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10 Futuristic User Interfaces
August 17th, 2008 in Inspiration | 178 Comments
Good user interfaces are crucial for good user experience. It doesn’t matter how good a technology is — if we, designers, don’t manage to make user interface as intuitive and attractive as possible, the technology will hardly reach a breakthrough. To gain the interest in a new product or technology, users need to understand its advantages or find themselves impressed or involved.
And here is where creative ideas and unusual interface approaches become important. Innovative doesn’t mean usable and usable hardly means innovative. As usual, it’s necessary to find an optimal trade-off. And some user interfaces manage to achieve just that.
Below we present 10 recent developments in the field of user experience design. Most techniques may seem very futuristic, but some of them are already reality. And in fact, they are extremely impressive. Keep in mind: they can become ubiquitous in the next years.
You may also want to take a look at the related posts:
Fez: 2D/3D Gaming Experience
Over years we’ve managed to get used to traditional 2D gaming experience. Fez provides gamers with a new perspective for a new level of gaming experience. Things start to get interesting on 00:30. [via]
Futuristic Glass
This futuristic concept aims to integrate the capabilities of online-services in our daily life. Since web users can now access the Web everywhere and all the time, one can use their mobility for a number of useful applications. For instance, to provide assistance in a city guide, translate texts, look up some data in encyclopedia etc. A futuristic concept which is likely to become reality in the near future.
Aurora User Interface
Recently Adaptive Path has presented a new browser concept which was developed in partnership with Mozilla Labs and is an ongoing initiative to encourage designers and developers to contribute their own visions of the future of the browser and the Web.
The main idea of the concept is to represent users, places and virtual objects within a three-dimensional user interface (spatial view). The interaction with objects is intuitive and follows physical rules from our daily life: users can grab, lift, pull, push and drop everything.
The interface is event-based as users and updates are displayed on the screen on demand; communication and collaboration is embedded in the browser. Related objects are grouped into clusters which can be navigated using a dock at the bottom of the screen. The concept is released under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license and is available on the Mozilla Labs site. Video Part 2, Video Part 3 [ via ].
jDome: New Level Of Gaming Experience
John Nilsson’s jDome lets gamers see about 50% more of the game they are playing. The main idea behind the interface to to alter the Field of View (FOV) in a game with a few simple commands and use a projector to provide gamers with a 180-degrees of game display.
“Just put a jDome in front of a projector, mirror the image in the projector, start your game and change the Field of View in it. You don’t need special computer hardware or software — just one projector and a jDome display.” [via]
Motorolla Sparrow
Motorola Sparrow is supposed to provide retail stores with a mobile point of sale device to make it as easy for customers to pay for a product and leave the store. It combines a scanner, point of sale (POS) system, RFID, communication and credit card reading capabilities into one mobile device.
Both the front and back of the Sparrow are equipped with touch sensitive areas, supposedly making it easier to navigate and use. Beautiful design and really appealing user interface. Designed by Aruliden Studio. via]
Tilty Snake
Tilty Snake uses the accelerometer in a Monome 64 to create a new interface for the old mobile phone game Snake. Works out to be very tactile, intuitive, responsive and quite fun. Simple and beautiful. We, at Smashing Magazine, would love to see the same design for our beloved Tetris. Probably we’ll see more tactile interfaces in the future. And why is iPhone actually not tactile?
Brainloop: Thought Control
BrainLoop is an interactive performance platform that enables users to manipulate objects on the screen with pure brain — by imagining specific motor commands, without single touch or click. We are not sure how effective this approach is, but it is definitely an unusual user interface.
Eyeliner 3D
Eyeliner 3D is a high-definition projection system by Musion basically uses innovative HD video projection to produce three dimensional, holographic images within a stage setting. Recently, it was used to promote Toyota’s Auris at the Bluewater Shopping Centre in Europe, as well as for a fashion show. We’ll definitely see more holographic user interfaces in the future.
faceAPI
faceAPI is the technology whill will enable automated 3-dimensional tracking of heads and faces using a webcam along with a tracking software.
“This 3D head-tracking software from Seeing Machines can track head position in X,Y and Z - unlike the Sony headtracker. This means you miss out on the cool “zoom” effects when you get close to the screen, because the software has no understand of how far away you are from the screen. The faceAPI tracks head position in Z too, allowing much cooler effects - and more robust tracking.”
