'The Next Microsoft' by Andrew Kim

Needs a "(2012)" in the title.

I remember liking this a lot when the design was first released, especially with the chaos of what would become known as the "Frutiger Aero" aesthetic period. It demonstrated just how fragmented Microsoft's brand had become, and how little visual consistency across their products and UI there was.

But looking again a decade later, I do not believe the "slate" would've stood the test of time. It's hard to make timeless brands, and often brands just make large shifts counter to the current direction, people follow suit, and it becomes outdated quickly. I'm not sure what Microsoft is doing now is much better than where we were 10 years ago, but I do think the simple four squares "Windows" adaption is a nice place to end up.