Category colors on Outlook calendar items.
Visualizing Time in Microsoft Outlook
During the Office 2007 product development cycle, I worked to revamp Outlook’s calendar module adding task management and updating views. As part of that project I created a series of conceptual sketches exploring different methods for view time in the compressed area of a computer screen.
I also developed ideas on how to improve the usefulness of Outlook Today which is a summary or dashboard page that combines elements from the four main modules (mail, calendar, tasks, contacts).
Outlook 2007 – Tasks on the calendar
In Outlook 2007 for the first time you can view tasks in the calendar module. Below is a sketch I created illustrating the concept. The sketch also includes a version of Outlook that incorporates the Office Ribbon UI. The decision to remove the ribbon from Outlook was made later in the process.
Radial UI
As part of my work on Outlook 2007′s task management features I sketched some ideas on methods for categorizing objects such as email and tasks to make following up easier. A patent application was submitted and accepted for the concept shown below.
Outlook 2007 – Dashboard
A sketch combining four Outlook modes (mail, contacts, calendar, tasks) to form an overview dashboard.
