SciFi interfaces are both fun, inspiring examples and reflections of current interface understanding. Production designers are allowed to develop ‘blue-sky’ examples that, while lacking rigorous development with users, coalesce influential examples for practicing designers that are humorous, prophetic, inspiring, and useful. Interaction Designers can learn can learn from these examples. This presentation will describe some of the insights found by the presenters and lessons all designers can take back to their practices, including:

* SciFi interfaces allow us to see current issues from fresh perspectives; testing design techniques we don’t always expect (such as size relationships reinforcing social hierarchy in holography) but are, nonetheless, applicable to current work

* Dramatic tension often destroys otherwise thoughtful interfaces

* SciFi can be a design tool