The dream of a living toy: A Designers perspective on Augmented Reality
Intro: What is this about?
Dear reader of this article. I am an Experience Designer from the Frankfurt area. In the following 5 minutes, I will give you a little insight into my motivation and enthusiasm for new technologies and augmented reality, briefly explain what my take on AR is and where I see potential for this medium in the future. So sit back and dive with me into the magical world of digital augmentation!
Prolog: My Motivation
I grew up in a time where technology has developed incredibly fast. Especially in the visual field, the progress has been amazing. Pixar revolutionized 3D animation and real scenery was increasingly replaced by CGI in movies (whether that was reasonable is the question *cough* looking at you George Lucas). As a child, I had a vivid imagination and it was normal for me, that the Bionicle and Spider-Man figures in my hand were alive and had a character of their own. The whole room became a new world in which I sunk enthusiastically. Even with friends, it turned out to be no problem; One could simply recreate the world. Real objects were creatively transformed and became magical objects. A toothpick became a magic wand or the perforator from my father’s desk became the monster that guards the toilet paper cave.
The first time I was really captivated by a toy portrayal in a movie was Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, with a game that I found quite boring at 7 years: chess. But the pieces looked so alive, moved by themselves and mercilessly smashed the opponents into pieces. I simply had to own that and bought a Harry Potter style chess set in a store. But when I had it in front of me, I was extremely disappointed. It was simply just chess. Back to my Bionicles.
Unfortunately my fantasy faded with age and my heroes became more and more like dusty trophies in a box under my bed. Toilet paper turned into toilet paper and the magic wand at best cleaned my teeth. Although computer games offered a fantastic world, the relation to reality is too weak, that no magic effect is created. You do not play the game yourself but control a character. The magic is lost. It was obvious: I would become an inventor and create the first living toy.
I discovered Augmented Reality as a medium and was thrilled.
Augmented Reality: What is it?
“ [AR] is the direction that I think is far more interesting and promising — for technology and, really, for humanity. AR is designed to add, enhance the things you do as a human being: Being outside, socializing with other people, shopping, playing, having fun. AR can make all those things better.” — John Hanke
Augmented Reality offers the possibility to add a digital overlay to the real image and as the name says: You can augment reality. Now it is possible to let your imagination run free and create whole worlds in the middle of your living room. Wizard Chess is no longer magic, it is really realizable. The real surfaces and objects are detected and now the game or information can now be selectively placed in the room.
AR from a Design Perspective
This offers a huge opportunity for information transfer and learning processes. From a user experience perspective it is a dream, because the way people perceive and analyze things is three-dimensional. AR has the chance to integrate seamlessly into this thought process and create an immersive learning and communication experience. This applies to the further education of working people, but also to the advertising industry.
Vision: Where I see the potential
Even in combination with IoT (internet of things) this could be very practical. Why an extra app when you can operate the fridge interface directly on the fridge? Where I also see a huge potential: The toy industry. You now have the possibility to take 1000 board games with you in your pocket and play them wherever you want. Or you can make yourself a magic wand and play against your friends. Of course the haptic feeling is lost. But due to object recognition it is possible to combine both. Why not take a real chess game and turn it into wizard chess with a digital overlay? Yu-Gi-Oh cards really come to life and Pokemon Go was a first step towards Real Life Pokemon.
Even well-tried brands like Lego and Playmobil offer great potential for digital expansion. The game sets can be assembled and brought to life. Therefore I see AR as a chance to build a bridge between children who are exposed to the digital world at a very early age and classic toys.
The main problem at present is that the technology is not yet ready and you have to hold a SmartPhone or Tablet in your hand.
“Looking to the future, the next big step will be for the very concept of the ‘device’ to fade away” — Sundar Pichai
I therefore look forward to the future and eagerly await the first mass-produced AR glasses. Via touch interfaces, smartphones directly offer a very natural interface to interact with your environment. From a design perspective it is of course even more exciting to see what happens when the smartphone is dropped from the equation. Is gesture control the new thing? Is it voice control? Is it enough to just track your eyes and adjust the interface? Will there be a controller you can hold in your hand? Is it maybe a combination of all of these? The future will be exciting and I’m looking forward to being a part of it.
“AR is going to take a while, because there are some really hard technology challenges there. But it will happen, it will happen in a big way, and we will wonder when it does, how we ever lived without it. Like we wonder how we lived without our phone today.” — Tim Cook
Hopefully I could give you a little insight and you had fun reading. We followed our fascination with action and created our own Mario Party Like AR multiplayer. It is currently on Kickstarter. So feel free to have a look at it and support us if you like it!
