I recently blogged about my views on Windows Phone 7 Design and the Metro Design Language.
If you are building applications for Windows Phone 7, you may want to take a look at the design resources available on MSDN which will give both the developer and designer a good overview of the Metro design language.
One thing to note is you do not have to follow the design guidelines as they are only that, guidelines. There are no Windows Phone 7 Marketplace certification rules that state that the design guidelines must be followed. What is recommended is that the guidelines are followed so a consistent user experience is delivered to the customer and allows your app feels a part of the Windows Phone 7 platform. The last point really depends on what type of application you are building, the guidelines may not fit if you are building an XNA game.
Here is a list of design resources available for Windows Phone 7 available on MSDN
UI Design and Interaction Guide for Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone introduces a touch user interface (UI) based on a design
system codenamed Metro. This guide provides detailed information about UI elements and controls, UI system behaviors, and the interaction model for the touch interface. Designers and developers should read this guide to learn the dos and don’ts of UI implementations for their Windows Phone applications.Windows Phone Design System – Codename Metro
A visual explanation of the inspiration behind the Windows Phone design system codenamed Metro, the seven areas of Windows Phone differentiation, and the Red Threads that are the principles Microsoft used to guide the experiences built into Windows Phone.Design Templates for Windows Phone 7
A collection of 28 layered Photoshop template files that can be used to create pixel-perfect application layouts, to help guide UI development, or to pitch an idea. These design templates showcase many controls that are a part of the Windows Phone Developer Tools Beta. They also include examples of controls that are a part of Windows Phone, but are not available as a part of the Windows Phone Developer Tools. These additional templates are included to help designers and developers maintain a consistent look and feel across applications for system controls that developers wish to mimic. Templates in the download: Application Bar & Application Menu, Buttons, Check Box, Context Menu, Date Picker, Dialog Boxes, Edit Control, Hardware, Icons, Keyboard & Input, List Picker, List View, Panorama, Panorama Backgrounds, Picker Box, Pivot, Progress Indicators, Quick Jump Grid, Radio Button, Reminders, Slider, Start & App List, Start Tiles, Status Bar, Theme, Time Picker, Toast Notifications, Toggle Switch
The one that may be of most interest (and newest) is the Design Templates for Windows Phone 7 which are 28 Photoshop templates to create your Windows Phone 7 user interfaces using a graphics tool instead of Visual Studio 2010. If you are looking for more design resources on Windows Phone 7 check out David Crow’s post here.
If you are looking for the Windows Phone 7 Application Bar Icons, these are now installed with the Windows Phone 7 SDK and you’ll find it under %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Phone\v7.0\Icons.
