Interfaces from SciFi films offer examples to real world design issues that are humorous, prophetic, inspiring, and practical to interaction designers. SciFi interfaces are both fun, inspiring examples and reflections of current interface understanding.
Production designers are allowed to develop “blue-sky” examples that, while lacking rigorous development with users, coalesce influential examples for practicing designers. Nathan Shedroff and Chris Noessel have developed a model that traces lines of influence between the two, and use this as a scaffold to investigate how the depiction of technologies evolve over time, how fictional interfaces influence those in the real world, and what lessons interface designers can learn through this process.
In their session “Make It So: The Uncanny Relationship Between Science Fiction and Interface Design,” Shedroff and Noessel discuss how science fiction television shows and films have yielded practical lessons that apply to online, social, mobile, and other media interfaces. They’ll explore how SciFi interfaces allow us to see current issues from fresh perspectives and how it can be both a prototyping and design tool.