Windows 8 Visually: Start Screen Themes

It’s funny what a little color can add to an otherwise drab experience. With the Windows 8 Start screen, Microsoft is providing some customization capabilities that include a set of background patterns and accent and background color swatches. Put them all together and you can see some trippy combinations.

The Start screen, like many Metro features, is customized through PC Settings, in this case Personalize, Smart screen. Here, you’ll see everything described above: The available background patterns and a slider representing the various access and background color combinations. (You can’t mix and match these arbitrarily, they come in pre-made sets.) Collectively these elements make up what I think of as the Start screen theme.

But what’s interesting is that some of the background patterns light up with color when you choose certain accent/background color combinations. This is a good example of something that needs to be seen, not described. So check out this screenshot gallery for a look at how different combinations on background patterns and accent and background colors can really change the way Windows 8 looks.