When people talk about UX, it’s usually about the things they can see and interact with, like wireframes and prototypes, smart interactions, and design tools like Figma, Miro, or Maze. Some of the outputs are even glamorized, like design systems, research reports, and pixel-perfect UI designs. But here’s the truth I’ve seen again and again in over two decades of working in UX: none of that moves the needle if there is no collaboration. Great UX doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens through conversations with engineers, product managers, customer-facing teams, and the customer support teams who manage support tickets. Amazing UX ideas come alive in messy Miro sessions, cross-functional workshops, and those online chatswhere people align, adapt, and co-create. Some of the most impactful moments in my career weren’t when I was “designing” in the traditional sense. They have been gaining incredible insights when discussing problems with teammates who have varied experiences, brainstorming, and coming up with ideas that I never could have come up with on my own. As I always say, ten minds in a room will come up with ten times as many ideas as one mind. Often, many ideas are the most useful outcome. There have been times when a team has helped to reframe a problem in a workshop, taken vague and conflicting feedback, and clarified a path forward, or I’ve sat with a sales rep and heard the same user complaint show up in multiple conversations. This is when design becomes a team sport, and when your ability to capture the outcomes multiplies the UX impact. Why This Article Matters Now The reason collaboration feels so urgent now is that the way we work since COVID has changed, according to a study published by the US Department of Labor. Teams are more cross-functional, often remote, and increasingly complex. Silos are easier to fall into, due to distance or lack of face-to-face contact, and yet alignment has never been more important. We can’t afford to see collaboration as a “nice to have” anymore. It’s a core skill, especially in UX, where our work touches so many parts of an organisation. Let’s break down what collaboration in UX really means, and why it deserves way more attention than it gets. What Is Collaboration In UX, Really? Let’s start by clearing up a misconception. Collaboration is not the same as cooperation. Cooperation: “You do your thing, I’ll do mine, and we’ll check in later.” Collaboration: “Let’s figure this out together and co-own the outcome.” Collaboration, as defined in the book Communication Concepts, published by Deakin University, involves working with others to produce outputs and/or achieve shared goals. The outcome of collaboration is typically a tangible product or a measurable achievement, such as solving a problem or making a decision. Here’s an example from a recent project: Recently, I worked on a fraud alert platform for a fintech business. It was a six-month project, and we had zero access to users, as the product had not yet hit the market. Also, the users were highly specialised in the B2B finance space and were difficult to find. Additionally, the team members I needed to collaborate with were based in Malaysia and Melbourne, while I am located in Sydney. Instead of treating that as a dead end, we turned inward: collaborating with subject matter experts, professional services consultants, compliance specialists, and customer support team members who had deep knowledge of fraud patterns and customer pain points. Through bi-weekly workshops using a Miro board, iterative feedback loops, and sketching sessions, we worked on design solution options. I even asked them to present their own design version as part of the process. After months of iterating on the fraud investigation platform through these collaboration sessions, I ended up with two different design frameworks for the investigator’s dashboard. Instead of just presenting the “best one” and hoping for buy-in, I ran a voting exercise with PMs, engineers, SMEs, and customer support. Everyone had a voice. The winning design was created and validated with the input of the team, resulting in an outcome that solved many problems for the end user and was owned by the entire team. That’s collaboration! It is definitely one of the most satisfying projects of my career. On the other hand, I recently caught up with an old colleague who now serves as a product owner. Her story was a cautionary tale: the design team had gone ahead with a major redesign of an app without looping her in until late in the game. Not surprisingly, the new design missed several key product constraints and business goals. It had to be scrapped and redone, with her now at the table. That experience reinforced what we all know deep down: your best work rarely happens in isolation. As illustrated in my experience, true collaboration can span many roles. It’s not just between designers and PMs. It can also include QA testers who identify real-world issues, content strategists who ensure our language is clear and inclusive, sales representatives who interact with customers on a daily basis, marketers who understand the brand’s voice, and, of course, customer support agents who are often the first to hear when something goes wrong. The best