Strategize

The Anniversary of Inspiration: We are big fans of innovative technology so we were very excited to help the team at Microsoft Research celebrate their 20 years of pioneering in the world of computer science. In creating an online hub for this event we wanted to ensure that the integrity and importance of their work was conveyed while still infusing the public with childlike wonder over the researchers’ many ground breaking accomplishments. Through various sit-downs with MS Research we were able to collaborate on a thorough plan that maximized the use of available technologies while focusing on the fundamental user experience.

Conceptualize

Spaces That Make Content Pop: To complete a look and feel that keeps the large amount of content flowing in a functional yet compelling way we mimicked the theme of the new Windows 8 by using dynamic tiles and a grid-like structure. We embedded Microsoft Studio’s Silverlight video player in the site to serve up videos from the anniversary events around the globe along with their ongoing lecture series. Since a great deal of the material was in video format, we created a carousel to easily flip through and watch the content, surrounding it with a skin designed to match the site. Finally, to really illustrate the big picture of MS Research’s impact, we integrated an interactive timeline created by a third party vendor using Silverlight.

Execute

Diverse Audience with Diverse Needs: Harnessing the dynamic power of HTML5, XHTML and Javascript through the ASP.net and Silverlight platforms, we created a site that was cross-browser friendly as well as user friendly. On the homepage we built an HTML5 slider that gives a graceful fallback experience. We are no strangers to deadlines, and were ready to launch in alignment with the event as requested by the client and we quickly published the new event-related content as it came in from all around the world.

Maintain

Here’s To Another Twenty: We will continue publishing new content to the site in support of their anniversary year through spring 2012. We can’t wait to celebrate another 20 years of innovation from the team at Microsoft Research.