Microsoft

For Observed

Consumers first (the Personal tab is selected at rest), with a Business tab and a 'Shop for your business' link for small businesses (observed).

Problem Observed

People want to find the right product or answer quickly (the hero offers an AI question field and suggestion pills).

Promise Observed

Find what you need faster with AI-powered suggestions (the hero line).

Mission Published

Empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

Proof behind each pillar

• Devices and offers. Surface Pro, 12-inch: 'Awarded 2025 Esquire Best Tablet' (homepage claim).
• AI and Copilot. HASTE, a Microsoft tool, helps disaster response teams assess damage faster (homepage story).
• AI and Copilot. Biomimicry work around more than 20 datacenters across the US and Germany (homepage claim).
• Security and trust. Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2026 (homepage card).

Story Published

Microsoft redrew its logo in 2012, the first change in 25 years: a four-square symbol and a Segoe logotype meant to move across PCs, phones, tablets and TVs (paraphrase of the launch post). Fluent 2 is the design system that carries that one look across Windows, web, iOS and Android today.

Values

Category. Software, cloud, devices and AI for people and organizations (paraphrase of the homepage nav: Microsoft 365, Azure, Copilot, Windows, Surface, Xbox). Observed

Why them

1. One integrated family: Windows, Surface, Xbox, Microsoft 365 and Copilot sold and explained in one place. Observed
2. AI framed through real-world impact stories rather than feature lists. Observed

Instead of

Unnamed: microsoft.com names no competitors.

Boilerplate Published

Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more (quoted from the About page).

Taglines

They never claim

• Offers carry their footnote markers (* and **) and legal detail; never state a price without its qualifier ('Save up to', 'on select'). Observed
• Third parties may state compatibility truthfully but must not imply affiliation or endorsement. Published

More real lines

Microsoft leads with its mission ('empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more') and, on the homepage, with a greeting rather than a slogan. The homepage sells devices with plain offers and explains AI through real stories.

Source: microsoft.com/en-us/aboutmicrosoft.com/en-us

• Sentence case headlines
• Keep it simple: plain language, short sentences and fragments
• Get to the point fast; prune every excess word
• Talk like a person: informal and conversational, one-on-one
• Second person (you, your); avoid first person unless writing as the reader
• Present tense and active voice
• No periods in headers, buttons, labels or bullet lists; avoid exclamation points
• Short, descriptive link text; never 'Click here'
• No directional words (above, below, left, right)
• Don't use all caps for attention
• Use Microsoft product names as adjectives before nouns ('Excel spreadsheets'), never as verbs or nouns
• No puns or slogans built from Microsoft names

PlainFriendlyHelpful

Fluent's content design asks for plain, conversational, second-person writing in sentence case, present tense and active voice, with sparse punctuation and no exclamation points. The homepage is warmer ('Hi there') but just as plain.

• Keep it simple; get to the point fast; talk like a person
• Second person; present tense; active voice
• No periods in headers, buttons or labels; no exclamation points
• Descriptive link text, never 'Click here'

• Two voices, scoped. Fluent 2's content-design voice is for product UI: simple, get to the point, talk like a person, second person, present tense, active voice, sentence case.
• The microsoft.com homepage is a store-and-stories voice: a warm greeting H1 ('Hi there, welcome to Microsoft'), product names with plain offers ('Save up to $100.00 on select Surface Pro'), and story headlines that pair a situation with what AI does ('When disaster strikes, HASTE can help').
• A landing page follows the homepage voice: a short sentence-case headline, one or two plain sentences, and a 2-3 word verb-first button ('Shop now', 'Learn more', 'Read the story').
• Use 'you'; avoid 'I', 'we' and 'Microsoft' as the subject unless the sentence needs it (Fluent: use passive voice only to avoid saying 'we' or 'Microsoft').

Source: fluent2.microsoft.design/design-principlesfluent2.microsoft.design/content-design

Source: fluent2.microsoft.design/content-designmicrosoft.com/en-us/legal/intellectualproperty/trademarks/usage/general

The Microsoft logo is a four-square symbol (red, green, blue, yellow) plus the 'Microsoft' logotype set in Segoe; they always appear together. Use the positive version (gray logotype) on light grounds, the reverse (white logotype) on dark. White or black grounds are preferred.

Source: cdn-dynmedia-1.microsoft.com/is/content/microsoftcorp/microsoft/mscle/documents/legal/intellectualproperty/trademarks/Microsoft_logo_third_party_usage_guidance_.pdfmicrosoft.com/en-us/legal/intellectualproperty/trademarks/usage/generalblogs.microsoft.com/blog/2012/08/23/microsoft-unveils-a-new-look

Fluent defines three palettes: neutral (black, white, grays for surfaces and text), shared (for avatars, badges, calendars and status) and brand (product colors). Brand color is for prominence and anchoring, not large surfaces. microsoft.com runs on white cards, warm-white and ice gradient grounds, navy type and one action blue (#0078D4).

Not published: percentages or ratios of color use; a marketing palette separate from Fluent's UI tokens.

Source: fluent2.microsoft.design/colorfluent2.microsoft.design/color-tokensgithub.com/microsoft/fluentui/blob/master/packages/tokens/src/global/brandColors.tsgithub.com/microsoft/fluentui/blob/master/packages/tokens/src/global/colors.tsmicrosoft.com/en-us

Segoe is Microsoft's signature typeface ('friendly and legible'); Fluent's web ramp runs from Caption 2 (10/14) to Display (68/92 Semibold). microsoft.com uses Segoe UI Variable Display and Text at weight 500 for big headlines with negative tracking, 600 for card titles and buttons, 400 for body.

Source: fluent2.microsoft.design/typographymicrosoft.com/en-us

Three collections: Fluent system icons (MIT-licensed, regular and filled themes), product launch icons (Microsoft apps) and file type icons. System icons are literal metaphors named for the object. microsoft.com uses 32px navy outline icons for quick links and 20-24px icons in controls.

Source: fluent2.microsoft.design/iconographymicrosoft.com/en-us

Fluent's public site names illustration as a signature experience but publishes no illustration guide. On microsoft.com, illustration appears as product art: the Windows 11 Bloom on device screens and abstract generated art for reports (the Digital Defense Report's blue glow and pixel grid).

Not published: an illustration style guide on the public Fluent site.

Source: fluent2.microsoft.design/design-principlesmicrosoft.com/en-us

Two kinds on the homepage: studio product photography (Surface, Xbox, accessories) on soft gray or dark grounds, and documentary photos of real people and places for AI stories (disaster response, supply chain, datacenter landscapes). Always in rounded frames.

Not published: a public photography guide.

Source: microsoft.com/en-usmicrosoft.com/en-us/legal/intellectualproperty/copyright/permissions

Fluent motion is functional, natural, consistent and appealing. Durations run 50-500ms; easing uses decelerate curves to enter, accelerate to exit, and easy-ease within the screen. Top-level page changes fade. Provide a no-motion setting.

Source: fluent2.microsoft.design/motiongithub.com/microsoft/fluentui/blob/master/packages/tokens/src/global/curves.tsgithub.com/microsoft/fluentui/blob/master/packages/tokens/src/global/durations.ts