Chris Noessel   Senior Consultant,  Cooper

Nathan Shedroff   Program Chair of MBA in Design Strategy,  CCA

Overview

This was such a well done discussion about the connection of user interfaces relationship to current beliefs in technology.  I believe they will be publishing the presentation for all to see. If I find it, I will share it.

The presentation went through the history of SciFi films and how technologies were shown. From one of the original movies about sending explorers to the moon in a giant bullet shot out of a giant gun to X-men 2 and how a topographic map was created using  a "pin box" like those you would place your hand behind at a museum store. The discussion led to our desire to anthropomorphise our computers (make them human-like). From Microsoft Bob and Clippie to every android ever created. We tend to want to embed a sense of being more human-like in our tools for a better comfort level and usefulness. Too often, it is just done wrongly. Sometimes all you need is sound to work (R2D2, Star Trek "Computer", KITT from Knight Rider). It can also be captured in a behavior (1-click from Amazon). And as a representation (The Matrix - Oracle).

The odd thing is that the more we make something like a human, the more we don't trust it. We start to have a belief that it is human, but it isn't quite right as a human.

They then moved over into design paradigms. Having constraints ease our learning curves. Example: the weapon made up of 4 stones and the 5th element in The Fifth Element. It should be important that the interface understands the emotional state of the user. Mashing buttons in anger or despair should not create a response. In Star Wars the way people were shown with holograms indicated the group's belief in hierarchy. Jedi's were all shown at equal sizes. The Empire had the Emperor shown much larger that Darth Vader, and so on down the line. They then talked about the gestural interface of Minority Report and all of the challenges that would have. It is make evident when Tom Cruise turns to shake hands with a visitor and he accidentally clears his screen. Using gestures for this kind of work could also get hugely tiring.

They concluded with the belief that watching science fiction is good for your career.

Here is where the presentation can be found: http://nathan.com/thoughts/ 

MakeItSo.pdf (15.92 mb)