Microsoft Video Backgrounds
With so many customers working from home and depending on video calls to collaborate with others, custom backgrounds became an important area of focus for experiences like Microsoft Teams and Skype.
My contributions were to design some of the scenes myself, such as this one created for Skype, as well as to provide creative direction to other artists with whom we partnered. This page is a great summary of these collaborations and shows work we did in both single backgrounds, as well as designs for Teams’ Together Mode feature.
These designs were created in collaboration with Nejc from Twisted Poly, and attempt to capture the essence of the Microsoft brand without blatantly using the logo itself.
In another collaboration with Twisted Poly, we created these scenes to conceptually represent people of all abilities in celebration of Accessibility and Disability awareness month. This particular scene was for neurodiversity.
In collaboration with SixNFive, we created this peaceful background in honor of Native American Heritage Month.
Above are images co-created with Six & Five in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month and below are four artworks, also with Six & Five, highlighting nostalgic Microsoft technology moments that have defined our experience with computers and digital experiences over decades.
In collaboration with Yambo Studio, we created this series of unique background designs for Flipgrid’s camera experience, as well as for Teams’ education customers.
Above are two scenes created to celebrate Halloween and New Year’s in North American. Below are designs created in collaboration with Helge Kiehl for Microsoft’s internal disability Employee resource group.
Advanced Presenter Mode
As part of the launch of Teams’ new feature Advanced Presenter Mode, which allows presenters to appear directly on top of or next to their content as a news anchor would, we crafted this series of designs with Studio Tendril for customers to choose from during their presentations.
Together Mode
In collaboration with artists such as Andres Reisigner, Studio Tendril and Yambo Studio, we created many Together Mode designs for Microsoft Teams, which allows participants of a video call to appear together in one digital environment.
Thank you!
Thanks to my partners in Flipgrid, Skype and Microsoft Teams for embracing our contributions over the years.
Thank you to all the artists that partnered with us in crafting these digital spaces that help Microsoft customers feel a little more connected with their colleagues, family and friends.