outcomes arrive when we’re open to different perspectives and inputs. Why Collaboration Is So Overlooked? If collaboration is so powerful, why don’t we talk about it more? In my experience, one reason is the myth of the “lone UX hero”. Many of us entered the field inspired by stories of design geniuses revolutionising products on their own. Our portfolios often reflect that as well. We showcase our solo work, our processes, and our wins. Job descriptions often reinforce the idea of the solo UX designer, listing tool proficiency and deliverables more than soft skills and team dynamics. And then there’s the team culture within many organisations of “just get the work done”, which often leads to fewer meetings and tighter deadlines. As a result, a sense of collaboration is inefficient and wasted. I have also experienced working with some designers where perfectionism and territoriality creep in — “This is my design” — which kills the open, communal spirit that collaboration needs. When Collaboration Is The User Research In an ideal world, we’d always have direct access to users. But let’s be real. Sometimes that just doesn’t happen. Whether it’s due to budget constraints, time limitations, or layers of bureaucracy, talking to end users isn’t always possible. That’s where collaboration with team members becomes even more crucial. The next best thing to talking to users? Talking to the people who talk to users. Sales teams, customer success reps, tech support, and field engineers. They’re all user researchers in disguise! On another B2C project, the end users were having trouble completing the key task. My role was to redesign the onboarding experience for an online identity capture tool for end users. I was unable to schedule interviews with end users due to budget and time constraints, so I turned to the sales and tech support teams. I conducted multiple mini-workshops to identify the most common onboarding issues they had heard directly from our customers. This led to a huge “aha” moment: most users dropped off before the document capture process. They may have been struggling with a lack of instruction, not knowing the required time, or not understanding the steps involved in completing the onboarding process. That insight reframed my approach, and we ultimately redesigned the flow to prioritize orientation and clear instructions before proceeding to the setup steps. Below is an example of one of the screen designs, including some of the instructions we added. This kind of collaboration is user research. It’s not a substitute for talking to users directly, but it’s a powerful proxy when you have limited options. But What About Using AI? Glad you asked! Even AI tools, which are increasingly being used for idea generation, pattern recognition, or rapid prototyping, don’t replace collaboration; they just change the shape of it. AI can help you explore design patterns, draft user flows, or generate multiple variations of a layout in seconds. It’s fantastic for getting past creative blocks or pressure-testing your assumptions. But let’s be clear: these tools are accelerators, not oracles. As an innovation and strategy consultant Nathan Waterhouse points out, AI can point you in a direction, but it can’t tell you which direction is the right one in your specific context. That still requires human judgment, empathy, and an understanding of the messy realities of users and business goals. You still need people, especially those closest to your users, to validate, challenge, and evolve any AI-generated idea. For instance, you might use ChatGPT to brainstorm onboarding flows for a SaaS tool, but if you’re not involving customer support reps who regularly hear “I didn’t know where to start” or “I couldn’t even log in,” you’re just working with assumptions. The same applies to engineers who know what is technically feasible or PMs who understand where the business is headed. AI can generate ideas, but only collaboration turns those ideas into something usable, valuable, and real. Think of it as a powerful ingredient, but not the whole recipe. How To Strengthen Your UX Collaboration Skills? If collaboration doesn’t come naturally or hasn’t been a focus, that’s okay. Like any skill, it can be practiced and improved. Here are a few ways to level up: Cultivate curiosity about your teammates.Ask engineers what keeps them up at night. Learn what metrics your PMs care about. Understand the types of tickets the support team handles most frequently. The more you care about their challenges, the more they'll care about yours. Get comfortable facilitating.You don’t need to be a certified Design Sprint master, but learning how to run a structured conversation, align stakeholders, or synthesize different points of view is hugely valuable. Even a simple “What’s working? What’s not?” retro can be an amazing starting point in identifying where you need to focus next. Share early, share often.Don’t wait until your designs are polished to get input. Messy sketches and rough prototypes invite collaboration. When others feel like they’ve helped shape the work, they’re more invested in its success. Practice active listening.When someone critiques your work, don’t immediately defend. Pause. Ask follow-up questions. Reframe the feedback. Collaboration