MSN/Bing Finance for Windows 8

Sep 2011 – May 2012, as UX Designer II, Bing App Experiences(AppEx) | Applications and Services Group(ASG) | Microsoft

As a default app on Windows 8, Bing/MSN Finance app was designed to show the full potential of Microsoft’s Metro design language.

Landing page
Stock detail page

Role

As the lead designer, I led the overall visual/interaction design, information architecture, and UX. I developed a full-bleed ‘hero’ image concept as a signature design element of the Bing Windows 8 app suite. The app shows the bold use of typography, color, and imageries with rich data elements such as market indices, stock charts, and news headlines.

Since our target users were general Windows users, unlike traditional financial apps that typically have heavy look & feel with black dark themes, I designed the app with bright colors and layout while incorporating some of the important conventional financial data design patterns.

Goal

The main design goal was to provide a rich content consumption experience just like a magazine. Based on Windows 8’s horizontal scrolling mechanism, I designed information architecture in a way that makes the user’s reading flow natural and enjoyable. Starting with the real-time stock market indices and ‘Top Stories’ news section, the app shows ‘Watchlist’, ‘Personal Finance’, and useful financial tools such as mortgage calculator.

Windows 8 Design Principles

Throughout the design process, the Windows 8 Design Principles were used as guiding principles to make the Finance app one of the best examples of the Windows 8 app experience.

  • Pride in Craftsmanship
  • Be Fast and Fluid
  • Authentically Digital
  • Do More with Less
  • Win as One

Media Reviews

Key Design Elements

With massive financial data such as indices, stock prices, charts, and the news headlines in multiple depths of hierarchy such as market type, entity type(stock, bond, ETF, commodities, etc) the information hierarchy and architecture was one of the most important elements in designing Bing/MSN Finance app.

Typographic hierarchy and grid system were founding grounds for designing the Finance app experience.

Initial Design Explorations

Initial design explorations focused on the visualization of the financial data based on the metro design language. Based on the ‘Content over Chrome’ philosophy, I explored the ways to simplify complex financial data using typography and graphical elements without unnecessary chrome / UI elements.

The Hero Image

One of the most interesting elements in magazine design is the use of photo images on the cover or section title pages. I wanted to bring the visual impact with the headline stories on the landing experience. To achieve this, I explored the hero image system where the user can instantly immerse into the finance stories with beautifully curated photos.

To make the hero image system possible in production builds, I worked with the news content editorial team and content publishing engineering to establish the image template system which automatically crops the hero image with proper focus areas based on different device resolutions and orientations.

Stock Tiles

Stock entity tile is one of the most important data elements in the Finance app. To meet all feature requirements and provide a great user experience for all international markets, I went through many design iterations. Design iteration included considerations for the different market color schemes and RTL language support as well.

Entity Detail Page Iterations

Data Visualization Elements

Portrait Mode

Release Version Screenshots

Finance app was released as part of Windows 8 on August 1st, 2012.

Steve Ballmer demonstrating Finance and Sports app

Landing Page

Entity Detail Page – Stock

Entity Detail Page – Fund

Market Detail Page

Currencies

Commodities

Watchlist

World Markets

News & Videos

Rates

Mortgage Calculator

Article Reader


Other Works on 2D App UX Design

Sports App for Windows 8

Metro-style default app suite for Windows 8

Sep 2011 – May 2012
MSN Finance

Finance App for Windows 8

Metro-style default app suite for Windows 8

Sep 2011 – May 2012
Sports Windows Phone 8

Sports App for Windows Phone 8

Metro-style default app suite for Windows Phone 8

May – Aug 2013
MSN HnF

Health & Fitness App for Windows 8

Metro-style default app suite for Windows 8.1

Jan – June 2013
HnF Windows Phone8

Health & Fitness App for Windows Phone 8

Metro-style default app suite for Windows 8.1

Dec 2013 – Feb 2014
MSN iOS

MSN Apps for iOS and Android

MSN app suite for cross-platform devices

May – Dec 2014
MSN Windows10

MSN Apps for Windows 10

In-box apps for Windows 10

Jan – June 2015

MSN Web Experience

Design update for MSN Web Experience

Oct 2013 – Mar 2014

Windows Bridge for iOS

Microsoft open-source project – iOS bridge solution

Oct – May 2015