What is augmented reality?

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What is augmented reality?

Augmented Reality (A.R.) is a new type of mobile phone application that strives to bridge the gap between the digital and physical worlds. Augmented reality apps utilise the cameras found on almost all modern-day mobile devices to experience the world around you in new and unique ways.

You can virtually superimpose anything imaginable into the physical world. Using Augmented Reality Applications present a sure way to improve awareness of your brand or promotion campaign. By using this service you are guaranteeing to give your event or brand an extra dimension, allowing users to engage even more fully by simply using your branded app.

How does Augmented Reality differ from Virtual Reality?

Virtual reality replaces the real world with a computer-simulated environment. This could be anything from a lifelike immersive experience such as a cockpit visualisation for pilot training to a completely imagined world. Therefore, whereas Virtual Reality seeks to replace the real world, Augmented Reality seeks to add further dimensions to the already existing environment.

How can A.R. benefit a brand?

Customers will talk about your brand for one of two reasons; either because you have failed to meet their expectations or you have surpassed them. A.R. is one way to ensure the latter, and demonstrates that you are an innovative and forward-thinking company. Furthermore, with the accelerating smartphone market and shift to mobile devices, implementing Augmented Reality is an investment which can only continue to pay off in the future.

This technology gives your target audience the richest and most interactive experience possible and tells the story of your brand without commission-driven sales advisors looking over their shoulder. The beauty of Augmented Reality is it puts the fun back into engaging with a brand, the novelty factor is exciting and gives customers a sense that they are accessing special or private content, making them feel valued rather than coldly sold to. The icing on the cake is that recent research suggests that Augmented Reality increases the perceived value of products/services.

Aside from wowing potential and existing customers, Augmented Reality technology can benefit a business behind the scenes as well. This technology could help to keep costs down; huge screens and media players required for 3D promotional activities are rendered obsolete when a customer can access the content directly through their mobile device. Furthermore, the vast amount of behavioural data available can help a business to truly understand how their (potential) customers are interacting with their brand, and areas they might consider improving.

What are some practical applications of Augmented Reality?

Whilst the possibilities truly are endless, here are a few examples of how Augmented Reality could be used in a promotional setting:

• Augmented Reality enabled packaging could activate an animated product demonstration, such as 3D spins and the product in use. This could be highly useful in cases whereby it is impractical to showcase each product.

• A promotional stand could activate a video of real customer testimonials. Frequently customers search for reviews when they have left a shop setting, with a view to potentially making a purchase at a later date. Reading testimonials whilst viewing a product acts as strong social reinforcement and may encourage a purchase there and then.

• Marketing material such as posters could activate exclusive time-based promotions (e.g. valid for today only), again encouraging spontaneous purchasing.

• As an alternative to customer helplines, support could be administered using Augmented Reality. For example, an app which acts as a virtual instructor for basic problem-solving.

• In an educational setting, certain historical and cultural locations could activate extra information and interactive learning resources.

How can a business make the transition to Augmented Reality?

It is likely that the average consumer is not familiar with Augmented Reality technology, therefore a business needs to inspire them to interact with it, and gently educate them on how to do so. If implementing an Augmented Reality app, the interface should be simple to understand and intuitive to use. It could even include basic overlaying instructions that the user is able to hide and activate when they need to.

Whether you are considering adding a small interactive element to your promotional material, or a whole new Augmented Reality campaign, Painting Pixels Multimedia Design Studio have the experience and knowledge to help bring you brand to life, and wow potential customers as well as your existing ones.

Visit our Mobile Applications page to find out more about AR Apps, Gaming Apps, Informational Apps and more. Or visit our Ipswich based design studio. Contact us today for a free consultation.

Here at Painting Pixels, we can produce a full branding package that will work well with your whole company image, fonts, styles, layout, logo, and colour range – assets that work in perfect sync with your logo, website, printed leaflets, business cards and more.

And be sure to check out our YouTube Channel for more interesting and entertaining content

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    We are extremely happy with the excellent animation that the team at Painting Pixels have created for EPBA – European Portable Battery Association. They worked with us every step of the way from providing guidance to the script writing to the final production. We will be using Painting Pixels for future projects and highly recommend them.”

