Loving this audacious AR from Doritos! In a time when most companies reel at the design and programming costs associated with a decent augmented reality execution, Doritos clearly threw caution and budgets to the wind to make “the world’s largest AR experience”. The A-team-esque fly by with the MacBook Pro is just brilliant!
Very excited to discover that JC Penny have sponsored a not-entirely-awful augmented reality app for their fall back-to-school collection. Aimed at teenage girls and hosted on both Seventeen and Kaboodle, the app is basic but user-friendly. Simply click to start, get into position, select size and style using gestures and then indicate ‘done’ to capture you and your new outfit. Easy, fun and, above all for their teen market, totally shareable both as an experience and on Facebook. Congrats!
Our super fantastic friends at UsTwo kindly sent over this clipping from Computer Arts. Moving Brands gets a name check as part of a bigger article on UsTwo and the Granimator app.
In other “press” news, we were delighted to see that Futurising – the recent LCC festival we spoke at – got the nod of approval from British Vogue. And Michael Dusing gave Moving Brands a very complimentary write up in his recent blog post on ARE2010.
Thanks for the love everyone!
Jesse Schell’s keynote from ARE2010 is now on Vimeo along with Bruce Sterling’s, and Will Wright’s. All three talks were very much the buzz of the conference and well worth a watch. Thanks again to the event’s organisers – Ori, Tish, Sean and Whurley.
Yesterday I attended and gave a talk at ARE2010. Total Immersion suggested an official logo for augmented reality applications and devices equipped with such applications. Tony Fernandes of The UEgroup highlighted the ridiculousness of mobile AR user behaviour. Clark Dodsworth of Osage future-gazed to hyperpersonalised relationships between users and information services as we move toward a mobile platform. Bruce Sterling got into an argument over civic ludology with Brendan Scully. And Blaise Aguera y Arcas blew minds with Photosynth. There was a fantastic community spirit and I was surprised at the highly conceptual undertones that ran throughout even the most developer-orientated of the talks. Jesse Schell’s closing keynote wonderfully summed up what many had grappled with throughout the event – namely, what a future augmented reality world will mean, let alone look like. Culturally, we rely on controlling what information we reveal about ourselves to the real world. But augmented reality (and Facebook’s questionable privacy controls) has the potential to change all that. Schell feels we’re on the cusp of an Adam and Eve moment – where we take a bite of the a(R)pple and find ourselves exposed. More notes from ARE2010 next week. Happy weekend!
Yours truly, Camilla Grey, will be speaking at one of the first events completely dedicated to the business of Augmented Reality: The Augmented Reality Event Presented by Qualcomm, taking place June 2-3, 2010 at the Santa Clara Convention Center, CA. Moving Brands are in the “AR in marketing and advertising” slot and will be showcasing Living Identity as well as looking at AR from a “moving world” perspective. Other speakers I’ll be persuading to sign my iPad include the weird and wonderful godfather of AR, Bruce Sterling and TED talk extraordinaire Blaise Aguera y Arcas.
If you are in the San Francisco area and fancy popping along, you can receive the reduced $195 registration price – $200 off the $395 normal price – by using Discount Code: E195 during registration. This fee includes both conference days, lunch, reception and more.
Follow Moving Brands live from the conference on Twitter via the #are2010 hashtag/
I had the pleasure of hanging out with my neighbours’ 7 year old son last weekend and, running out of things to entertain him with, gave him a demo of our augmented reality book cover. Unlike his parents who were impressed (but calmly so), 7 year old Ethan went absolutely mad for the technology. Within seconds of seeing how it worked, he had demanded pen and paper to create his own marker “to take home” and was imagining what the badge he was wearing could unlock in the digital world. His response not only demonstrated his correctly child-like joy at a new technology, but also his innate understanding of how AR works and the possibilities it represents. Tomorrow, Ethan wants to take our book in to class for show and tell. But in ten years time, Ethan will be 17 and living in a world where AR, and practical, innovative uses of it, will be commonplace. MatDolphin pointed us in the direction of this cool AR app for Iron Man 2 – something I can imagine Ethan absolutely loving!