isn’t about consensus; it’s about finding a shared direction that can honour multiple truths. Co-own the outcome.Let go of your ego. The best UX work isn’t “your” work. It’s the result of many voices, skill sets, and conversations converging toward a solution that helps users. It’s not “I”, it’s “we” that will solve this problem together. Conclusion: UX Is A Team Sport Great design doesn’t emerge from a vacuum. It comes from open dialogue, cross-functional understanding, and a shared commitment to solving real problems for real people. If there’s one thing I wish every early-career designer knew, it’s this: Collaboration is not a side skill. It’s the engine behind every meaningful design outcome. And for seasoned professionals, it’s the superpower that turns good teams into great ones. So next time you’re tempted to go heads-down and just “crank out a design,” pause to reflect. Ask who else should be in the room. And invite them in, not just to review your work, but to help create it. Because in the end, the best UX isn’t just what you make. It’s what you make together. Further Reading On SmashingMag “Presenting UX Research And Design To Stakeholders: The Power Of Persuasion,” Victor Yocco “Transforming The Relationship Between Designers And Developers,” Chris Day “Effective Communication For Everyday Meetings,” Andrii Zhdan “Preventing Bad UX Through Integrated Design Workflows,” Ceara Crawshaw #collaboration #most #underrated #skill #one

Katja Pargger’s latest project has a unique setting, surrounded by what feels like a small forest in the middle of the city. When she first visited the bucolic Paris home, it was like discovering a magical overgrown garden. That also made it impossible to get a good photograph of the house in its entirety, as nature hid sections of it from view. Behind all that greenery was a typical early 19th-century home with a classically inspired exterior. The romantic setting near Paris and the house that occupied it belonged to the pointillist painter Jac Martin-Ferrières in the 1930s; he added a studio with a glass roof in the 1950s.“I wanted the house to continue to maintain its connection with nature while also preserving the large volume and better organizing the space,” the Austrian architect and designer says. In order to save the house, it would have to be completely gutted and its faux brick facade entirely rebuilt.The facade of the home was completely rebuilt. Large French windows in modernist style open onto the garden. On the roofs are planters with trees. The staircase consists of a metal structure covered in plaster. On the wall hangs Kernelless Siamese Cobs by Xolo Cuintle. Next to a chair by Charles Rennie Mackintosh stands a Teatro armchair by Aldo Rossi. “We kept the very high ceiling and the large French windows overlooking this fabulous garden, in an assertively modernist style, along the lines of Le Corbusier and Robert Mallet-Stevens,” Pargger explains. An indoor swimming pool with a sober and restrained design now stands where the studio once did. With gardens on both sides of the house, Pargger has created a new fluidity: the building has large vertical openings that blur the lines between exterior and interior on warm days. From the living room to the bedrooms, wherever you are, you’re surrounded by trees, and the architect’s goal has been to engage with this natural setting that both reveals and hides itself behind the layers of foliage.In the living room, behind one of the leather sofas, a Regen rope and silicone poufand a pair of Armloffel armchairs by Joseph Hoffman. The Park rug is from Nordic Knots. Photos: Clément Vayssieres/Réalisation: Aurore Lameyre et Alice Mesguich assistées de Joanne FaberIn terms of colors and textures, the architect, who says she “loves authentic materials,” has restored the original appearance of the elegant classical facades—which were whitewashed with small bits of marble—and curated an interior aesthetic that’s reminiscent of the Viennese Secession, while simultaneously evoking the designs of Josef Hoffmann. “I like stone, lime, wood, glass, metal—as raw as possible without being too finished. I don’t use my design freedom simply to make a bold gesture without considering other factors. I design interiors that are sustainable, so that they don’t have to be redone in 10 or 15 years, having fallen out of fashion,” Pargger says. In the vast living area with its soaring ceiling, for example, the walls are constructed from a mineral plaster, while the herringbone parquet is in natural oak. The staircase leading to the mezzanine, made of a single piece of metal, is clad in plaster and has a presence like an elegant sculpture rising in the space at the heart of the home.The living room is organized around a conversation pit: two large modular sofas designed by Pargger form a circle. In the center, an aluminum Sella Curulis stool by SashaxSashaand, atop glazed ceramic coffee tables by Pargger, a bronze Hera Pira box by Victor Guedy. Toward the rear of the room, a 19th-century Italian Studiolo cabinetand a Les Artisans de Marolles wrought-iron lamp. On the stele, a patinated bronze sculpture, Broac over Paris, by Victor Guedy. Above the fireplace, the diptych-camper by Clément Borderie. On the right, the textile work A Trillion Threads Still Weaving by Zuzanna Czebatuland a vintage Indian wooden chair. Upstairs, in a smaller lounge, the lightly stained oak and Japanese raffia complement the garden without feeling forcefully coordinated. The forest green carpet—which Pargger denotes as “something very new for me!”