There’s been plenty of iPhone sunshine-blowing, but the introduction of its touch-based UI really was a leap forward. I’m ready to see that kind of thinking applied in more circumstances. I work on, work with, and review a myriad user interfaces every week, and I find myself anxious to see more fresh and exciting approaches. I’m interested in moving beyond the “page.” 15+ years into the web, and 5 years into web 2.0 and we’re still using a metaphor that’s hundreds of years old. We largely think of and experience the web in a linear fashion, even though it is in no way limited to that approach.

My thinking about this was jump-started when I stumbled across the online presentation tool Prezi. The best presentations are rarely linear, and Prezi breaks the PowerPoint mold by letting users operate in a spatial UI that allows them to move fluidly from topic to topic in a natural progression.

Prezi is just one example of pushing the limits of UI forward. I pulled up a handful of other examples from my bookmarks and included them below. We’re in an exciting time in on-screen design. We’ve got data capture down, and designers now have the opportunity responsibility to change the ways in which we interact with and understand that data by creating radical new approaches to user interface.

Prezi

Prezi is an online tool that lets users build presentations on a two dimensional, map-like surface that can be navigated in an organic, non-linear fashion. User can integrate text, image, and video into their presentations.

Thinking Space

Developed by The Economist, this mini-application integrates three dimensional space, images, text, and sound to create an immersive environment that begs to be explored.

LiveAxle Cloud

The LiveAxle Cloud pulls news headlines from a “living” pool of data and text.

Razorfish Surface

This application uses Surface tags printed on business cards to show extra information about employees such as blog posts, tweets and flickr photos.

The Toke

The Toke is an interactive portfolio that lets users select the format they navigate in – 3D, overhead, or grid based.

DoodlBuzz

DoodleBuzz is an innovative news reader that creates typographic maps based on user input. It utilizes chance and exploration to bring information to the surface.

Google Chrome: Gestures

While still using the same basic architecture, Google Chrome allows users to navigate its UI using mouse gestures, instead of pointing, clicking, or scrolling.

Cooliris

You’re all familiar with Cooliris, I’m sure. This image search tool presents results in a on a wall-like surface that can be navigate spatially.