Slides from my UX Futures talk today (without the videos, of course).

1. Interaction Design
Lessons
Literally
From the Future
Nathan Shedroff
UX Futures 02014
nathan@nathan.com
@nathanshedroff designmba.cca.edu

2. Really?
Literally?

3. Design for Dreaming (01956)

4. TECHNOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY BUSINESS/MODEL
EXPERIENCE SERVICE

5. Who’s Future?
dream-house-design.blogspot.com

6. X-Men (02000)
Lesson:
Science Fiction Inspires Real Development

7. Star Trek (01966)
Lesson: Science Fiction Sets Expectations that Audiences
and Developers Internalize

8. Motorola StarTAC (01996)
Lesson: Science Fiction Sets Expectations that Audiences
and Developers Internalize

9. Motorola MicroTAC (01989)
Lesson: Science Fiction Sets Expectations that Audiences
and Developers Internalize

10. The Empire Strikes Back (01980)
Lesson: Visual Scale Telegraphs Social Hierarchy

11. Revenge of the Sith (02005)
Lesson: Visual Scale Telegraphs Social Hierarchy

12. The Fifth Element (01997)
Lesson: Systems Should Respond to Erroneous Input Appropriately

13. 2001: A Space Odyssey (01968)
Lesson: Systems Should Respond to Erroneous Input Appropriately

14. The Fifth Element (01997)
Lesson: Form Language Can Help Novice Users Quickly Learn
Complex Systems

15. Into Eternity (02010)
Onkalo Nuclear Waste Repository, Eurajoki, Finland
Design Question: Can Form Language Help Novice Users Quickly
Learn Complex Systems

16. Lifted (02006)
Lesson: Form Language Can Help Novice Users Quickly Learn
Complex Systems

17. Metropolis (01927)
Lesson: Humanness is Transferrable to Non-human Systems

18. Roomba (02002)
Lesson: Humanness is Transferrable to Non-human Systems

19. Knight Rider (01982)
Lesson: Conversation casts the system in the role of a character

20. Star Wars: A New Hope (01977)
Lesson: Use nonlinguistic sounds expressively to trigger
anthropomorphism

21. Moon (02009)
Lesson: Use an agent’s social pressure for a social agenda

22. Microsoft Bob & Clippy (01987)
Lesson:
Anthropomorphized interfaces are difficult to create successfully

23. Microsoft Ms. Dewey (2006)
Lesson:
Anthropomorphized interfaces are difficult to create successfully

24. Knowledge Navigator (01987)
Lesson:
Anthropomorphized interfaces are difficult to create successfully

25. The Matrix (01999)
Lesson: The more human the representation,
the higher the expectations of human behavior

26. 40
Acceptable >>>
Realistic >>>
Star Trek:The Next Generation (01987)
Lesson: Beware the Uncanny Valley

27. Until the End of the World (01991)
Lesson: Consider anthropomorphizing animals for
low-functioning systems

28. Iron man (02008)
Lesson: Achieve anthropomorphism through behavior

29. The Time Machine (02002)
Lesson: Achieve anthropomorphism through behavior

30. Star Trek (02010)
Lesson: Rely on a User’s Recognition Rather than Recall

31. Flash Gordon (01980)
Lesson: Avoid Reminding People of the Simulation

32. 2001: A Space Odyssey (01968)
Lesson: The network ruins tension-filled narratives.

33. Science Fiction is
a prototyping tool

40. Science Fiction Prototyping
Exercise 1: Diverge: Design for a New User
Exercise 2: Diverge: Design for New Medium
Exercise 3: Converge: Reverse Engineer for
the Present
Exercise 4: Converge: Add a Sci-Fi Patina

41. Why Science
Fiction Works

42. Apple Design Language (0198x)
Lesson: Most design IS fiction.

43. Make It So Workshop
Sci Fi
Character
Story
Inspiration
Design
User/Persona
Scenario/Use Case
Outcome/Value
<>

44. Lesson: (So is much of Business)

45. MAKE I T S O
Interaction Design Lessons from Science Fiction
by NATHAN SHEDROFF & CHRISTOPHER NOESSEL
foreword by Bruce Sterling
scifinterfaces.com
designmba.cca.edu
Nathan Shedroff
Chris Noessel
Many designers enjoy the interfaces seen in science fiction films
and television shows. Freed from the rigorous constraints of designing
for real users, sci-fi production designers develop blue-sky interfaces
that are inspiring, humorous, and even instructive. By carefully studying
these “outsider” user interfaces, designers can derive lessons that make
their real-world designs more cutting edge and successful.
“Designers who love science fiction will go bananas over Shedroff and Noessel’s delightful and
informative book on how interaction design in sci-fi movies informs interaction design in the real
world. . . . You will find it as useful as any design textbook, but a whole lot more fun.”
ALAN COOPER
“Father of Visual Basic” and author of The Inmates Are Running the Asylum
“Part futurist treatise, part design manual, and part cultural analysis, Make It So is a fascinating
investigation of an often-overlooked topic: how sci-fi influences the development of tomorrow’s
machine interfaces.”
ANNALEE NEWITZ
Editor, io9 blog
“Shedroff and Noessel have created one of the most thorough and insightful studies ever made
of this domain.”
MARK COLERAN
Visual designer of interfaces for movies (credits include The Bourne Identity, The Island, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider)
“Every geek’s wet dream: a science fiction and interface design book rolled into one.”
MARIA GIUDICE
CEO and Founder, Hot Studio
www.rosenfeldmedia.com
MORE ON MAKE IT SO
www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/science-fiction-interface/
MAKE IT SO by NATHAN SHEDROFF & CHRISTOPHER NOESSEL
nathan@nathan.com
@nathanshedroff