Today weekly women’s magazine, Grazia, launched its “3D Walk-in Talking” issue. Although the correct term for the technology is not mentioned, Grazia uses augmented reality (AR) to bring sections of the magazine to life. UPDATE: We spoke to an AR expert who explained that “It’s not AR because there’s no R to A. Once you get the app to recognise a marker, you no longer see the video stream. In the case of the motion tracking section (where you spin the editors), that is not AR either because there is no augmentation. It’s just using the motion to control something separate”.
Regular readers of this blog will know we created our own AR application back in September and have been following the development of this new technology ever since. This latest offering from Grazia certainly takes AR to the masses and a new, female-orientated, audience but it regrettably does little for exploring many of the exciting possibilities AR holds.
It took a Twitter conversation with GraziaLive to finally get the markers working on our MacBooks in good light conditions. The gestural navigation on the stylist section is certainly one of the first examples we have seen of this, but the interface was jumpy and the yellow highlighting looked dated and clunky. While the cover launched Florence Welch in an animated 3D environment it was not possible to track the movements, while the other markers launched only videos, with all of them failing to offer any interaction for the user.
We’ve said before that AR is still very much in its infancy and today Grazia have taken a bold step towards fusing on- and offline platforms – a crucial move for the survival of publishing. Nevertheless, as more money gets behind AR applications (Grazia’s was seemingly sponsored by Banana Republic) it seems a shame not to create relevant, updateable, functional content that users can dynamically yet simply interact with.
N Building from Alexander Reeder on Vimeo.
With several MBers currently in Tokyo, we thought to suggest checking out this “living” building. The makers of N Building say, “Being a commercial building signs or billboards are typically attached to its facade which we feel undermines the structures’ identity. As a solution we thought to use a QR Code as the facade itself. By reading the QR Code with your mobile device you will be taken to a site which includes up to date shop information. In this manner we envision a cityscape unhindered by ubiquitous signage and also an improvement to the quality and accuracy of the information itself”. This project brings a whole new dimension to the architectural belief in the “life” of a building. This way, people are able to interact with the structure before they’ve even stepped in the door.
This is it – the last blog post for 2009 and it’s been quite a year. We’ve won awards, we’ve developed augmented reality, we’ve legitimately tagged Boris Johnson and Barack Obama, we’ve said hi to some new people, we’ve been all over the world, we’ve been inspired by an array of amazing projects, we’ve made some films, we’ve done a tonne of work and Rex licked the MB logo onto a biscuit. Thank you to all of you who have supported us this year both here and on Twitter. Have great holidays everyone and see you all in 2010!
Le monde des montagnes from Cuarto derecha on Vimeo.
Commuters struggling through the snow in London this morning might have noticed a little piece in The Metro on one of our favourite topics, Augmented Reality. The piece, entitled ‘A Brand New Reality’ and by Sanky of D&AD, looks at the potential AR applications hold for brands and some benchmark examples of the technology in action (See Camille Scherrer’s left). Sanky is quoted as saying that AR at its best results from a magic mix – ‘a great concept, annoyingly deft execution and a real-world benefit’. We aren’t prone to showing off, but as it’s Christmas, we are forced to admit that our AR app (viewable here) seems to tick all those boxes. The concept allows for a book to live beyond its printed form. The execution, made in conjunction with the wonderful Renderheads, makes for a jaw-dropping user experience. And we’re seeing a real-world benefit day to day as we use it to talk about our approach. AR is still very much in its infancy and we are in agreement with Sanky when he asserts ‘There’s a way to go until AR is being used most effectively’, but we’re looking forward to the journey.