Ringo: Holographic User Interface
Ringo is a concept which demonstrates simple possibilities of having the holographic shadow instead of a PDA or a cell phone. It’s not produced and not developed yet. But it looks very promising and like something we may really get used to in the future. Developed by Ivan Tihienko.
Composition of the table
Composition of the table was designed by Toshio Iwai to create the mixed reailty experience: the user interface blends images and sounds for rich user interaction. “Projectors suspended from the ceiling project computer generated images onto the tables and interfaces. This images change in real time as if they were physically attached to the interfaces when players operate them.
Also sounds are produced in relation to the movement of images. Since the interfaces have close relation to the reaction of images, players can operate images and sounds in the same way when they operates ordinary interfaces and gradually feels these illusions as equivalent as the actual objects. Push, Twist, Turn and Slide are the four features that each of the table specializes in.” [via]
uvLayer: Drag’n'Drop for videos online
uvLayer is a web application that is built using the AIR engine and offerse its visitors drag and drop user interface for videos. Users can move videos around, drag them, select the best ones visually and group them as one would do it in a real life. Such RIAs are expected to become a standard in the future. [via, thanks, Lionshare]
Last Click
Housed in the Comcast Center, this 10-million pixel video wall is touted as the largest four-millimeter LED screen in the world, measuring 83.3ft x 25.4ft. It’s an automated control room, home to 27 000 gigabytes of information, six dx-700 led digitizers, seven encore video processors and three matrixpro routers.
Related articles
You may also want to take a look at the related posts:
gabb (August 17th, 2008, 4:58 pm)
AWESOME !!!
Steven Sergio (August 17th, 2008, 4:59 pm)
Yeeeeaaah, Smashing is back!!!
Jaclyn (August 17th, 2008, 5:03 pm)
Wow. What a great article!
lala (August 17th, 2008, 5:26 pm)
good!
lala (August 17th, 2008, 5:30 pm)
I from china ,This website is very attractive
Adam (August 17th, 2008, 5:50 pm)
There actually is at least one accelerometer-controlled snake game for the iPhone.
pickupjojo (August 17th, 2008, 6:04 pm)
Wow, very nice! I really love Aurora even if I think it looks a bit confusing… I would be better with less things on the main screen. Thanks for this nice post!
Joffrey,
Link [www.geekandhype.com]
NaldzGraphics.com (August 17th, 2008, 7:37 pm)
a very great list.thanks for sharing.i really like the apple and the table like Micro surface.
check it
Link [www.youtube.com]
Frank Jonen (August 17th, 2008, 9:11 pm)
uhhm no mention AT ALL about the Iron Man HUD? If you call it futuristic that one has to be way up there. Just as the “fake” concept displays that only exist digitally the Iron Man’s HUD was thought up with real world problems in focus.
not overly impressed.
Lionshare (August 17th, 2008, 9:40 pm)
Nice finds.
How about an innovative, drag and drop UI for video — take a look at Link [www.uvlayer.com].
also.. what about Perceptive Pixel?
NickG (August 17th, 2008, 9:57 pm)
Didn’t the 2d to 3d UI appear in Super Paper Mario?
Adeel Shahid (August 17th, 2008, 10:08 pm)
Nice concepts
zero0x (August 17th, 2008, 10:15 pm)
MATRIX is HERE :) (brainloop)
PrabhakaranG (August 17th, 2008, 10:27 pm)
Gud piece!
Roy (August 17th, 2008, 10:30 pm)
@pickupjojo
Aurora can look a bit of the scale yes, but something needs to change the browser. Its one of the computers most important tools and its lookes and function has been the same since …. well forever
Think about it 10 years and now we got windows with tabs WOW! really, a tab, woohoo!
thank you Mozilla for stepping it up
African Boy (August 17th, 2008, 11:13 pm)
Smashing, what have you guys done? How do I move to the next article without returning to the homepage?
Toni Trivković (August 17th, 2008, 11:21 pm)
Ringo: Holographic User Interface
wow that’s awesome
Mathiz (August 17th, 2008, 11:25 pm)
GREAT!! Smashing Magazine back on track!!
aurora looks promissing! cant’t wait till the future is here!
