Augmented reality is more than just a reality-altering technology, it is a unique experience that can expand the effect of applications and bring a deeper connection to the media it presents. It has been partnered with virtual reality as the next technologies to watch and invest in.
For developers, the design is the real challenge as not every application can be a massive success like Pokemon Go, unfortunately. The augmented reality market is a great place to develop, but, it means nothing if you cannot design an attractive app for augmented reality users expecting an engaging experience. In this article, we are going to examine what it takes to create a great user experience for AR applications and how great design keeps users engaged.
What Makes Augmented Reality Unique
The unique position that AR posits is that it has a true leg up on VR in the mobile market. Chances are, if you’ve been on your smartphone’s app store recently, you have seen an advertisement for an AR game revolving around incorporating your physical space into the game.
This is the really impressive aspect of the technology: your environment is part of the application that you are using. It is what really separates the technology from any other reality augmenting device.
In the more recent months, augmented reality has begun to take off in a larger way than ever before. Businesses are now beginning to see the unending potential with the technology and its potential upsides that grant access, unlike anything before it.
Augmented Reality is More Engaging
Augmented reality also has an impressive library of video games for mobile that helps engage users and force them to interact with their worlds. Pokemon Go is the greatest example of this technology work as it uses AR to great effect as it brings its creatures to life in real time.
Pokemon Go has led to massive communities and a craze that is still ongoing with no signs of stopping any time soon. It is a true testament to the power of the technology and what it can accomplish when designed well. Mobile crazes like Pokemon Go are just the beginning.
Thoughtful and educational apps like Google Arts and Culture and The New York Times AR are beginning to crop up, too. In apps like Google’s, we can experience art the way we’re supposed to — in three dimensions. As users of the app, we’re attracted to the physicality of augmented reality. Augmented reality can bring the digital to life.
It is clear that creating an engaging user experience is no easy feat. However, it is far from impossible thanks to intuitive development practices and the innate nature of sensory experience that most of us share around the world. One thing can be said, however, that AR is a superb technology that hasn’t even begun to be tapped to its fullest potential.
Customers are Attracted to Brands that Dare to Adopt Augmented Reality
AR allows for companies to actually come into your abode and take up physical space through the digital lens of a smartphone or headset. There have been great examples of this, namely the AR Ikea app that shows what the furniture will most likely look like in your home before you buy a thing.
Google has also used it famously with the Goggles application that allows users to take photos of things they see and have Google tell them what it is or even translate a name if it’s in another language. These applications only start to scratch the surface of a much larger interactive market that is pushing the technology.
Conclusion
Augmented reality expands what our phones can do. Mobile design has been changed forever.
Mobile developers should, at the very least, consider developing for AR as it has to be one of the hottest technologies on the market today. AR and VR are taking the consumer tech market by storm and developers everywhere are trying to make the next great killer app for AR.
Do not fall behind the trend. Start developing for augmented reality now and find out what can be achieved through the power of this sensory technology. Reality augmentation is the way of the future for consumers everywhere. Make sure that your product is an essential one for AR users around the globe.