Last week MB’s Panja Gobel spoke at The Hospital Club in Covent Garden on the emergent technology, augmented reality. Organised by Hospital member, Tom Le Bree, the “And Then the World Presents” evening offered a range of differing perspectives on AR and its practical applications. First to speak was Evan Grant from “interactive arts and technology collective” Seeper. Seeper have produced stunning interactive experiences for a range of clients, as well as creating a fully-working Bond touch screen, exhibiting at Tent London for London Digital Week, and even speaking at TED. Evan clearly relishes the challenge of new technology and new ways to connect with people and it was great to hear him speak. Next up was Panja who took the audience on a whirlwind crash course on AR – showing its journey from clunky “brain machines” to incredible real time shape recognition. Regular readers of the MB Blog will already be aware of Panja’s passion for, and unique perspective on, new technology and her talk was no exception. Concluding the evening was Myles Peyton from Total Immersion who conjured child-like delight by showing Total Immersion’s many AR branded projects in action. Best loved was the AR car which could be remote controlled – hence the ‘ramp” quote in the title. A very enjoyable evening.
Tonight Moving Brands’ “Princess of Augmented Reality” Panja Gobel will be speaking on the subject of AR as part of The Hospital Club’s ‘And Then the World Presents’ evening. Panja will be looking at some AR work which has been at the forefront in developing the technology and which inspires us in the MB studio. She will explain how we have used AR to provide dynamic and immersive brand expressions for our clients. And she will discuss how the practical applications of AR will be shaping our future. Speaking alongside Evan Grant from Seeper and Myles Peyton from Total Immersion, the evening promises to be a fascinating insight into an exciting, emerging technology.
Augmented Reality. from Moving Brands on Vimeo.
Check out our latest film which shows our “living” cover in action. Click here to download the cover and swipe, tilt and rotate your way through our latest content.
Last Friday we launched our first Moving Brands paper, ‘Living identity’. By its nature, the paper is already out of date so we made a ‘living’ cover which uses augmented reality technology to allow people to see our latest thoughts, news and updates. Using just the cover (also download-able here) and a webcam, users can view live Moving Brands content using gestures to browse and scroll. We believe this is the first time augmented reality technology has been applied to a corporate book, as well as being pioneering in its ability to draw in a range of live feeds. Photos and film of both the launch event and the AR in action to follow. To download and try it yourself, click here.
A big thank you to all who came and made our open studio/paper launch such a fantastic night. We had a great mix of people – from old friends and design students to clients and Twitter followers. We were thrilled to be part of the London Design Festival which, running for the week prior to our event, had really pushed the boundaries and introduced us, here at MB, to some fascinating new ‘finds’. It was also very exciting to launch our first paper, ‘Living identity‘, which explains our approach to branding and looks at some ‘living’ identities we have created for our clients. Last, but by no means least, everyone who came on Friday had a great time playing with the augmented reality cover to the paper we created with Renderheads. For those of you who couldn’t make it, you can download the cover and play with the AR by clicking here. We also encourage you to share your thoughts on ‘living identities on our new Living Identity blog. Enjoy and we look forward to hearing from you!
Photo from Tim Rich’s flickr.
On 25th September we will be launching our first paper, Living identity, as part of our open studio event for The London Design Festival. The paper includes an interactive element which we have developed with graphics programmers, RenderHeads. Founders Andrew and Nathan both believe there is a wide range of software that is missing out by not taking advantage of the high-end graphics found in computer games. We have worked with them previously on projects which have helped our clients develop dynamic and compelling ways to interact with their customers as well as helping us learn more about the dark arts of augmented reality based programming.
AR scratching from vanderlin on Vimeo.
I just love this! Simple and addictive interaction design – the basis for making people use stuff.
There is a lot of augmented reality experimentation out there but rarely you see such simple and stunning work.
Le Monde des Montagnes by Camille Scherrer shows a table with a book underneath an angle poise lamp. The camera is positioned inside the lamp (nice touch!) and when the user turns the pages a magic story of beautiful animated illustrations layer on top of the existing book content.
The interaction seems really natural. No awkward holding strange symbols to perceived cameras in fact there doesn’t seem to be an AR marker insight. Looks like the camera analyses on a basis of page left and right. Very clever!
View here