david hose

Client:

Microsoft, Visual Studio

Role:

Designer

 Challenge:

The challenge was to evolve the Visual Studio launch icon in a way that meaningfully reflected the product’s growth. It needed to stand apart from previous and current taskbar icons while aligning with Microsoft’s updated product icon system, including its visual style and color guidance.

Solution:

The approved Visual Studio icon preserves its recognizable infinity symbol while refreshing its visual treatment to align with Microsoft’s product icon system.

Client:

Microsoft Azure DevOps

Role:

Designer

Challenge:
The Azure DevOps product and navigation icons had not been refreshed in some time and felt dated alongside Microsoft’s current iconography. The task was to update them to meet current style guidance while preserving their established visual language.

Solution:
I refreshed the Azure DevOps product and navigation icons to align with Microsoft’s current iconography while preserving their familiar visual metaphors. The updated forms bring greater balance, clarity, and visual appeal to the experience.

Client

Microsoft, Visual Studio Code

Role:

Designer

Challenge:
Create a distinctive icon for the Python Data Science extension in the Visual Studio Code Marketplace. I collaborated with the requestor to explore several concepts that captured the spirit of data science.

Solution:
We selected the concept that best expressed the extension’s purpose and refined it into its marketplace icon.

Client

Microsoft, Visual Studio

Role:

Designer

Challenge:
Visual Studio’s UI contains more than 4,500 icons, many of which used a visual style that differed from Microsoft Fluent. The challenge was to bring the full icon set into alignment with Fluent while preserving recognizable metaphors and supporting a consistent, modern experience across devices.

Solution:
I audited and refreshed the iconography, correcting inconsistencies and clarifying metaphors that could confuse customers. The resulting system aligns Visual Studio with Fluent and creates a more cohesive experience across Microsoft applications.

Client:

Microsoft, Azure

Role:

Designer

Challenge:
With just two weeks before Microsoft Build 2025, I was tasked with creating a product icon for Azure SRE Agent ahead of its public announcement. I explored an abstract “S” form that could convey movement and energy, developing several concepts for review. Through critique and refinement, I shaped the strongest direction into a polished icon within the tight timeline.

Solution:
The final icon pairs a bold, dynamic “S” with a clear sense of motion, giving Azure SRE Agent a distinctive visual identity. It debuted as part of the product’s preview announcement at Microsoft Build 2025, introduced by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Client:
Microsoft Azure

Role:

Designer

 Challenge:
Create a distinctive icon for Microsoft Azure Business Process Tracking.

Solution:
I explored several concepts inspired by the idea of business tracking. After reviewing the options with the requestor, we refined the preferred direction and finalized an approved icon.

Client

Microsoft Azure

Role:

Designer

Challenge:
Create a distinctive icon to represent Microsoft’s AI Gateway, a managed Azure service that connects applications with AI models and tools.

Solution:
I explored concepts inspired by AI, connection, speed, and access. Following stakeholder review, I refined the strongest directions and developed the selected concept into an approved icon.

Client:

Microsoft, Windows

Role:

Illustrator, Production

Challenge:

In collaboration with Microsoft Design Group and Portland-based studio Always with Honor, I helped create more than 450 emojis for Windows 10. We established a bright, expressive geometric style and a pixel-precise design system that met Microsoft’s display requirements and remained legible at small sizes. A bold black outline helped each emoji stand out against any background.

After the initial release, our internal team extended the emoji library in line with new candidates approved by the Unicode Consortium. We created hundreds of designs, refining each through multiple rounds of review and approval, then prepared the final artwork for color-font production.

Solution:

Once the visual style was established, I designed hundreds of emojis in Illustrator, maintaining consistency and attention to detail. After approval, I prepared each design as a layered, font-ready file, organizing artwork by color and refining shapes for legibility at smaller sizes.

Client:

Microsoft Office

Role:

Visual Designer

Challenge:
Refresh Microsoft Office’s application icons to reflect meaningful product changes while serving more than one billion customers. The redesign needed to signal innovation and progress while preserving the familiarity people associate with Office.

Solution:
I partnered with product teams and stakeholders to develop a cohesive icon system across the Office suite. Each icon uses a distinct symbol to express its application’s core purpose, while shared design principles bring clarity and harmony across the collection. A refreshed palette of bolder, lighter, friendlier hues gives the icons a more contemporary feel.

Client:

Microsoft, Windows

Role:

Designer, Production

Challenge:
With the release of Windows 10, the Windows Design Group set out to refresh the File Explorer icon library. The work began with an audit of icons in active use, followed by developing a modern, cohesive visual system that retained a sense of familiarity with the legacy designs. We explored line weight, color, lighting, angles, and scale to ensure the icons remained clear across high-DPI displays.

Solution:
After establishing and testing the visual direction, I designed hundreds of desktop-style icons for Windows 10 File Explorer, bringing the refreshed system to life across the operating system.

Client:

Microsoft, Windows

Role:

Visual Designer

Challenge:
For the release of Windows 8, Microsoft set out to refresh existing icons and introduce new ones across the operating system. The work involved exploring line weight, color, lighting, angles, and scale to establish a cohesive style that would remain crisp on high-DPI displays.

Solution:
Once the visual style was established, I designed hundreds of icons—including assets for applications such as Mail—using Photoshop paths and layer effects guided by the new system. After approval, I prepared each icon in six additional sizes to support high-DPI displays.

Client:

Microsoft, Windows

Role:

Visual Designer

Challenge:
For the Windows 10 Tips app, Microsoft wanted to help users discover and navigate key features. The challenge was to create supporting illustrations that made each tip clear and easy to understand.

Solution:
I partnered with writers and content producers to create illustrations using the Windows Design Group’s guidelines. By simplifying surrounding interface details, the artwork drew attention to each tip’s key action. For tips best explained through motion, I developed key frames for animators to bring to life.

Client

Microsoft

Role:

Designer

Challenge:
A Microsoft Senior UX Engineer created a series of Figma plugins and needed icons to distinguish each plugin’s key feature while showing they belonged to the same family.

Solution:
I designed a consistent icon system using a hexagon-shaped container paired with a monoline symbol in Microsoft Fluent style. Each symbol represents a plugin’s main feature, while the shared hexagon ties the set together as a cohesive Microsoft collection.

Client:

Microsoft, Windows

Role:

Visual Designer

Challenge:
Create a series of holiday-themed Ninja Cat wallpapers for the Microsoft Store. Our illustration team set out to place Microsoft’s beloved mascot in imaginative, epic scenes with a festive twist.

Solution:
I sketched initial concepts and brought three distinct wallpaper ideas to life in Illustrator. Working closely with the team made the project a fun, collaborative exploration of the Ninja Cat universe.

When time allows, I enjoy the challenge of transforming visual references into polished vector illustrations. These two examples trace the process from expressive monoline sketches to vibrant, full-color renderings, all created in Adobe Illustrator.