It turns out the default Windows 8 lock screen pack are not just random pretty images, but are a hidden message from the Windows 8 dev team.
Revealed at the UX WEEK 2012 presentation, Jensen Harris, Director of Program Management, Windows User Experience, said the default lock-screen images that shipped in every copy of Windows 8 are actually Easter eggs carefully picked by the design team.
Jensen said , “every one of them was selected as an Easter egg to showcase one of the (design) principles. … Something no one’s going to notice, we’ve encoded the principles of our design language into Windows 8 itself.”
The images mean:
- Bee hive / Win as one (internal motto) – bees working together to do something greater than just the sum of the parts
- Colored lines / Authentically digital – the idea of no ornamentation
- Train / Fast and fluid – beautiful train zooming around the bend into the city
- Shell / Do more with less – beauty of what you can do with basic shapes that are in nature
- Piano / pride in craftsmanship – ivory keys of a piano that has been hand carved and polished
The news shows that there is a thoughtfulness in Windows 8 that belies the accusations of user interface experts who claim the Windows 8 dev team have no idea what they are doing.
