Microsoft Learning Platform
A concept sprint with Microsoft and Tether exploring what a learning platform built for Surface tablets could look like - at the intersection of video, social networks, collaborative writing, and university-level accreditation.
- Role: UX Designer
- Company: Microsoft / Tether
- Timeline: 2013
- Team: Tether design team
- Platform: Surface tablet, web
- Tools: Photoshop, Illustrator
- Status: Internal concept exploration delivered to Microsoft's Surface team
The Concept #
The brief was open-ended: what does a learning platform look like when it's designed for a device rather than retrofitted to one? Surface had capabilities - stylus input, a large touch surface, the Metro design language - that most online learning tools at the time completely ignored.
The space where video sharing, social networks, collaborative writing, online education, and university-level accreditation overlap is rich with potential. The team mapped where those systems could reinforce each other rather than compete. A YouTube-style video layer with a Wikipedia-style knowledge base underneath, social accountability woven through the whole thing, and a credentialing system that could connect to real academic institutions.
The Design Direction #
The concepts explored a few core tensions: how do you make self-paced learning feel as socially engaging as a classroom? How do you layer accreditation onto informal content without making it feel bureaucratic? How do you design for stylus-first interaction without ignoring touch-first users?
The Surface form factor drove decisions throughout - multi-pane layouts that took advantage of the larger screen, annotations that felt natural with the stylus, and a navigation model that worked in both portrait and landscape without feeling like a desktop site scaled down.
