Ikea’s Augmented-Reality Catalog

Ikea’s Augmented-Reality Catalog Might Be the Company’s Best-Made Product Yet | Gizmodo

We’ve already shared our favorite items from Ikea’s 2013 product catalog, but what we didn’t know was that as of July 31st, the catalog itself will be an interactive product of the latest augmented-reality technology.

iOS and Android users who download the Ikea catalog app, will be able to unlock video features, interactive experiences with products on the page, photo galleries and additional decorating inspiration.

Developed by the creative agency McCann, the AR app is a project that the Swedish build-it-yourself furniture empire has been working on for quite a while, since 2011 when they first expressed interset in bridging the print/digital divide. Linus Karlsson, Global Chief Creative Officer of McCann, explained to Wired that replacing the paper catalog with an entirely digital product wouldn’t make sense, “If you had a magazine that had 211 million copies in circulation, you just would’t end it. That would be crazy.”

With this added digital layer, shopping Ikea’s collection will become a little bit easier—an “X-ray” feature allows you to peer inside cabinets, for example, making a trip to the brick-and-mortar store potentially unnecessary. (Not enough of Ikea’s collection is available for purchase online to cut out a trip to the store entirely.)