Prototyping Hollywood-style
June 26, 2002
Katherine Jones turns out to be one of the brainiac designers behind all those futurama interface concepts in Minority Report. After trading a few emails, Kat was kind enough to share some of her early prototype sketches with me, which she graciously allowed me to post here.
It's interesting to note how these initial concepts evolved into the final treatments used in the movie - from what appears to be a big console screen display into the transparent eye-level windowpane thing that Tom Cruise is constantly peering through with that baleful-hunky gaze of his.
Spielberg seems to have spotted the opportunity to use the interface itself as a framing device, shooting the actors through the glass with the images and UI controls superimposed in front of them as the story unfolds. Which suggests that perhaps Mr. Spielberg understands the difference between a great demo and a usable product.
Kat also shared some background reading on the "science" behind the pre-cog chamber, which I'm looking forward to digesting when time allows.
File under: User Experience
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