"Metro" style desktop taskbar+unified notification UI concept for Windows 8

Posted by triharsa.adicahya on April 7, 2013 09:29 pm 17

Just share i had in mind after using Windows 8 since December...

OK. In this concept, i try to address two said problem found (and many people said) about Windows 8. One, about UI consistencies between desktop and modern UI. And two, about the notification system (again, do you remember that iOS also have a problem about this also? the one that finally fix with that pull down status bar..ehemm...just like Android).

Lets start

First about the desktop UI.
In my concept, i try to redesign the taskbar, flatten it (it is the trend now), and make it more consistence with the whole modern UI. The icon style also replaced with modern UI one. But, unlike todays Windows 8 taskbar that only display running desktop app, this taskbar - which i rename to "taskbox" will contain both running desktop , modern UI app, .
I also implemented notification box in here, the one that will also appear in the Start screen (and later in the Windows Phone 9 Start screen) so the whole thing would be consistences.
I imagine, the notification box can be expanded, so the user can response to what they see quickly. I guess, i will make the mockup UI for that later.

Second..The start screen. I bring the "Taskbox" into the Start screen UI, change the shape of it to match the Start screen grouping icon. The function is the same. It will contain the notification box, pinned app and running app (both desktop and modern UI app). The "Taskbox" will always be placed in the left side, so it will always visible when user go back to Start screen.

As you can see, the notification box is also present. It gives user quick access and fixed place for the user. They can response to it without have to go deeper into the apps.
Yes, with this solution, there are two method for the user to deal with push data, via the live tile and the notofication box. But, i think that shouldn't be a problem.

Last, Windows Phone implementation

try to implement the concept on the Windows phone. The taskbox will always stays at the top of the screen for quick access. It can contain frequent used app, favorite live tile, notification box and display running app.