Excelion (August 17th, 2008, 11:59 pm)
Really great article.
I was very impressed by Ringo: Holographic User Interface it look like very good and practical idea.
And as a gamer i really liked the idea of jDome: New Level Of Gaming Experience
mohan asanga (August 18th, 2008, 12:09 am)
——————————————–
the best article of this month
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Yasir Imran (August 18th, 2008, 12:23 am)
Awesome technology, Future is so bright
Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz (August 18th, 2008, 12:46 am)
@all: take a look at our previous posts, we have featured PerceptivePixel and Microsoft Surface already.
Link [www.smashingmagazine.com]
Link [www.smashingmagazine.com]
Henriette Weber (August 18th, 2008, 12:48 am)
this is a great post, it really inspired me very much - thank you.
I love the technology of the future - especially the future glass in this post caught my attention =)
Milo Dlugic (August 18th, 2008, 1:06 am)
Personally I think that IronMan’s UI is pretty weak - it was nothing special and quite boring. Don’t know why you miss it.
Very nice and inspiring list, thank you!
Lucifix (August 18th, 2008, 1:08 am)
I’m wondering why nobody has done till now GPRS navigation on futuristic glass?
Lawrence (August 18th, 2008, 1:19 am)
Some very cool stuff there.
However, I admit, I’m not a fan of the Aurora UX. On a modern OS, it is much easier and quicker to do what we want, and looks far more attractive. Concepts like the radial menus have appeared in Microsoft’s patents for the last decade, stacks from Apples. If they want to do groundbreaking innovation, why don’t they focus on improving what we have, rather than abandoning it.
I know for one that that radial menu will annoy me, simply due to the tiny dots that have to be selected, and the amount of time wasted getting there.
Anyway, nice article.
Yuto (August 18th, 2008, 1:49 am)
Thank god, a real Smashing article again. I got tired of the recent wave of mediocre 200-words pieces.
Love the Fez game and Aurora, the jDome not so much.
Dave (August 18th, 2008, 2:53 am)
Agree with Yuto. A nice return back to what Smashing does best.
searchgov (August 18th, 2008, 3:21 am)
we may think about adding Link []interface to this list?
Barend (August 18th, 2008, 3:24 am)
Fantastic. But where is the poll in this post?
Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz (August 18th, 2008, 3:45 am)
@Barend (#30): it’s not an article from our guest author contest, hence we don’t really see any need in a poll.
Robert Ronson (August 18th, 2008, 3:54 am)
Apple already do all of this and more. What these people forget is that it is not about the interface. It is about linking the interface to usability. Anyone can do eyecandy. Lokk at Vista,
Andrej Buday (August 18th, 2008, 4:23 am)
Hm, beautifull list. But something missing. FHS - Link [www.freehandshow.site88.net] something which replace mouse :)) I like these guys.
Daemon (August 18th, 2008, 4:28 am)
Futuristic Glass concept has a fundamental flaw. It works only in 2D environment. For example the first image here, the Apple one, if you would in real world tilt your head, the lines around apple would no longer match apple’s outer shape.
Basically, for this to work, device would need to have a sensor on the front end that detects where are my eyes located and where do they focus in the background.
I hope you understand what i mean =)
aardvarked (August 18th, 2008, 5:08 am)
Did the video for the “jDome Project” remind anyone else of the Dharma Initiative videos from Lost?
Kyle (August 18th, 2008, 5:40 am)
at NickG
“Didn’t the 2d to 3d UI appear in Super Paper Mario?”
Yup… a little over a year ago… Link [www.gametrailers.com].
Mike (August 18th, 2008, 5:45 am)
Here is another new concept. Link [www.nestedguis.com]
Benedikt (August 18th, 2008, 5:52 am)
Great stuff ^^
Jurjen74 (August 18th, 2008, 6:02 am)
Fez? Ever seen Link [www.youtube.com]?
BillBasher (August 18th, 2008, 6:36 am)
you forgot ms surface
anti-pixel (August 18th, 2008, 7:05 am)
nice article with real content ^^
hdoug (August 18th, 2008, 7:46 am)
Note to self-
Invest in Futuristic Glass
Brian (August 18th, 2008, 8:29 am)
too bad half of them are red x
Alex (August 18th, 2008, 10:10 am)
83.3ft x 25.4ft
XP
Please, use metric system.
