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Microsoft Whiteboard – overview

I served as a Senior Designer and lead on the Product Design team for Microsoft Whiteboard from 2016-2019.  I also served as a manager on the team during 2019. Product concept In mid 2015, I was part of a small team of OneNote folks asked to envision, build, and test a new type of product for Microsoft, designed to be used primarily on Surface Hub for multi-input collaboration.   Needless to say, this was a seriously exciting opportunity – it’s not every day that you’re asked to help build a completely new productivity app for Microsoft. Some initial ethnographic research had been done before the project kicked off, and we knew that there was a gap for meeting collaboration around freeform input, particularly for remote participants.  Physical whiteboards were (and continue to be) essential for lots of types of in-person collaboration, but there wasn’t a good digital equivalent that could allow remote participants to join in.  And physical whiteboards have lots of limitations – they can’t be shared and are restricted to drawings.  A digital evolution of this medium could allow a new level of collaboration for IWs, classrooms, and even home users. Opportunity statement Collaboration during meetings can be difficult […]
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Surface Hub & Whiteboard how-to videos

Microsoft Whiteboard is a real-time collaborative, free-form canvas that I helped create. This is a vignette of one of Whiteboard’s major components. For more information on Whiteboard as a whole, as well as other major aspects that I designed, see my Whiteboard overview page. My team and I worked together to make these incredible Surface Hub informational/instructional videos.  One illustrator and one motion designer did the visuals. I wrote the scripts, wrote/recorded/performed the music, performed/recorded the voiceovers, and did the project management.  These came out so well!  I'm really proud of what we could accomplish 😉 Pen and touchCollaborate in real-timeInsert objects
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Surface Dial & OneNote hackathon

I was fortunate enough to work on a Surface team 2-day Hackathon project in 2016 ahead of the release of the Surface Dial.  The goal was to explore new commanding for the Dial within OneNote. I built a Flash prototype that integrated with the Dial.  Tapping the dial would show pen tools.  Twisting would change tool.  Tapping the dial with a tool already selected would open additional choices.  From here, twisting up or down would change pen color or thickness, depending on the direction.

A step-by-step look at the interaction details of my prototype.

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