The next gen of Microsoft’s design language codenamed ‘Project NEON’ may bring minor changes to the current Windows 10 design aka MDL2. Microsoft is expected to bundle NEON’s changes with the Redstone 3 release that is likely to be launched by this fall.
The ‘Project NEON’ will only work towards enhancing the visual aspect of Windows 10, and there is not going to be any major overhaul with it. Instead, the already prevalent design language of Windows 10 will only be spruced up a bit. Or as MSPoweruser described, there will be animations introduced while the user interface too will be simplified, all of which without hampering the overall design language of the platform.
For instance, there is going to be the ‘Aero Glass’ design that first debuted with Windows Vista but will be making a comeback in Windows 10, sort of. Another new design component termed ‘Acrylic’ to be introduced in Windows 10, one that makes the background, navigation or the sidebar look blurry.
The above seemingly minor changes apart, Project NEON will also incorporate 3D and HoloLens elements as well. For instance, hovering over a navigation item will bring about a change to the background that again highlights the items. On a PC, the same will apply to the mouse pointer though with the HoloLens, maybe the same will follow where the user might be gazing at through the lens.
In fact, some of the changes already seem to be evident with the Windows 10 Insider Preview builds. The Groove Music app is already depicting Connected Animations where the artist’s profile section together with the image tending to shrink as one scroll down.
Overall, the changes do look exciting though those are likely to be released only with the Windows 10 Redstone 3. And that’s expected early in the fall of 2017 with the Creators Update being the priority as of now.
