"Civilization had too many rules for me, so I did my best to rewrite them." —Bill Cosby

Simple. Friendly. Fresh. Streamlined. Bright. Fast. Personal. Evolved. That's how Microsoft has been describing the design of their new operating system. XP (what does that stand for anyway?) has an emphasis on good design that starts to give computing a look beyond just geek. Icons in and of themselves are a good judge of this progression. "Think of them as doorways to the files and programs stored on your computer," as the Windows site touts them. The attention to detail for those little guys hanging out on your desktop ends up being incredibly important for the sake of overall appeal... especially when you have to look at them day after day (reference: read about the "Koolhaas factor" called junkspace). The demand to reinvent, to do more than just merely change, is slowly becoming more of a mainstream concept. More people are seeing the light that effective design is not just some artsy fad but carries real purpose and function. Perhaps sexy would be another useful adjective.


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Meet the folks behind the bubbly, evolved designs of Windows XP.