Thinking About User Interfaces as Games

Really interesting article by my colleague over at Lost Garden. Dan talks about a new project that he’s been working on to blend game design and user interface principles. As a game developer and someone who works a lot with user interfaces I found his piece very provocative, so I thought I would share it with you!

Ribbon Hero Turns Learning Office Into a Game

I don’t want to dissect the article — at least not until you’ve had a chance to read it yourself — but I thought I would share a couple impressions.

• I think Dan hit on something really important about the limitations of traditional user interface design
• Games are a natural testbed for presenting complex interactions and scenarios to users, we have an opportunity to lead as designers
• We shouldn’t limit ourselves to just considering user experience, though, for instance this project offers a glimpse of how games could address other problems
• I’m also skeptical of injecting “social gaming” into every conceivable activity, what can we do to make Dan’s game fun even without that element?
• Where else could we see game design principles pop up?

I hope you enjoy Dan’s post and I hope you’ll share any comments you have below!

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