpretation” of Microsoft’s Fluent principles that ensures experiences will feel both distinctly Microsoft & at home on mobile devices. Basically, seamless transition between devices is what the IT major is aiming for.
As part of the Fluent Mobile effort, a team of over 40 designers created mobile UI toolkits that enable all designers at Microsoft to build experiences using the same shared components, & collectively evolve the design system over time.
What’s more, these toolkits are also now available to external designers & developers to ensure the user mobile experiences stay aligned & scale with customer & platform needs. Here’s where you can start building your own apps today: Fluent toolkit.
Said Microsoft, “When designing Fluent for mobile, we focused on consistently designing seven signature elements to create a great end-to-end experience: the app icon, splash screen, cells, cards, typography, people, and file lists. Now, tapping the app icon takes you to a branded splash screen, which leads to your content, neatly framed by a brand-colored header and a simple bottom bar featuring our brand-new, beautiful and friendly Fluent mobile icons ready to take action.”
Going forward, any update to the system will populate all apps that use Fluent mobile.
Image Credit: Microsoft
