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Microsoft 365 Theming

Art Direction

Credits

Creative Direction –
Nando Costa
Art Direction –

Alexis Copeland
& David Huang

Art & Design –
Various

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To give Microsoft customers a greater range of expression and to elevate the look and feel of our apps, we partnered with artists and design studios from around the world to create over 60+ personalized themes— signaling a newfound sense of modernity and premium personalization across the company.
 

As co–art director, David Huang and I established a set of conceptual themes and creative sensibilities to unify the collection. Striving for a contemporary yet timeless feel, we aimed to strike a balance between humanistic qualities of the physical world yet materials inspired by the otherworldly, while also looking towards conceptual abstraction that would inspire a state of flow.

Initially designed exclusively for Office.com, our first wave of themes also aimed to capture a sense of movement and dynamism, united by the product's brand color palette. The beautiful images below were created by XK Studio and Elias Klingen (Studio Takil).

 

Every artwork created was produced entirely in 3D which gave us the ability to generate two distinct renders for every scene: one in light mode and one for dark mode. With a large customer base being fans of dark mode, this not only extended the life of each design across different scenarios, but also meant we could have fun with subtle changes happening between day and night.

Below are a few of those themes rendered with a distinctively dark appeal, shown within the release of Windows 11.

 

As popularity grew, product leaders across the company began to adopt this body of work. So to expand the creative, we looked at fresh ways to interpret the classic landscape, working with the talented artists at SixnFive, Future Deluxe, and Alexis Christodoulou.

As Microsoft's more popular categories, pushing the limits of our creativity in this space was no different. By exploring the integration between imaginary landscape and architecture, this body of work is both aspirational and otherworldly. These designs create a sense of wanderlust while adding a peaceful contrast to the intensity of everyday work.

 

To create a connecting point for this umbrella of creative work, we created a third category dubbed "Abstracted Nature". There's something about this set of imagery that feels the most emotive of the group. Something therapeutic yet poetic.

Our intention was to fabricate the essence of nature with otherworldly abstraction yet realistic texturing to connect to the physicality of the known. Dynamic movement carries your eyes across the composition, and you're easily absorbed by it. You feel a sense of serenity and beauty. 

Artists that contributed to this category included XK Studio and George Stoyanov.

 

Outside of a productivity setting, we also invested in designs that would capture a sense of play and magic, those that would create delightful new worlds for our customers.

Although these designs were initially created for kids, adults were just as thrilled to call them their own. These designs capture a universal dialog of artistry that resonated with people across many generations across the world. 

Below are some of these examples created by Buck, Tendril, Laurie Rowan, Mathieu L.B, as well as the many independent artists.

 

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