Make It So: Interaction Design Lessons from Science Fiction
Rosenfeld Media, 2012
Paperback/PDF, $39

Many designers enjoy seeing the interfaces created for science fiction films and television shows. Freed from the rigorous constraints of designing for real users, sci-fi production designers develop blue-sky interfaces that are inspiring, humorous, and even instructive. By carefully studying these "outsider" user interfaces, designers can derive lessons that make their real-world designs more cutting edge and successful.

In Make It So, MBA in Design Strategy chair Nathan Shedroff and coauthor Christopher Noessel discuss how sci-fi interfaces have been there (almost) from the beginning; sci-fi creates a shared design language that sets audience expectations; if an interface works for an audience, there's something there that will work for users; and bad sci-fi interfaces can sometimes be the most inspiring. The book sets forth 150 lessons and 10 "meta-lessons" across hundreds of examples that developers can use to enhance their real-world interfaces.