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    ‘Working with the team at Painting Pixels was a very pleasant experience. They are very talented in their trade and helped guide us through the full animated production process. We worked with them from start to finish from the very first draft script, all the way through full animated production and to the final output. They were very flexible with our changes and patient for feedback. They delivered the project to the promised time and budget. We would happily use Painting Pixels again and would also highly recommend them to anyone wishing to showcase any product, service or idea”

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    We worked with Painting Pixels on a couple of animated videos for one of our clients and were more than happy with the final result! Ali and his team were very easy to deal with, they responded very promptly and always came back with good suggestions and solutions to our issues. I wouldn’t hesitate to use their services again.

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    I am really delighted to have discovered Painting Pixels. I did ponder as to what service I could expect having noted that your company seemed to be the only one offering such services within the Ipswich area. I cannot advise enough on how pleased and impressed I was with the service and end-product of which you provided. You have created a stunning, fun and engaging animation for us to throw out on the internet to help promote our services, and allowing us to engage better with our desired market and proving our understanding into the industry we work. Your creative thinking inside and outside the box has taken a subject matter that isn’t really associated with Jun and colour, to something that is interesting and exciting to watch and learn about. Based on how this animation has turned out, we will be creating more additional detailed animations based on particular segments and will definitely be using Painting Pixels again. I’m really happy with the result and would recommend using Painting Pixels for everything creative!

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    Working with Painting Pixels was a fantastic and stress-free process. I had a very tight budget but they still managed to create an amazing looking website for me. It has all the features that I want and is easy to manage and update. They were very clear with everything they were doing and gave great advice on making the website function as intended going forward. I still contact them if I get stuck when updating my website and they are always friendly and helpful.

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    It’s wonderful working with Painting Pixels and watching my projects come to life. They have worked side by side with us over many years and produced many design assets including, high-quality information leaflets, responsive website and many video productions, which our patients find very helpful. They are good listeners and have a very professional service. We will continue to use them for all future projects.

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    I needed a logo created for my new company. I didn’t want just any old bog standard 2D logo from your everyday graphic designers. I needed a premium 3D logo, which had great detail and depth. I contacted Painting Pixels as I could tell they are experts in 3D. It was coming to the Christmas break and wanted to get the logo complete. They managed to fit my logo in to their schedule and even came back into the studio on Christmas eve to make some final adjustments. They created a fantastic looking 3D logo, which I can now use everywhere and it has the potential to be animated in the future. They went above and beyond and I’m extremely happy with the service and final product.

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    Wow what a find Panting Pixels where! They helped us put on the World’s Biggest Panto; with eye popping 3D Stereoscopic graphics. They were an exciting and creative bunch to work with and went above and beyond to deliver us additional content at the highest quality. The show was a success and we will be using them for all future shows.

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    Painting Pixels developed our full branding package, which consisted of a new bespoke logo, responsive website and everything else in between including, letterheads, compliment slips, business cards and advertising leaflets. The designs where fresh and modern and gave us the appeal that we were going for. They listened to our requirements and delivered a high quality end product. We would recommend every time.

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    Fantastic service and communication! We wanted to exhibit our SEO services at a large internet convention. However due to our line of work, we didn’t have many images or graphics, which would help attract attention from the passerby. We wanted a way to demonstrate our services which mainly deals with statistics, web rankings and PPC and wanted a way to show off these services in a more visual manner. We heard about the quality work that Painting Pixels does so gave them a call. They came to our studio and brainstormed some great ideas with us. They created a fantastic 3d mascot and a whole new world and a completely new way of presenting a data driven service. We are delighted with the end result and we are also very much impressed with the level of communication that we received throughout the entire process. This is a completely different style of marketing for us; but because of the high level of communication and service; we felt very well looked after. We would highly recommend.

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    Fantastic Technology and Vision! We are a company which uses that latest in modern technology and design to create our extraordinary super cars. We needed a way to demonstrate particular features and to demonstrate also how specific features like the unique door system would open. Originally we were going to go for a standard 3D animation as we did not know about the 4d technology. We searched around for many different 3d design companies and Painting Pixels quality of work caught our eye. After a detailed meeting we were delighted to learn that they can offer exactly what we actually wanted which was indeed 4D animation. They created an Application for us which allowed us to rotate our new super car with the mouse which meant that we could precisely see how the car looks from every angle. Also the 4D allows us to zoom in and see how the more intricate design features worked. We are delight to have met with Painting Pixels as they had the vision to see beyond what we asked for and offered us a better solution to our problem and so gave us exactly what we wanted. This was a fantastic use of technology and Painting Pixels did a fantastic job.

