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MSN Messenger (2001) — Cover

About MSN Messenger (2001)

MSN Messenger (2001) is the friendly blue-and-green face of the dial-up internet: a chat window with a glassy Luna-blue title bar, a green-to-cyan butterfly in the corner, and a little colored dot telling the world whether you are Online, Away, or Busy. Crisp UI sans, beveled group boxes, and rounded 3-pixel buttons frame a pure-white message pane.

It is the aesthetic of the after-school internet — optimistic, a bit toylike, and built on the status-dot color language of green, amber, red, and gray. Everything wears that specific glossy vertical gradient, every dialog floats on a soft blue drop shadow, and the whole thing feels like a buzzing conversation window that just went *nudge*.

Learn more about the MSN Messenger (2001) style

Origin
Redmond, Washington (Microsoft MSN division)
Era
1999-2005 (MSN Messenger 4.x/5.0/6.0; the 2001 v4 window is the icon of the era)
Key figures
Bill Flora · Microsoft MSN team · Microsoft UX group
Movements
Y2K skeuomorphic UI · Windows Luna aqua-gel dialog design · Frutiger Aero precursor · instant-messenger culture

MSN Messenger (2001) design spec

Colors

Background
Surface
Primary
Secondary
Accent
Text

Typography

NunitoHeadings
PT SansBody
ConsolasMono
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