Timeline
2026
Team
Solo concept · research, design, prototype
Role
Product Designer · concept, research, design
Local-first AI
Systems thinking
Fluent 2
Concept + prototype
AI interaction
The problem
Start and taskbar are built as two separate systems, even though nobody experiences them that way. Microsoft keeps patching the symptoms, one surface at a time. Nobody's fixed the pattern.
6
redesign cycles, same shape, across 14 year, Win8 through Copilot-everywhere
7K+
Feedback Hub upvotes to remove "Recommended" before Microsoft acted
3
separately configured surfaces for one question: how much does this decide for me?
The turn
Every claim here is checked against something real, Microsoft's own design blog, Feedback Hub votes, shipped Insider builds. What was left after that is the actual redesign.
Search, as it ships today
The one setting to turn it off is buried under Privacy & Security, and it's all-or-nothing.
The rule applied everywhere here
Online or algorithmic content only appears once the person's own input makes that intent explicit.
The turn
What Microsoft shipped
"Recommended" renamed to "Recent." The taskbar's position reversed after five years of backlash. Copilot branding stripped from Notepad. Each real, each shipped alone.
What was never asked
Start, taskbar, and Search each answer that differently. That's the actual redesign target.
Interface decisions
What I'd build next
01
One cross-surface visual for coherence
The same automation tile on Start, Search, and the taskbar at once — designed in principle, not yet one consistent image.
02
Customization and widget-picker screens
Explored through variants, not locked the way Start, Search, and the taskbar are.
03
Three screens, not the full spec
The wired flow proves the concept. Context Mode, the widget picker, and first-run are shown, not built.
