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Fantasy UI

pushing-pixels.org

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Re: Fantasy UI

#131

Post by grishka »

andrepd wrote: post #119
krm01 wrote: post #10

As a UI/UX agency that focusses on B2B SaaS, I’ve always found Fantasy UIs fascinating. It’s the complete opposite of the simple & clean interfaces clients ask us to design. I’ve spent some time thinking about why these Fantasy UIs are so fascinating despite the fact they seem not very user friendly. My conclusion was that fantasy Interfaces are very much like the early web. Lots of moving parts (dancing banana gifs)…

>We lost the Art of interface building and turned it into a complete science If only... Most modern companies seem to ignore any kind of science and thoughtful consideration of their UIs. The only considerations seem to be: (1) looks good on screenshots, and (2) is modern (for some arbitrary definition of modern). The only "scientific" tool they emply A/B testing, blindly and massively. Look at some reports about bet…

> The only "scientific" tool they emply A/B testing, blindly and massively.

Which optimizes for metrics that aren't beneficial to the end user.

Re: Fantasy UI

#132

Post by hertzrat »

MattRix wrote: post #94
hertzrat wrote: post #91

These are not fantasy UIs, they are science fiction UIs. There is a massive lack of good swords and wizards fantasy movies and shows. The networks, just to fill out a list, are clumping fantasy in with science fiction and super hero movies. If we are going to say anything involving an unrealistic personal fantasy is fantasy, then why stop there? That’s almost all movies and film. For that matter super hero stuff ends…

They are fantasy UIs, you’ve just forgotten that fantasy is a real word with a specific meaning and not just a genre of fiction.

Like I said, almost all art is fantasy then, and almost all science fiction isn’t scientific enough to qualify. And all stories have drama too, so we might as well clump almost everything into a “dramatic fantasy” bucket in that case. The genre names aren’t perfect but repurposing them to be more English-accurate isn’t helping people find what they’re looking for

Re: Fantasy UI

#133

Post by jordache »

krm01 wrote: post #10

As a UI/UX agency that focusses on B2B SaaS, I’ve always found Fantasy UIs fascinating. It’s the complete opposite of the simple & clean interfaces clients ask us to design. I’ve spent some time thinking about why these Fantasy UIs are so fascinating despite the fact they seem not very user friendly. My conclusion was that fantasy Interfaces are very much like the early web. Lots of moving parts (dancing banana gifs)…

>I’ve spent some time thinking about why these Fantasy UIs are so fascinating despite the fact they seem not very user friendly.

It took a ux expert "some time thinking" to realize these fantasy UIs are not not UX friendly.

I think that answers your question. These UIs are not meant be usable. Who cares about the UX of them?

Re: Fantasy UI

#134

Post by mym1990 »

mjhagen wrote: post #30
mym1990 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also remember the times you are reminiscing about. I would go look up lists of top innovative websites in a given month and just be blown away with the moving pieces and interaction. But...from a consulting and a developer perspective, the marginal utility for increasingly artistic and engaging UI seems to be fairly low from a cost/ROI perspective. If you could figure out a truly compelling reason to spend 100 more…

We lost that when we lost Flash. Still a net gain in my book, mostly because of usability, though, quite a few SPAs make the same mistakes.

But to me it feels like we have much more creative possibility today than we did when we had flash...JavaScript and CSS have evolved to enable extreme creativity, but if that is to be exercised, it mostly has to be in side projects or on one's own time.

Re: Fantasy UI

#135

Post by jordache »

phailhaus wrote: post #104
otoburb wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I’ve spent some time thinking about why these Fantasy UIs are so fascinating despite the fact they seem not very user friendly. Fantasy UIs are often flashed up as eye candy to communicate high complexity for power users that an outside observer (i.e. movie viewer) can only dream of properly mastering yet still able to grasp the "key message".

