TRON Legacy UI
What a cool movie Tron was, the art direction of the film was amazing. I really loved the design style used throughout the film, it was very minimalist and used a lot of angled lines, geometry and neon-style glows against a dark setting that really make shapes pop out. I also like the hexagon motif repeated throughout the movie because it reminds me of our logo ;) The style was beautiful and worked throughout every detail of the film from the light cycles, costumes, environment as well as the interface design.
It was really cool to hear that the interface design task was given to a crack team of mograph veterans and stars including GMUNK, Jake Sargeant, David Lewandowki, and Josh Nimoy, and the result was just fantastic.
From an interface point of view, there were two ideas that really stood out for me. The first idea was that Flynn was able to access any interface by simply placing his hand on any surface, whether it be a window or even the ground. This is a really cool idea, whereby a user can control anything from anywhere by simply being in contact with the system.
The other part that stood out for me was the Quorra repair scene, where Flynn uses an interactive hologram. I really like this idea that instead of going through lines of code to debug or troubleshoot a computer program, the interface can present the challenge as a physical model and all you have to do is solve it like a puzzle. It’s as if the program organises the problem into a more easily digestible form, so that it’s more intuitive and becomes a much more pleasant experience. We’ve seen interactive holograms before in films like Iron Man, and it’s becoming quite a trend right now, but these guys have really pushed it.
One last thing which I thought was quite cool was how Flynn could use his breath to blow into the hologram to affect it. As an interactive input this is quite interesting and something I’ve not seen much of, except for the odd instrument iPhone app where blowing into the microphone mimics the effects of a flute.
All in all worth checking out, if purely for the stunning visuals!
Watch the TRON Legacy UI montage
Check out the Quorra Hologram UI
Check out the light cycle & light jet sequences (just cos they’re so damn cool!)
Other resources… Digital Domain’s ‘making of’
Josh Nimoy’s Process shots
TRON Legacy Flickr Sets (thanks Inventing Interactive)