News

Microsoft Hires Adobe Design Chief for Applications and Services Team

• By Gladys Rama
• February 04, 2015

Microsoft has hired former Adobe executive Michael Gough to be the corporate vice president of design within its Applications and Services Group (ASG), the company announced this week.

Gough will be responsible for making design decisions for some of Microsoft's biggest productivity and communications tools, including Office, Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync/Skype, Yammer, OneDrive and Bing. Gough will report directly to Julie Larson-Green, the chief experience officer of the "My Life and Work" team within ASG.

Gough's "design thought leadership and creative expertise will be great additions to our current design teams as we transform the ASG product development culture and deliver compelling experiences for our customers," Larson-Green said in a statement.

"Microsoft is ideally placed to lead a much-needed revolution in our relationship with the digital world," Gough said. "With all its compelling assets, the company has a unique opportunity to connect every aspect of people's digital lives."

Before joining Microsoft, Gough served as the vice president of experience design at Adobe, where he played a key role in the development of the software company's first hardware products, Ink and Slide. Ink and Slide, respectively, are a digital stylus and ruler that work with the Apple iPad and are aimed at designers and artists.

Gough has also held design-related executive positions at Nike, Quokka Sports and Construct Internet Design, according to Microsoft's announcement.