—evokes nature and the outdoors in a similarly subtle way.“I don’t use my design freedom simply to make a bold gesture—I make my interiors sustainable, so that they don’t have to be redone in 10 or 15 years.”—Katja ParggerAbove a cabinet of wood and parchment and an ivory box, an untitled work by Loïc Blairon. In front, a pair of Armloffel armchairs by Joseph Hoffman. On the stele, a vase by Natalia Criado. The Park rug is by Nordic Knots. In an alcove off of the living room, a lacquered wooden bench by Pierre Cardinwith an Iranian sofreh by Afshar hanging on the wall behind it. On the small black melamine table, a terracotta vase by Sakata Jinnai. The pair of Saucer sconces are by Gilles Derain. Constantly questioning her training as an architect, Pargger attempts to create lucky accidents, like placing a door frame in a paneled wall. It’s an effect that recalls a certain Japanese purity. “The more solid and perfect that you build the base, the more you can then innovate, but it’s like a mathematical equation. You have to master everything in sequence before you can go off in other directions.” She embraces experimentation and the blending of materials with an empirical approach that comes from deep within her, the result of her travels around the world to experience art and marvel at beauty that is the result of age and a certain patina. For example, the sofa in the form of a conversation pit, made with leather scraps from Hermès—a design she especially loves—encourages openness and fosters communication. As for the rest of the space, the room is pure and simple. Whitewashed walls diffuse light, while the convex fireplace features a concave sheet-metal hearth. The space is calm, glowing, and Zen-like. The curation of furniture and contemporary works gives the house its personality, with paintings by Clément Borderie, sculptures by artist duo Xolo Cuintle, a tapestry by Zuzanna Czebatul, other paintings by Ciprian Tocu, and furniture by Elias Van Orshaegen.In the dining room, above the fireplace, Origanum Phengaris and, to the right, Seed, Roots, Seed and Inside Out Shell, both by Xolo Cuintle. On the lacquer table, a Teodora cup by Ettore Sottsass. Vintage chairs. The paint from Clay used for the kitchen cabinets echoes the emerald green of the swimming pool. They also complement the brilliance of the lacquered worktops. “I like stone, lime, wood, glass, metal—as raw as possible without being too finished.”—Katja ParggerCombining leather, wood, lacquer, and thick fabrics, Pargger’s design is more than a collection of materials, it’s also a meeting of the souls of designers and craftsmen. “This whole mix requires a solid base on which to then fill in the gaps and create a whole that can be experienced. It’s my attempt to take something from Umberto Eco’s theory of literature and apply it to architecture,” says Pargger with a smile. “It’s a little bit of something here, a little bit of something else there, and it all adds up to create something unique.” It’s a design that relies on differences of scale, discreet contrasts, and creating a rigorous whole from a variety of elements.In the library, in front of okoumé and velvet armchairs, two glazed ceramic coffee tables. The sculptural vase is by Anatole Riecke. On a lacquer table, a parchment frame. The chair, which is also lacquered, is by Takahama Kazuhide. On the bookshelves, hinoki wood boxes, a ceramic bowl, and a small Hera Pira bronze box by Victor Guedy along with other objects. Next to the indoor swimming pool, Maze by Wendy Andreu. On the floor, One Body, Two Heartbeats by Xolo Cuintle. In the bathroom, on the left, a small glazed Albarello terracotta jar and a steel piece, The Mirror of Simple Souls. On the stele, a glazed terracotta Fiasco vase. Inoki wood and bronze Masu box. Stainless steel and leather stool. On the desk with drawers, an inoki wood and bronze Masu box. Lacquer chair by Takahama Kazuhide. On the wall to the left, works on canvas by Ciprian Tocu. Loveseat bench in brushed metal by Elias Van Orshaegen. On the right, Bulb Study of an Arum Psychoda by Xolo Cuintle. In the foreground, atop a stele, Laetitia Jacquetton’s Tursiope in magmatic stone and Murano glass. In the bedroom, in front of a Maya screen, on an Art Nouveau wooden stand, a wood and bronze Iwa vase and, on the right, an alabaster and patinated brass Lara floor lamp. On the wall, a pair of small mirrors by Line Vautrin. The leather bedspread is, like the living room’s conversation pit, made from scraps from Hermès fabric. The Turkish kilim is from Konya. In front of the bed, a stainless steel and leather bench. Architect Katja Pargger sits on glazed ceramic coffee tables in the living room, which overlooks the garden. The large leather sofas are made from scraps from Hermès. This bucolic Paris home by Katja Pargger was originally published in AD France. #this #bucolic #paris #home #was