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    Great Design work! We needed to have our e-commerce website redesigned. We didn’t want to use a common web development company as they tend to have a specific design style. So after a quick search we found Painting Pixels. Their work and range of skills looked very impressive. They created a very attractive design template that wrapped to the design structure of our site. The design appealed well to our customer base and looks bright, clean and colourful. It is both attractive and easy to navigate and so our website continues to function fantastically but also looks good. The re- design was created very quick and the whole integration and service as a whole was very efficient and so I am very pleased with how the project turned out. We will be using them again.

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    Quality and great value for money! We wanted to have our logo recreated in hi-resolution, having looked at painting pixels website they looked like they had the right skills to deliver the logo with great quality and speed. We were not left disappointed. They done a great job in matching accurately to the original fonts and recreated the logo perfectly. If any new projects come up we will use them again.

    Nick

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    Brilliant! I needed to demonstrate a concept that I had to add to my book. I created a rough black and white hand drawn sketch but needed it to be created in to a professional illustration. Painting Pixels understood the concept clearly and produced a fine illustration, which perfectly demonstrates my concept. It’s a complicated concept and so I am delighted that they understood it so well and recreated it with fantastic quality, brilliant.

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    Complete Dedication! We needed a new website for our Ipswich market and so approached Painting Pixels. We had seen their previous work and were very impressed. We did not have the biggest of budgets and so were unsure of the quality of website that we would get. Painting Pixels were very friendly and assured us that they would give us nothing less than a quality site and they were right. The website that we got is way better than we thought. The way it both looks and functions is perfect. We were constantly updated with the progress and knew that they were completely dedicated to producing a site that we would love. I would recommend them every time.

    Wayne

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    Superb Demonstration Animation! Industrial cleaning is never going to be the most exciting subject but with a minimal number of drawings and technical information Painting Pixels have helped us to explain our cleaning technologies via animation to clients from across the world including companies like Shell, BP and ExxonMobil. Painting Pixels were able to ‘get inside our heads’ , take our ideas and produce very high quality animations. Their customer service and communication were also great. Would highly recommend and happy to provide references.

    3D Furnace animation

    Quality 3D Design service! The animation is great we love the detail in all the 3d assets. It really clearly helps us to demonstrate our industrial cleaning process. The quality of the animation is really good and complimented by a brilliant service. It’s obvious that you have given 110% It’s amazing how effectively you can work with minimal  drawings and technical information. Again a great quality piece of work and great service, we will be using you again.

    AIF Poster Design

    Thanks for helping us out! We really appreciate your help in taking on the design work for this campaign. We love the design and have had great compliments from everyone who has seen it. It’s really eye catching and people are taking notice of the campaign. Thanks again for helping us out.

    Ahad

    Logo Design – Your First Motor

    First Class Job! We needed a cool new logo but didn’t really know what we wanted. We looked around at many different design companies and their portfolio and range of work was very uninspired. We came across Painting Pixels and loved their work and range of design disciplines. We did not give them a design brief but instead just explained what the company does, the whole process was very quick and hassle free. They came up with this eye catching and memorable logo which we love. We are very happy with the speed and quality and would highly recommend.

    Jamie

    3D Dredging animation

    Way better than we had imagined! We needed a 3D animation which would clearly demonstrate a unique dredging process and wanted to showcase this at an exhibition. We called Painting Pixels to help make our animation. We did not at first realise that their offices were based three hours drive away, however we had no problems with dealing with a company that was not local to us. They were very flexible in meeting our requirements and clear in their approach. They constantly updated us on every stage of the process and the end product was way better than we had imagined. We had many comments at the exhibition regarding the quality of the animation and so we are very happy to have worked with Painting Pixels and will most definitely be using them again.

    Jayne

    3D Industrial Animation

    With a very tight budget Painting Pixels were able to produce a top quality 3D animation in a short timeframe. Very pleased with the outcome and the interaction with Painting Pixels personnel. Will return to them without hesitation for our next project.

    3D Paediatric Animation

    They gave more than expected! I have to say, I am very pleased with the outcome of this project. I’m no expert in the field of 3D animation but I knew that the budget that I had for this project was not very big. However Painting Pixels were very kind to take on the project and I am so impressed and absolutely blown away by the quality and effort that they have put in. I will be using them again and recommend them to everyone.

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