Windows 8 Easter Egg: You see it everyday and didn’t even noticed

Lock screen images for Win 8

You see it everyday when you sign-in to Windows 8 and you may not have noticed it, but like almost every piece of software, Windows 8 has at least one Easter Egg.

This little Easter Egg was revealed by Jensen Harris from the Windows User Experience team at the Windows 8 UX Week event, where he also showed early design mockups of how Windows 8 looked like back in 2010 — worth watching.

As Harris explained, for a time Microsoft was all about building features into things, because they had the capabilities. Moving forward the company has switched to a more design-centric model and paying attention to details by creating its own design language (the tile language), and the result showcases a different point of view from other companies point of view.

Now we have a PC, a phone and an entertainment device (Xbox) in the living room, all sharing the same user interface and typography. All of them can communicate with each other, you can share music between devices and everything works together. The new concept were based in five principles, principles that the Windows team has embedded in the operating system as an Easter Egg, and you can find them in the 5 default Lock screen images — Check them out in the gallery below.

The Five Principles

1. Do More With Less:

The idea of beauty of what you can do with the basic shapes that can be found in nature.

Snail shape image

2. Authentically Digital:

The idea of no ornamentation.

Digital lock screen default image Windows 8

3. Pride in Craftsmanship:

The idea of every key of a piano that has been handcrafted and polished.

Piano keys Win 8 lock screen default image

4. Best fast and fluid:

The idea of a beautiful train zooming around in to a city.

Zooming into the city

5. Win as one:

Beehive: The ideas of bees working together to do something greater.

Original beehive image for Win 8

You can also watch the explanation of this Easter Egg in our previous article — Watch This: Microsoft reveals Windows 8 early user interface designs (@ time 1:05:00).

If you find another Easter Egg share it in the comments.

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert and founder of (est. 2010). With over 21 years as a technology writer and IT Specialist, Mauro specializes in Windows, software, and cross-platform systems such as Linux, Android, and macOS.

Certifications: Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA), Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP), VMware Certified Professional (VCP), and CompTIA A+ and Network+.

Mauro is a recognized Microsoft MVP and has also been a long-time contributor to Windows Central.

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