Though many of the old artists’ residences have been gobbled up by new high-rises, pockets of nostalgia persist on the streets of New York’s NoHo neighborhood. Nine years ago, New Operations Workshop founder Gabriel Yuri was fortunate enough to find one when his real estate broker showed him a partially renovated 860-square-foot studio apartment in a 19th-century building that had been, at different times, a furrier, an artist refuge, and a home for women. Even in its haphazard state—with new walls plastered over some of the 1830s brickwork and half-finished hardwood flooring—the Diller Scofidio + Renfro alum could see the potential.Gabriel Yuri sits at a Tom Dixon screw table in the dining area, where custom shelving, a George Nelson pendant, and his grandmother’s Jens Risom chairs play off one another in their round and linear forms. “Most of what I was finding had been renovated to remove the charm,” Yuri remembers of the boring box apartments that had dominated the listings. “I wanted something that had history and character, so it was great that I got to this one while it still had some of that intact.”Many might have been daunted by the workload, but Yuri welcomed the challenge. He spent nearly four years peeling back the renovations—often himself, sometimes with the help of a handyman—restoring the original pine floors in the living room and revealing more of the existing brick, exposed pipework, and steel beams that had been covered up throughout the space. And his lucky streak continued: When new neighbors discarded the original tin ceiling tile during their own renovation, Yuri installed them in his kitchen and entry hallway—a sweet nod to the building’s past that complements the new industrial-style steel kitchen cabinetry. He also found original transom windows, which he used above the bedroom door to allow light to penetrate deeper into the apartment, and crafted a banquette sectional sofa and daybed in the living room to hide structural adjustments from the building’s façade work.A plaster of Paris bust of Yuri’s grandmother sits atop an old I-beam side table in the entry hallway, signaling the apartment’s industrial-chic aesthetic. The Tutsi milk jug was bought at auction. “I wanted to embrace the industrial aesthetic but also elevate it by blending it with a collection of things with balance and harmony,” says Yuri. In the living room, that meant pairing a vintage Hans Wegner lounge chair inherited from his grandmother with a sculptural Hinterlands cocktail table. But while the building itself served as an architectural muse, Yuri found inspiration in yet another beacon from a bygone era: his grandmother, who passed away just before he purchased the loft. “She wasn’t a designer but had the most incredible design sensibility,” he says. He repurposed her collection of midcentury furnishings—including the Jens Risom chairs in the dining room and the Hans Wegner lounge chair in the living room—as well as artwork and artifacts from her home in Queens. In the bedroom, he incorporated her stained glass pocket doors as a room divider and created a wood-and-cement-block bookcase inspired by the ones she often crafted herself. “The whole time I was keeping an eye out for what could fit in,” he says, noting the pops of red that were herfavorite color. “It felt good to keep these things that I had grown up with and give them a new life.”Blended with contemporary additions, like the Tom Dixon table in the dining room and the live-edge platform bed in the bedroom, midcentury lighting that bridges the modern and industrial aesthetics at play, plus pieces picked up on his travels, the eclectic mix imparts layers of soul that give Yuri’s home a cocooning feeling of warmth and personal history.“The biggest response I get is how calm it feels,” he says. “I’m a homebody. I like to read and listen to albums and usually work from home. It’s nice to be surrounded by so many references to the past in such a busy, constantly changing city.”Above the custom Maharam-upholstered banquette sofa, Yuri has arranged an assortment of artwork on a steel shelf, including works by Paul Sepuya, Sarah Oppenheimer, and his mother, as well as a self-made piece that was once on display in the lobby of the Guggenheim. The table lamp is by In Common With, and the wood-and-steel magazine rack is of his own design. A memento from his time working at the iconic Starrett-Lehigh building, the hanging window acts as a divider between the living and dining areas. The transom windows that appear in the newly erected bedroom wall, which was started before Yuri purchased the apartment but redone in a much slimmer configuration, were found on site, and Yuri installed a herringbone floor over the previous owner’s renovations. Steel cabinetry and stained butcher block countertops from IKEA give the kitchen a sleek update. A seagrass CB2 rug, an Alvar Alto stool, and a city-themed drying rack by Seletti, as well as a collection of his grandmother’s vintage Hasami pottery and a conical tea kettle by Aldo Rossi for Alessi, infuse the space with warmth and personality. A custom oak platform bed adds earthy elegance in the bedroom, a space made cozier with custom felted wool drapery, cotton cashmere sheets by RH, and a throw blanket by El Rey for Nordic Knots. A pair of Yuri’s grandmother’s Arthur Umanoff side chairs create a sense of symmetry, as do the antique glass naval sconces and reclaimed pine flooring. Inspired by the simple bookshelves his grandmother made in her Queens, New York, home, Yuri crafted this efficient cinderblock and wood organizational system in the bedroom. Yuri painted the existing clawfoot tub in Farrow & Ball’s Off Black to coordinate with the new RH vanity and slate tile flooring for a moody effect against the existing brick walls. #this #860squarefoot #nyc #loft #patina

