Redesigning Whatsapp for Windows Phone

[barttool]

Hi everyone, my first post here. I decided to start working on a redesign mockup for WP's Whatsapp app.

1. If you are into WP app design you already know where I stole the style from the topbar. I think this style looks really good (especially on high resolution phones like the Lumia 920). It saves space, and honestly, we don?t need pivots THAT huge.
2. I decided to add the nice little background with the doodles Whatsapp likes so much to put everywhere. Hey, I don?t blame them, it actually looks kinda nice.
3. I made the app white. Why? Well, some insist that apps with black backgrounds are the design signature of Metro UI but I disagree. We have TOO many apps looking all the same. White themed apps on Windows Phone look gorgeous and take for account that the most important and best apps are using white themes.
4. Taking advantage of the saved space above, I made the profile images slightly bigger than what they currently are, and I did this for two reasons: One, Everyone LOVES LOOKING AT PROFILE PICS (no, seriously), and two, it allows me to align Last Message and the time/date to the same side so that Names don?t get cut off by the Date that is currently aligned towards the right.
5. In addition as a nice touch, I put the new message count in a little square on top of the profile picture.
6. The search, new and status buttons in the app bar stay the same.

You can see more and follow my progress in my personal blog

Comments and CC are very appreciated!

 

[halamadridkimi]

nice looking, would be amazing if we could change background themes on whatsapp like on android

 

[th0mas96]

looks awesome! but to point 3, wouldn't it be best to match the current theme?
Now, if we somehow get to show this to the whatsapp team.. implementing a new look shouldn't be the hard part about the app, should it?

 

[barttool]

No, implementing these changes should be really easy. Expression Blend is wonderful to work with.

 

[chandra mohan]

When dis ll be out... ????

 

[Ayush_WP]

seeing this on all sites now. Loved it!

 

[kalo88]

I wish the real app would look like this, it just looks exactly the same as the messaging app with very odd emoticons that look different to when you send them.

 

[Phani Chandra1]

For a moment i thought this was the real deal!!! Great Design , should give you that

 

[Rodrigo Nunes]

Amazing, I hate the black background and the Messaging type.
What I really liked about iOS is that I could change the background image inside conversations.

Update: Just saw your blog, great work man!

 

[SnatchedIT]

We should definely spam Whatsapp (and Nokia, if they are actually teaming up) to make this real. Good job man!

 

[eruptflail]

It's a really pretty app. I've never used whatsapp, but I like the design elements of it.

 

[averdadesalvara]

Unfortunately WhatsApp don't change the audio API after months and months. They will update the interface maybe in ten, maybe twenty years. Lol
Nice redesign.

 

[a5cent]

I made the app white. Why? Well, some insist that apps with black backgrounds are the design signature of Metro UI but I disagree. We have TOO many apps looking all the same. White themed apps on Windows Phone look gorgeous and take for account that the most important and best apps are using white themes.

You are right. The black backgrounds aren't the design signature of Metro UI. High contrast is!

Text is such an important design element in Metro, that easy legibility becomes very important! Ensuring type easily distinguishes itself from the background is the first step towards achieving that goal. A recent review WPC did on weather apps correctly criticized an app for displaying white text over lightly coloured clouds (low contrast). That shouldn't happen in a Metro based UI.

However, you are missing a very important point.

The black backgrounds aren't just an arbitrary colour choice. Black is great for smartphones using AMOLED screens, because displaying black on such devices requires almost no power. Most high end Lumias have AMOLED screens. The Lumia 920 does not, making it an exception.

For anyone that spends a lot of time using WhatsApp on a Lumia 925, your design will cause noticeably poorer battery life than the current black theme. If a WP app is only to support a single colour theme, then it is generally expected to be black. That isn't a matter of aesthetical preference. It's a functional choice! If an app supports multiple colour themes, then it should configure itself to use the same theme as the OS (light or dark theme).

 

[Kimi Alin]

This looks really good! Also being able to put your own background would be nice addition.

 

[brunoadduarte]

I'm more of a Viber person myself, but I also use Whatsapp, and this does look awesome. I specially like the message count on the pic. I think it's very useful for when people use more neutral theme colours which are easier to miss against the white background (metallic, for instance).

 

[Soyeb Mullick]

black background will be appreciated.

 

[Kimi Alin]

black background will be appreciated.

Whatsapp should do what 6tag (instagram app) is doing: let the user choose the interface the user want to use :3 If many want new interface and many don't, it's rather easy to appeal both.

 

[a5cent]

I think it's very useful for when people use more neutral theme colours which are easier to miss against the white background (metallic, for instance).

There are two themes, light and dark. Then there are accents, which are usually very bold and saturated, so that they stand out on both themes. That is the idea.

Developers are free to throw that approach overboard in their own designs, but that is generally considered bad practice.

 

[Harjit Minhas]

Whatsap for windows is ugly as lol i own a lumia 920

 

[KKRLessey]

Want this so badly!!