Before the release of Windows 10, Microsoft approached VUDU to create a Windows 10 Universal App to bring VUDU’s media streaming services and catalog of 18,000 movies and 5,000 television shows to the Windows 10 ecosystem. UpTop was brought in to design the new Windows 10 Universal App experience for VUDU.
The essential requirement was to achieve feature parity with the existing iOS and Android apps on mobile, tablet, desktop and Xbox with screen sizes ranging from 4” to 60”, incorporating unique elements of Windows 10 in an adaptive layout, featuring live tiles, personalization, and Cortana integration. The biggest challenge that we faced was that Windows 10 was still being developed by Microsoft and was not released to the public yet.
As such, the design patterns and standards, and Windows Store certification requirements were constantly evolving throughout the project. To kick off the project our team flew down to Santa Clara, CA to work with VUDU, Microsoft and their selected development partner for Discovery, Analysis, and Strategy. We needed to understand and get alignment on each group’s expectations of “feature parity” and the functionality that could be delivered within the schedule and budget that VUDU and Microsoft had set. To accomplish the goal and meet the requirement, VUDU and UpTop aligned on a plan to focus on the most complex screens, and scenarios for each screen type then create the design pattern that subsequent screens could follow.
Over the next seven weeks, the UpTop team worked iteratively with the VUDU product team, Microsoft DPE, and the development partner to design VUDU’s Windows 10 Universal App. Once the design direction was signed off on by the client, the UpTop team worked in design sprints, to design and hand off to the development team design files for them to build from.
Agility and speed were critical to the success of this project. The VUDU app was successfully launched as a Showcase Windows 10 Universal App in the Microsoft Store.
The essential requirement was to achieve feature parity with the existing iOS and Android apps on mobile, tablet, desktop and Xbox with screen sizes ranging from 4” to 60”, incorporating unique elements of Windows 10 in an adaptive layout, featuring live tiles, personalization, and Cortana integration. The biggest challenge that we faced was that Windows 10 was still being developed by Microsoft and was not released to the public yet.
As such, the design patterns and standards, and Windows Store certification requirements were constantly evolving throughout the project. To kick off the project our team flew down to Santa Clara, CA to work with VUDU, Microsoft and their selected development partner for Discovery, Analysis, and Strategy. We needed to understand and get alignment on each group’s expectations of “feature parity” and the functionality that could be delivered within the schedule and budget that VUDU and Microsoft had set. To accomplish the goal and meet the requirement, VUDU and UpTop aligned on a plan to focus on the most complex screens, and scenarios for each screen type then create the design pattern that subsequent screens could follow.
Over the next seven weeks, the UpTop team worked iteratively with the VUDU product team, Microsoft DPE, and the development partner to design VUDU’s Windows 10 Universal App. Once the design direction was signed off on by the client, the UpTop team worked in design sprints, to design and hand off to the development team design files for them to build from.
Agility and speed were critical to the success of this project. The VUDU app was successfully launched as a Showcase Windows 10 Universal App in the Microsoft Store.
