Magic as a Metaphor for NUI Design: Part 3, Enchanted Objects

In Part 1 of this article I explained how magic can be used as a metaphor for designing NUI applications. In Part 2, I explained how in-the-air gesture systems and speech can be combined to create rich interactions that seem nothing short of spell casting.

In this article I'm going to discuss the parallels between NUI devices and enchanted artifacts such as wands, crystal balls, magic mirrors, amulets, other tools as described in modern fantasy fiction.

While casting spells out of thin air is cool, no fictional account of magic is complete without some type of enchanted weapon or tool. Magic rings, wands, crystal balls, magic pools and magic mirrors are all props of fantasy fiction and they have their counter parts in NUI design as well.

Crystal balls, magic mirrors, and magic pools provide their users with insights into the greater world. This is very similar in purpose and presentation to what we see in large multitouch surfaces. For example, Microsoft Surface allows us to view and interact with information that can be accessed through the ether of the Internet. How different is the Microsoft Surface from the Pensive of Harry Potter? How different is the crystal ball from the multi-touch globe or the magic mirror of Snow White from the augmented reality mirrors in development today? These multitouch surfaces, in all of their incarnations, have a striking resemblance to magical surfaces in fiction and its that parallel that can be leveraged to great affect when designing NUI.














Magic rings, amulets, and talisman will have their corresponding devices in NUI as well. And of course the Wand. What magical fantasy would be complete with out a magic wand or staff of some kind? And while that may seem far fetched its actually one of the enchanted artifacts whose comparable NUI devices are most widely used.

Take mobile phones for example. They are not just for communication, they can also double as remotes, take photos and video, run applications, tell us where we are, and provide us with access to information. They are in fact modern stubby versions of the magic wand. Another exmaple is the Wii Remote, which is very much like a wand. Wave it around and abracadabra stuff happens.

While devices like mobile phones and Wii remotes don't look like the spindly wands of Harry Potter or the staff wielded by Gandolf, they are never the less very similar to wands in that they are held in the hand and used to accomplish what seems like magic.








In case you think I've gone completely batty here is some food for thought. On May 14th, 2009 David Wilson of Microsoft applied for a patent on a device called "MAGIC WAND" which allows the user to control devices in their surrounding, communicate, take commands through in-the-air gestures, and even provide avatar that can talk back to the user. Does that sound like a magic wand or NUI device or both?

In closing I leave you with a quote I discovered as I was wrapping up this series of articles. Its from the Background section David Wilson MAGIC WAND patent application.

"There has long been an imaginative current flowing in popular culture relating to magic, which has recently culminated in the Harry Potter phenomenon. Given the widespread commercial success of Harry Potter books and feature films, as well the many predecessors in the fantasy genre such as The Lord of the Rings, Dungeons and Dragons, etc., it is readily apparent that a number of communities or demographic segments are enamored with the idea of magic. Discounting the aforementioned communities, even the most pragmatic individual would have trouble arguing against the merits or utility of, say, a magic wand that actually worked to control or communicate with objects or components in an associated nearby environment."

Series Links

1. Magic as a Metaphor for NUI Design: Part 1
2. Magic as a Metaphor for NUI Design: Part 2, Casting Spells
3. Magic as a Metaphor for NUI Design: Part 3, Enchanted Artifacts