re-start Microsoft shares its process (and discarded ideas) for redone Windows 11 Start menu Updated Start menu design is currently being tested in Windows Insider previews. Andrew Cunningham – May 13, 2025 4:44 pm | 91 The updated Start menu that Microsoft is currently testing in Windows 11. Credit: Microsoft The updated Start menu that Microsoft is currently testing in Windows 11. Credit: Microsoft Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Microsoft put a lot of focus on Windows 11's design when it released the operating system in 2021, making a clean break with the design language of Windows 10 (which had, itself, simply tweaked and adapted Windows 8's design language from 2012). Since then, Microsoft has continued to modify the software's design in bits and pieces, both for individual apps and for foundational UI elements like the Taskbar, system tray, and Windows Explorer. Microsoft is currently testing a redesigned version of the Windows 11 Start menu, one that reuses most of the familiar elements from the current design but reorganizes them and gives users a few additional customization options. On its Microsoft Design blog today, the company walked through the new design and showed some of the ideas that were tried and discarded in the process. This discarded Start menu design toyed with an almost Windows XP-ish left-hand sidebar, among other elements. Microsoft This discarded Start menu design toyed with an almost Windows XP-ish left-hand sidebar, among other elements. Microsoft Some designs brings to mind the full-screen Start experience of Windows 8. Microsoft Some designs brings to mind the full-screen Start experience of Windows 8. Microsoft Another big design with acres of icons and more space dedicated to non-app-icons. Microsoft Another big design with acres of icons and more space dedicated to non-app-icons. Microsoft Some designs brings to mind the full-screen Start experience of Windows 8. Microsoft Another big design with acres of icons and more space dedicated to non-app-icons. Microsoft This design included thumbnail previews for recently opened files. Microsoft Another discarded Start menu design. Microsoft Microsoft says it tested its menu designs with "over 300 Windows 11 fans" in unmoderated studies, "and dozens more" in "live co-creation calls." These testers' behavior and reactions informed what Microsoft kept and what it discarded. Many of the discarded menu ideas include larger previews for recently opened files, more space given to calendar reminders, and recommended "For You" content areas; one has a "create" button that would presumably activate some generative AI feature. Looking at the discarded designs, it's easier to appreciate that Microsoft went with a somewhat more restrained redesign of the Start menu that remixes existing elements rather than dramatically reimagining it. Microsoft has also tweaked the side menu that's available when you have a phone paired to your PC, making it toggleable via a button in the upper-right corner. That area is used to display recent texts and calls and other phone notifications, recent contacts, and battery information, among a couple other things. Microsoft's team wanted to make sure the new menu "felt like it belonged on both a [10.5-inch] Surface Go and a 49-inch ultrawide," a nod to the variety of hardware Microsoft needs to consider when making any design changes to Windows. The menu the team landed on is essentially what's been visible in Windows Insider Preview builds for a month or so now: two rows of pinned icons, a "Recommended" section with recently installed apps, recently opened files, a (sigh) Windows Store apps that Microsoft thinks you should try, and a few different ways to access all the apps on your PC. By default, these will be arranged by category, though you can also view a hierarchical alphabetized list like you can in the current Start menu; the big difference is that this view is at the top level of the Start menu in the new version, rather than being tucked away behind a button. For more on the history of the Start menu from its inception in the early 90s through the release of Windows 10, we've collected tons of screenshots and other reminiscences here. Andrew Cunningham Senior Technology Reporter Andrew Cunningham Senior Technology Reporter Andrew is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica, with a focus on consumer tech including computer hardware and in-depth reviews of operating systems like Windows and macOS. Andrew lives in Philadelphia and co-hosts a weekly book podcast called Overdue. 91 Comments Source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/05/microsoft-shares-its-process-and-discarded-ideas-for-redone-windows-11-start-menu/ #microsoft #shares #its #process #and #discarded #ideas #for #redone #windows #start #menu