“Hey SketchBook, give me a hug”
Early 2012, Microsoft contacted us and asked if we’d consider porting SketchBook onto the new Windows 8 platform, which was just announced by them a few months earlier.
Considering how messy the Android system was and the fact that Apple had be leading the mobile world for a long time, everyone were kind feeling that the new Windows platform would be the next game changer. It was a great chance for us as well to build the reputation on this “next-generation platform”. We were pretty happy to cooperate with Microsoft.
Considering how messy the Android system was and the fact that Apple had be leading the mobile world for a long time, everyone were kind feeling that the new Windows platform would be the next game changer. It was a great chance for us as well to build the reputation on this “next-generation platform”. We were pretty happy to cooperate with Microsoft.
What is SketchBook?
In case that you haven’t heard about it yet, SketchBook is a professional yet simple and intuitive sketching application runs on all the modern platforms. By the time Microsoft contacted us, it’s already been available on Windows, MacOS, iOS and Android platforms. What we wanted to created, was a new “Metro” style app as Microsoft was highlighting on Windows 8 (it was later renamed as “Modern” style app).
How does a “Metro” app look like?
Since Windows 8 was in such an early stage, there’s no devices, nor even an alpha version of the new system available. All we got by then were some internal technical documents, and a few advertising videos available on Youtube. It’s a bit tricky to start the project, especially that we needed to finished in less than 1.5 months to catch with their “Consumer Preview” launching event.
All we could do was to read the docs and the videos again and again, and we picked up a few keywords to start the project.
All we could do was to read the docs and the videos again and again, and we picked up a few keywords to start the project.
Fast and Fluid
Touch First
Content before Chrome
Sweat the details
Connected and Alive
Be good at something
Let’s Craft!
Now that we got the direction, let’s start doing it!
The first round was basically replacing the existing UI elements with color blocks to make them look “Metro” style, and see how the currently desktop and mobile/tablet app’s design could fit onto this new platform.
The first round was basically replacing the existing UI elements with color blocks to make them look “Metro” style, and see how the currently desktop and mobile/tablet app’s design could fit onto this new platform.
Then we got the pre-preview version of Window 8 and a few more internal documentations. After looked at the default apps that Microsoft had built into the system, we got some clearer understanding of how the metro apps should look, and behave.
Then we put more details and functions into the mockups, and presented the concepts to Microsoft.
Then we put more details and functions into the mockups, and presented the concepts to Microsoft.
What makes SketchBook SketchBook?
Microsoft was pretty happy to see our concepts. They pointed out a few issues and suggestions of course, but essentially they were quite impressed and thought that was the “sample app” that they’d be featuring on their launching event.
It was great to hear this information back from Microsoft. However, it didn’t light us up for a long time. As much that we were attracted by the cool features of Windows 8, we also got confused. It wasn’t clear what’s the relationship between the “Classic Windows” and the new “Metro Windows”. We were also not sure whether we should bring the desktop version of SketchBook onto it, or a lighter-weight, touch optimized version like what we had on the iPad and Android tablets. Unfortunately, Microsoft was not able to give us enough information to help us to decide.
To clear things up, we asked ourselves,
“What makes SketchBook SketchBook? “
It was great to hear this information back from Microsoft. However, it didn’t light us up for a long time. As much that we were attracted by the cool features of Windows 8, we also got confused. It wasn’t clear what’s the relationship between the “Classic Windows” and the new “Metro Windows”. We were also not sure whether we should bring the desktop version of SketchBook onto it, or a lighter-weight, touch optimized version like what we had on the iPad and Android tablets. Unfortunately, Microsoft was not able to give us enough information to help us to decide.
To clear things up, we asked ourselves,
“What makes SketchBook SketchBook? “
Focus on the soul
The answer was that, it’s not about how it looks, it’s about how it works.
The intuitive user experience, the high-quality sketching strokes, the super fast performance, the unique pen-optimized interactions that we’ve patented and polished for years, and the touch-first experience we introduced on iOS and Android, they all adds up to be the soul of SkethBook. Is it so important to build a new look of it? Well, maybe yes, but definitely it’s not the first priority. And hey, we only had about 4 weeks left to build everything up from scratch.
Instead of building a whole new user experience, we decided that we should keep the soul of SketchBook, by introducing and evolving the key elements of the user interface, and of course, providing the same amazing painting engine in the background.
We scoped out lots of features in order to focus on the key features, then we spent lots of energy sweating the details. The guiding principle was to make sure that that app has a “pen-first” experience. (as opposite to Microsoft’s “touch-first” concept), it’s a drawing application after all. In the meantime, we also make the details touch-friendly and optimized, and of course, it also could work with mice.
The intuitive user experience, the high-quality sketching strokes, the super fast performance, the unique pen-optimized interactions that we’ve patented and polished for years, and the touch-first experience we introduced on iOS and Android, they all adds up to be the soul of SkethBook. Is it so important to build a new look of it? Well, maybe yes, but definitely it’s not the first priority. And hey, we only had about 4 weeks left to build everything up from scratch.
Instead of building a whole new user experience, we decided that we should keep the soul of SketchBook, by introducing and evolving the key elements of the user interface, and of course, providing the same amazing painting engine in the background.
We scoped out lots of features in order to focus on the key features, then we spent lots of energy sweating the details. The guiding principle was to make sure that that app has a “pen-first” experience. (as opposite to Microsoft’s “touch-first” concept), it’s a drawing application after all. In the meantime, we also make the details touch-friendly and optimized, and of course, it also could work with mice.
Hey Microsoft, now hug me back
On the launching event of the Consumer Preview of Windows 8, SketchBook was featured on the biggest touch screen on stage :)
