I‘ve been looking at ideas based around 3D information systems recently, as research for a project I might be working on this month. While I haven’t finished researching, one of the topics that has got me interested is the redundancy of interactive elements such as icons and scroll bars when navigating a 3D space. In a 3D environment the content can replace the icons as you can zoom in and out, and actions within that space can replace scroll bars. A simple example of the implementation of these ideas can be found in OSX. Apple has started using a preview of the actual content of a file as it’s icon and implemented the cover-flow system to scroll content.

For a richer example we can look at Mirror’s Edge, an upcoming game and one that I’ll no doubt be buying. Traditionally a game that was 3D would still have a 2D interface that would sit on top of it. This game has removed the 2D user interface layer and integrated it in to the 3D environment. It uses colour to indicate health, as your character loses health the saturation of the environment decreases. Colour is also used as a marker for navigation within the space — your character can grab on to red objects, or interact with them in a more complicated way.

Dead space, another new game, displays the interface within the 3D environment. While the interface is still in a 2D form it uses content within the game instead of icons to access it. You can see the ammunition left in the gun is displayed within the environment as a hologram in this video, other in-game interface elements are displayed the same way if you explore other videos.

As internet connection speeds improve and small screens increase in their resolution the use of 3D navigation will increase on the Internet as well as devices. Interestingly the games industry has begun to adopt these concepts even though they’ve had the technology for years. I wonder if there is a future with no more icons and scroll bars? Research continues..