Augmented Reality (AR) is a way of bringing digital content into the real world. Whereas Virtual Reality removes the viewer from their surroundings and places them in an artificially created environment, AR overlays digital media onto the real world around the viewer.
You’ve probably come across AR already without noticing it – Snapchat’s animated emojis, Instagram’s stickers and Pokémon Go are all mainstream examples
Surface activated AR allows the user to place content on a surface in front of them, usually a table or the floor. This is a great way for brands to show off their products, and an incredibly immersive and interactive way for the customer to explore the product.
On top of this, you can add functionality to make the products customizable, shoppable and sharable. We recently created an AR Retail App which allows the viewer to design, share & purchase a pair of Doc Martins all through the app.
Target activated AR allows the user to point their phone at a ‘trigger’ point, often a QR code, product or symbol, in order to launch an AR experience. Even brand logos printed in magazines and newspapers, or onto t-shirts & other clothing, can be used as trigger points.
This can be an excellent way for brands to display additional information about a product which the viewer otherwise wouldn’t be able to access. The AR Portals we created for Visit Belfast used physical doorways to trigger 360º video content which the viewer could even step inside.
All of our projects start with a call or meeting to discuss what it is you want to create using Augmented Reality, and what you hope it will achieve. Because AR is still a fairly new technology, there are often misconceptions about what it can and can’t do, and so our role at this point is to be clear and honest about your idea, whilst offering suggestions on how the project might work.
Then we’ll get to work on a product scope – a detailed description of what it is we’re creating, the exact functionality it will have, and the associated timelines & costs. Once this has been agreed, we start building the first iteration of your product.
At regular intervals throughout the prototyping process, we’ll send you builds of the product to review and feedback on. This way, any issues are picked up quickly and changes made. Obviously it depends on the size of the project, but most AR projects take between 4-6 weeks.