Rafael Tosta (August 18th, 2008, 10:18 am)
Excelent!
Brett (August 18th, 2008, 10:50 am)
Aurora is way, way too confusing.
tc (August 18th, 2008, 11:16 am)
“the old mobile phone game Snake”
The kids these days!
Marie (August 18th, 2008, 11:40 am)
MS Surface may be a better example than composition of the table…
James Deering (August 18th, 2008, 12:14 pm)
Why do you ignore SVG? It is happening now in web design. You can view its capabilities at:
Krazd (August 18th, 2008, 12:26 pm)
If you wanna try out the “composition table,” check out the INNOVENTIONS building at Disneyland. They have a bunch of cool stuff (lots of UI too)
grace (August 18th, 2008, 1:22 pm)
I have Labyrinth LE on my iPhone and my neices and nephews would not put it down all vacation. It simulates the metal ball in the maze game we played as kids. It is stunning.
AHH (August 18th, 2008, 2:06 pm)
This is awesome! That ‘futuristic glass’ is straight out of either a sci-fi movie or some kind of spy movie. I love it.
Josh (August 18th, 2008, 5:03 pm)
There is a free version of Tilt Snake for iPhone in the app store. :)
Eoghan (August 19th, 2008, 1:24 am)
I found it strange that Jeff Han’s multi touch interface (its on TED) has been omitted while Eyeliner isn’t even an interface?
Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz (August 19th, 2008, 4:50 am)
@Eoghan (#54): Jeff Han’s Multi Touch Interface was featured in our previous posts.
cafeine (August 19th, 2008, 5:05 am)
don’t forget to check out this extremely amazing website which provides an alternative to ebay, amazon etc….
Alan8 (August 19th, 2008, 5:39 am)
The links to about half of the images didn’t show up for me; just the red X in the upper-left corner. Disappointing; these interfaces are quite innovative. We’ve come a long way since Pong!
Nancy Folsom (August 19th, 2008, 6:13 am)
I always love Smashing Magazine because it inspires me to consider more the form as I’m developing software. You’re all about visual, of course, so this is out of your area of interest, but first the iPhone, then the Aurora Concept vids, and now the Motorola Sparrow leave me with an overwhelming sense of horror at how our futuristic visions leave, in particular, the blind completely out. My first thought when I saw the iPhone was that. If you can’t see, you clearly are NOT an Apple type of person. For pete’s sake. I’d like to see a future vision that gives people using the technology control or at least choice over aesthetics. So far what I see are designers who are deciding what is beautiful for me and proposing to give me ONE UI. I’ve argued elsewhere that different data/information need different presentations and that those presentations can be different for different individuals. Of course this is much more challenging, and I’m at fault as anyone. But, if we’re dreaming, let’s dream big, shall we?
Chema (August 19th, 2008, 7:13 am)
wow
nina (August 19th, 2008, 12:14 pm)
bruka brate,ne mogu da biliv!
leandro (August 19th, 2008, 6:00 pm)
dear Smashing Magazine,
I love you.
Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz (August 20th, 2008, 3:34 am)
@leandro (#61): we love you too!
Stu Collett (August 20th, 2008, 5:05 am)
Wow! Our work is going to become even more exciting!
I love the Futuristic Glass.
girlseaunive (August 21st, 2008, 3:58 am)
red microsoft google home letter english dog england clean head student dog busy bag key head
David (August 22nd, 2008, 8:49 am)
Sweet!
The future is going to be cool.
But not as cool until they invent the hover board.
IceSixxx (August 31st, 2008, 5:23 am)
Hi, great article.
You could have add the Reactable, made by the Barcelona University.
It’s a collaborative music interface, in some point similar to Composition of the Table.
The Reactable is entering production and should be available in December.
Pat Hope (September 3rd, 2008, 1:23 pm)
Ringo was pimpin’ - I’d love to see more about it, and hope it makes it in my generation.
Richard (September 8th, 2008, 8:44 am)
You misspelled “Motorola”
Stacey (October 1st, 2008, 9:34 pm)
My God! I feel like I’m living in a ancient world already.
cynthia (October 10th, 2008, 1:48 am)
What I can say is just wonderful!
Thanks god, and thanks for the technology and the man behind it!