Microsoft Developer Tool, .NET
Reimagined Microsoft’s 20 year old developer tool experience by creating a sleek, easy to navigate product for creators of all kinds.
Our big ambitious goal: Get out the message that “if you learn .NET, you can build anything.” We adopted creative principles that helped us get to our goal… first, we communicate the value of .NET in a way any developer can understand. Second, we celebrate .NET’s history with Microsoft, but with an authentically independent stance. By communicating with existing .NET users need to see a new, modern .NET that feels seamless, we show up connected, and alive.
Check out the live website here.
Year
2022
Brand
Microsoft
Diving into
the research
As we entered 2022, .NET was on the verge of completing a set of product enhancements, collectively referred to as .NET 7, that will finally position .NET in an any/any/any stance. The product is taking a transformative leap and so is the brand.
Marketing Insight
As we continue to design for the developer experience, we are hearing more and more requests for intuitive tools.
We were able to inquire that developers believe .NET is “old” and “relevant only for enterprise developers” and our current branding contributes to that perception.
Customer Insight
“Ten years ago we (as developers) worked in less than ideal tools with limited options and unattractive interfaces. As we are being called upon to increase the customer experience, we seek out tools that show us and tell us how they will assist us in doing so.”
The starting point
Working with our product team, I started by identifying what information our users were clicking on by performing a few web tests. As we began to prioritize the site changes, we dove into the layouts and wireframes.
Wireframes
and layouts
As we began to prioritize the site changes, we dove into the layouts and wireframes. Our main design was to address the home page, and then focus in on product-specific pages that developers were visiting most frequently.
Trial and error testing phase
To test if our layouts were addressing our users main incentives and concerns, we collected more data around the site usage to insure we were making the correct website adjustments. As you can see from the image on the right, we were able to get more specific with our designs and sell in the changes to our leadership team.
Sharing our story
This project was a mad-dash to the finish, since we were launching our new website in parallel with the .NET 7 product update.
The response from our community was overwhelmingly positive, driving new customer conversions in the younger generation especially. With a 120% site visit boost, we knew the work we had done was what the community needed.
Although this project was considered complete, the development team at Microsoft .NET has built on top of our work, updating the site with necessary announcements and product information, over the last 3 years.
Click the image to see the live website.
