Colors did it in October. Wallpaper did it in December (in its January 2010 issue). French video game glossy Amusement did it way back in March. And even US mainstream titles Esquire and In Style got on board, in their November 2009 and March 2010 issues respectively. What have they all done? Augmented reality special editions.

AR is a term much beloved of sci-fi fantasies, where it means hologram-style additions to the real world visible to the naked eye. We haven’t quite got there yet, but computer-aided additions to daily life are becoming a reality, seen via a computer or specially manufactured glasses. “Basically there are two types of AR,” says Yolande Kolstee, head of the AR+RFID Lab jointly run by the Dutch Royal Academy of Art and Delft University of Technology. “One is screen-based, the other in the real air. One you need a device to see, whether it’s a screen or a smartphone, the other you can see with your own eyes, but you need to be wearing goggles or glasses.”

Magazines such as Wallpaper and Colors have been playing with the first, planting “keys” in their pages that trigger online content. The results are rudimentary so far, but still impressive. In Colors 76, for example, readers can see photographs “come alive” on screen, as they trigger pre-recorded video footage by holding the magazine up to the webcam. In Wallpaper’s version, meanwhile, a cover shot of a set of storage cubes springs into 3D life on screen, and the viewer can look around them in 360 degrees by moving the magazine around. More content, 3D, animation and video, is available via other pages in both magazines, all triggered by relevant keys and images. “The trick is that the user controls the AR with the magazine, so the perspective is integrated to them,” says Tony Chambers, editor-in-chief of Wallpaper. “It’s more interesting than being taken directly to the content.”

“For me the moment when [the photograph of] Andrea Nardin looks at himself across the page is really exciting,” says Andy Cameron executive director of Fabrica (which creates Colors). “The magazine comes to life.”

The technology these magazines are using varies from title to title – Amusement used RFID microchip tags that need to be read by special scanners, for example, while the other magazines have used simple webcam-friendly versions. Some allow users to put the magazine down having triggered the content, others encourage them to manipulate the images online by holding up the issue. While some wear their technophilia on their sleeves by printing large black-and-white triggers on their pages, others go for imperceptible photographic keys. “Unlike other magazines we had no big black marker,” says Ariel Foxman, editor of In Style. “I wouldn’t use the technology if it detracted from the experience our readers know and love.”

But whatever the details, the basic principle is the same, and magazines aren’t the only ones that have been tapping into it. In fact they’ve trailed a little behind advertisers, who started placing AR-enabled print ads at the start of 2009. Mini produced a shot of the Mini Cabrio that expanded into a moveable 3D version in January last year, for example, while Avatar and McDonalds both produced AR promotions for the Oscar-nominated 3D film in the run-up to its launch. Not to be outdone, Adidas launched AR-enabled trainers in December that transform into entire 3D streets on screen. The shoes are available from February and shoe-operated online games are planned for the near future.

Simple Gimmick?

So far so funky, but is it anything other than a gimmick? Wallpaper’s Chambers says not, arguing that the ability to see a tricksy, persepective-bending wall cube at 360 degrees can only enhance the reader experience. Plus, he adds, the December issue of Wallpaper that used AR contained a feature on the technology, so it made sense to show it in practice. In Style’s Foxman, meanwhile, argues that 3D and video versions of the latest clothes are the next logical step for any fashion magazine, adding: “It’s a natural extension for our readers to see clothes on a person.”

Reed+Rader, a pair of forward-thinking fashion photographers, agree, and are currently working on interactive 3D fashion photographs that would allow viewers to see the clothes from every possible angle. But although they’re 3D fans, they’re less convinced by the marriage of AR and print technology. “I don’t understand why anyone would want to buy a magazine, hold it up to a computer and have to download wonky software,” says Matthew Rader. “Why don’t they just make the content available online?”

Reed+Rader’s forays into AR fashion have been online instead, whether on their own website or online fashion magazines such as Spiral. They hope to one day build hologram-style avatars, for example, which the reader will be able to put in the palm of their hand, and recently produced a downloadable, mask that put the reader, literally, in the picture with a beauty-spot trigger.  They’re most excited about the potential future of AR, the idea that “you could wear sweat pants and a t-shirt but have it so that people think you’re wearing amazing clothes, or even tentacles”, says Pamela Reed. “You wouldn’t be restricted by the fabric.”

It sounds far fetched but AR technology on the move is already in development – IBM, for example, is currently working on a Wimbledon Seer application for the Google G1 phone to superimpose text information over the on-screen view of the tennis courts, while in Tokyo giant AR triggers were attached to the N Building near Tachikawa station in December. Holding a smartphone up to the black-and-white keys allowed passers-by to see Tweets by the people inside on-screen. Vuzix has already produced wrap-around AR glasses, for example, and a team at the university is working on AR‑enabled contact lenses.

Print perfect

For now, though, AR-enabled cyborg vision is still quite a long way off, and AR-enabled print magazine editors argue their approach perfectly combines old and new technology. 3D and moving images are a great enhancement to the magazine experience, they argue, but they are nowhere near a replacement. “What’s really interesting is that it allows you to bring together print and online in a way that enhances both,” argues Colors’ Cameron. “I don’t think print will go away.”

“People often ask me why Amusement is printed on paper when it is about digital culture,” adds Abdel Bounane, the magazine’s director. “I wanted to take paper for the best of what it is. It’s an object, something to keep.”

And that’s probably good news for photographers, because it means that despite the wave of enthusiasm for 3D and moving-image content, there are still some champions of 2D stills. “Nothing is more inspiring than really gorgeous photography, it’s been the marker for aspiration and fantasy for so many decades,” says In Style’s editor. “There’s no substitute for being transported.” BJP