I hate to be a downer, but these fantasy UIs are also completely unusable. They have no actual users, so they can go all-in on flashy complexity without having to solve the problem of "how do I let an expert get work done most efficiently." I have never seen a fantasy UI with spreadsheets, but the fact of the matter is that Excel is much closer to a power-user interface than anything you see in movies.

Your statement is spot on, and I'm surprise this rationale even needs to be stated.

Of course these fantasy UI do not go through the same scrutiny as the UI for a real world product.

Re: Fantasy UI

#136

Post by jordache »

Anyone know what kind of technologies are used to build these fantasy UIs?

There are probably two categories:

- UIs that are live on the set, and the talent interacts with them

- UIs that are added in post, so essentially animated clips that align with the on screen action.

Adobe After Effects come to mind for the 2D UI. {{3D app of choice for the 3d visuals}} Not sure what else are used for these output. Would be crazy if some of them get built with common web technology.

Re: Fantasy UI

#137

Post by jordache »

lordleft wrote: post #99
flobosg wrote: post #14

The fantasy UI of Neon Genesis Evangelion[1,2] left a deep impression on me when I watched the original series for the first time. And, in my opinion, it has aged very well. [1]: https://imgur.com/a/PF3oA [2]: https://imgur.com/a/uDeBs

Absolutely loved the typography and UI of NGE.

some of those condensed fonts are even hard to read in these screenshots.

Re: Fantasy UI

#138

Post by jordache »

DonHopkins wrote: post #62
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #46

The single biggest common denominator between so many fantasy UIs, is transparent (HUD-style) interfaces. I was just watching the latest episode of The Expanse , last night, and saw them all using these transparent PDA/phones. Ever try using a transparent UI? It's absolutely maddening. Looks cool on the screen, but is pretty much unusable IRL.

I came here to say that too! Exactly what I was thinking while watching The Expanse (which is a great series), and so many other shows that pander to the cliché of pointlessly transparent phones. Goodbye privacy! Why would you ever want your phone display to be harder for YOU to see, and easier for EVERYONE ELSE to see?

why so critical on such a superficial observation?

>Goodbye privacy

Why would the designers for the show spend anytime about that concept, the state of privacy protection in a future fictitious show is not core to the storyline, ratings, and chance of the show being renewed.

Re: Fantasy UI

#139

Post by jnurmine »

Usually any UI in a movie is bad and drops me back to reality out of the magic of the movie.

There are meaningless percentages with silly labels, animated histograms, so much useless movement, scrolling nonsense, and sometimes even a world map, blinking stuff -- all crammed into one screen. And best of all, the useless extra data is often rendered extra useless with a font size that is too tiny to read without a magnifying glass.

There are movies with nice, (semi) plausible fantasy UIs too! For example, The Midnight Sky (damage assessment, map views etc.), Chappie (firmware upgrade, policebot PoV, etc.), Interstellar (flight controls, robot "debug" displays etc.).

Star Trek LCARS screens have been generally well thought of, but not always. There are weird numbers and "display nonsense" here and there. But, I can believe a starship could be steered with such a touch UI with clearly distinguishable big buttons and clear separation of functions.

Re: Fantasy UI

#140

Post by Groxx »

phailhaus wrote: post #104
otoburb wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I’ve spent some time thinking about why these Fantasy UIs are so fascinating despite the fact they seem not very user friendly. Fantasy UIs are often flashed up as eye candy to communicate high complexity for power users that an outside observer (i.e. movie viewer) can only dream of properly mastering yet still able to grasp the "key message".

I hate to be a downer, but these fantasy UIs are also completely unusable. They have no actual users, so they can go all-in on flashy complexity without having to solve the problem of "how do I let an expert get work done most efficiently." I have never seen a fantasy UI with spreadsheets, but the fact of the matter is that Excel is much closer to a power-user interface than anything you see in movies.

That isn't really going against their claim, IMO. Complex and inscrutable is part of the point - only the vaguest notes of "oh, that's their goal" are necessary. It reinforces that you don't fully understand what they're doing.
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