Brave NUI World

In the videos of the “Brave NUI World” talk (IxDA Seattle June 2008 [via]) members of the Microsoft Surface team are sharing their experiences with natural user interfaces (NUIs).

The first talk (left) by Sabrina Boler exemplifies an apparent core characteristic of NUIs: An utmost representation of real life (physics) preferably without any GUI element.

This got me pondering:

- How coherent can such a NUI user experience be when besides interaction with classic tangible artefacts (like the strained photo shoebox demo) also more complex applications from the GUI world have to be available?

- How fast does the balance between pure “naturalness” and efficiency flip in relation to the time prospective users worked with GUI systems?

- Is it really necessary to avoid “GUI baggage” at any cost? The last point raised in the video is a good example: A scrollbar is not just an instrument for navigation, but also a well-known indication if and how much content is available (and out of sight).

The second talk (right) by Dennis Wixon illuminates the design process of Microsoft Surface from the user research perspective. He also offers a short interesting digression into game design, a field where Microsoft is well known for its innovation. The mentioned MDA method (Mechanics - Dynamics - Aesthetics) method sounds interesting.