Surface Neo Wonder Bar
Role
UX Designer partnering with Surface Industrial Design team, PM, Engineering, User Research, Incubation team
Summary
The foldable device category allowed for new on-the-go productivity experiences with enhanced tools for input and expression at your fingertips and a periphery surface for monitoring secondary content. Without having to carry a laptop to get work done, customers could adjust their device for the task at hand.
Process and Solution
Exhaustive ideation of potential concepts
Concept value testing with user research
Prototyping to try out experience before investing developer resources
Engagement with partner teams to leverage content to be shown in Wonder Bar
Evangelism of Wonder Bar for integration opportunities with app teams
Work closely with dev teams to meet design intent
Close partnering with industrial design team to accommodate hardware capabilities
Wonder Bar was a blank canvas ripe for innovation. I and one other designer ideated and explored for months to demonstrate what this space could hold, working closely with the industrial design team to adapt to changing device specifications and capabilities. After the initial ideation phase, I developed a framework and set of principles that drove the final experience. We narrowed in on a set of features that bring input tools to your fingertips and a canvas for peripheral content. Wonder Bar housed a virtual trackpad for precision pointing, emoji and gifs, typing suggestions, a writing surface for quick notes, and a space for app integration.
Unfortunately, the Surface Neo project was shelved before reaching consumers.
Picture-in-picture video and inkable trackpad in the Wonder Bar
Emoji, gifs, and text suggestions in the Wonder Bar