Final Research

Augmented reality is a live view of the physical world environments whose elements have been supplemented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. "Augmented" means to enhance or increase, combined with "Reality", it simply means an enhanced reality.

I have a much more detailed description in the Authorship section of my webpage that I would link below.

Augmented reality seem to have made a very distinct appearance when it comes to current times, and as it is, we have been using these facilities without even realizing it, or knowing what it's called.

Most of the time, Augmented Reality is made for applications such as:

1. GPS systems
2. Identification of Services
3. Transportation
4. Games
5. Information on certain buildings

These applications come very much in handy and helps people access all this information easily by holding up their smart devices, and the applications itself will help direct users to the orientation needed for it to work.

In the video above, Matt Gonzalez listed his 5 top favorite Augmented Reality applications according to his preferences. These apps fulfill a certain demand in the world and goes beyond the regular ways to make it happen.

For example, the first application is called Word Lens. Going into a foreign country without knowing the language and wanting to understand the menu is practically an impossibility. Especially when it comes to countries like China, Japan or Korea, it is pretty much impossible to try and translate the words in a translator app because we don't know how to read the characters.

Word Lens allows us to hover over a selection of text and translate it to the preferred language without needing the internet. This eases users that are constantly traveling for businesses to different countries.

In this Youtube video, the user (Crazy German) is seen using the Oculus Rift to preview a TOTAL augmented reality gaming console. At the moment, it is still a very rough prototype.

We see him at the start using a controller, which resembles a Wii handheld device to control the things happening around him. The TV and speakers are both virtual reality projections, yet with the controller, he is able to change the TV channels.

As we progress through the video, the 'wall' breaks down and reveals that he is in a penthouse apartment and that there are ships attacking. We proceed to seeing him use the device to shoot at the ships.

I based my final essay on Corning and their vision of "A Day Made of Glass".

On the right is one of the videos I've chosen to expand upon. At 4:53, we can see the two girls in the video scanning a red button, which reveals a dinosaur that is roaming through the forest and weaving in and out between the trees. A little sidebar reveals the information on the dinosaur, which also has a little button that allows the users to read more, or know more about the dinosaur.

It is very clearly revealed that the augmented reality in this instance is used for educational purposes, as well as to give out information to users about the current situation.

Corning: A Day Made of Glass

It is pretty clear for me that I would want my final to be informative and educational at this point of time.

I have decided to develop an app prototype for smart handheld devices that provides information for services and maybe transportation.

There are many ways that we could go about doing this. For example, just like the red button, I could venture into using QR codes that are placed close to the shop to scan and reveal information about the area on the screen.

This seemed to be the main idea I would like to work on at the start.

QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response Code) is a two-dimensional barcode that was first designed for the automotive industry in Japan. QR codes quickly become popular because of how quick and efficient it was. It also had a much bigger storage capacity as compared to the standard UPC barcodes. It consists of black modules (square dots) arranged on a white background in a square grid which is then read by an imaging device.

There are many data types that you can use your QR codes for:

1. Websites
2. YouTube videos
3. Google Maps Location
4. Twitter
5. Facebook
6. Foursquare
7. iTunes link
8. Dropbox
9. Telephone Number
10.Skype Call
11. Email Addresses
12. LinkedIn
13. Contact Details
14. Digital Business Cards
15. Paypal Buy Now Link

Upon further research, I discovered that QR codes cannot be used to help aid augmented reality in the sense that by scanning the code, the user will not be able to bring up extra information about the product while having a view of their orientation.

QR codes only seem to work on digital work on screen, and will not be able to garner an interaction the way I would want it to.

And with that I ended the research I did on QR coding.

Augmented Reality needs to have information that is displayed clearly and is legible for users. This means that the information bubbles cannot overlap each other in the display, and the colors cannot be too overwhelming so the user has a very clean outcome. The information that is displayed on the screen must also be minimal yet informative, and has to include the more important sections of each point with further elaborations upon clicking on it.

Listed here are a few examples of the navigational side of augmented reality. The information displayed are clearly visible and are different in sizes, starting from the biggest closest to the user, and receding as the information gets further backwards.

The navigation include things like the name, distance, star ratings amongst others, which eases the user's usability without having to learn all the tools.

It becomes very clear to me then that I needed to be very clear about what direction I needed my application to head towards. I have narrowed my choices down to doing just services, such as restaurants, hairdressers, launderettes, grocers and such.

With that I came up with a list of things that I needed to keep to in order to come up with a successful interactive, easy to use augmented reality application:

1. I needed a very clean and precise layout, one that would showcase ample information in brief simple formats that varied in sizes according to how close the place was to the user.

2. A good color scheme and different symbols to match so that the users will be able to differentiate clearly between one service to another.

3. 'Pop ups' at either the bottom or the sides that providing more information regarding each place. For example, star ratings, distance, price range, opening hours, etc.

4. A perspective change when the user moves the phone to create a much more realistic feel and give users the feeling of '3D' as they interact with their devices.

5. An interesting logo that would attract users to download the application from their respective sources.

Listed here are different Augmented Reality logos, whether it is being used for applications or for companies, or just a logo representing itself. The words have been short formed into 'AR', and placed in a very digital setting. As we can see from above, one of it has been made into an 8-bit, and the other has been placed within a QR code.

However, as we all know, applications that usually catch our eye, or make us feel like we want to know what it is usually involves a lot of colors. As we can see from the apps on the right, most of them, if not all have colors on them.

Infographics are a very current and wonderful modern trend. Derived from the word information graphics, they are are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present complex information quickly and clearly. They can improve cognition by utilizing graphics to enhance the human visual system’s ability to see patterns and trends.

Infographics often come in very vectorized images, with simple designs, often in 2D imagery. The colors are bright and well coordinated to attract the user's views. Most of the fonts used in infographics are usually san serifs.

I believe I want the logo of my application to resemble the infographics represented on the right hand side right at the top. The simplicity between each color, and the darker and light colors that overlap each shade are very easy on the eyes.

The imagery is simple and illustrated with only a white outline, yet it clearly indicates what the infographic is trying to convey very well and I think that would be the direction or the form I would like my logo to take.

Home Page designs are much more important than we realize.

These are the application's first impressions, and gives the user a taste of what the app is really like in time to come.

The login page has to be easily accessible and understandable. The two most important tabs are 'Log In' and 'Sign Up'.

The information that is needed of the user should be very basic, and also includes connections to other social networking websites.

I seem to have taken a great liking toward applications that have pictures or textures as the background. I also feel that the login and sign up is a big part of the experience for the user to feel connected to the app. And so with that I plan to make:

1. Screen loading
2. General login page
3. Sign up page