LIVE WALLPAPER

Windows Phone

To enhance lock screen personalization, I designed a feature that lets users embed curated content feeds from trusted partners directly into their wallpaper experience. Anchored in our core principles—Personal, Relevant, and Connected—the solution expands beyond standard notifications, offering a lightweight, ambient way for users to stay informed on topics they care about. The goal was to strike a balance between passive awareness and emotional connection, all without disrupting the simplicity of the lock screen.

PROCESS

As the lock screen grew more complex—with overlapping elements like volume controls, dialogs, security layers, and wallpaper—technical concerns began to surface around event sequencing and visual hierarchy. To address this, I partnered closely with engineering and mapped out the z-space layering to ensure the integration of Live Wallpaper would align with the existing framework without introducing conflicts or regressions.

Once the presentation layer proved viable, I began exploring interaction models for feature activation. In parallel, I was also designing Bragbook with the Photos team—a feature with overlapping functionality. Anticipating future use cases, I created scalable controls that could support multiple content types. To maintain clarity, I forked the decision tree when setting wallpaper into two options: Single Image and Dynamic/Multi-Image. This allowed us to reduce user friction, especially for those simply looking to swap a photo. By offering both the familiar and the new, we aimed to ease adoption, track engagement patterns, and iterate based on real user behavior.

Following the initial launch, we evolved the lock screen experience to align with the Start Tiles' core value—delivering contextual, real-time updates. This enhancement enabled apps to surface live content directly on the lock screen, offering on-the-go updates through dynamic, interactive live wallpapers.