How to Design Augmented Reality Labels Leave a comment
If you’re looking for a unique and distinct way to make your business, product, or service catch the right attention, then you can take your displays to the next level with augmented reality labels. Augmented reality labels are specially designed stickers that enable customers to interact and learn more about your brand. This can include links to pictures or videos from QR codes as well as so much more. Get a closer look at how you can improve customer awareness and brand engagement with the following tips to design your own augmented reality (AR) labels from the professionals at Chicago Color Label today!
What is Augmented Reality?
Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that overlays digital content onto the real world, creating an immersive and interactive experience. AR can be experienced through a variety of devices, such as smartphones, tablets, smart glasses, or head-mounted displays.
AR technology combines computer-generated graphics and sounds to create a mixed reality experience. This allows users to see and interact with virtual objects and information that appear to exist in the real world.
For example, AR can be used to overlay directions onto a live video feed of a city street, to display virtual furniture in a real room to help visualize how it might look, or to create a game that integrates virtual characters and objects into the player’s surroundings. You may remember this from the Pokémon GO phenomenon that was so wildly popular several years ago.
AR technology is becoming increasingly popular and has numerous applications in areas such as gaming, education, healthcare, marketing, and manufacturing.
Why Use Animated Labels with Augmented Reality?
Augmented reality labels are a great way to expand your brand awareness and connect with your customers on a more distinct level to deliver the best of what you can deliver. This tool is not only helpful for growing your business and consumer engagement but also can improve your everyday operations.
Top Trends for Augmented Reality Labels
Animation and Interaction
Making your logos or labels come to life is one of the first ways you can leverage AR. Whether you’ve got a title that can come into motion or want to create interactive labels that increase consumer engagement, this is a great start.
Brand Tour or Story
Another way to utilize this tool is by providing the history of the brand or providing viewers with a behind-the-scenes tour of your operations. This has been seen to be popular with AR beer labels or AR wine labels from Jack Daniels and others.
Here’s an example of one of the first wine labels to make use of this technology. In the following video you can see how 19 Crimes Wine uses augmented reality wine labels to draw you into their brand by animating each wine bottle’s “mascot” and telling their unique story:
Fun and Games
You can even create augmented reality labels that have QR codes or external links to exciting videos or photos of new products as well as games that will further drive consumers to know more about your brand.
Safety Updates
To help your business run at its best and keep your employees safe, you can create augmented reality labels that provide seamless instructions or guides on how to properly manage equipment, complete processes, and so much more.
Inventory Identification
Augmented reality labels can even be used to help you keep better track of inventory and refill product gaps for a smoother employee and customer experience.
How to Design Augmented Reality Labels
The process for designing AR labels is no different from printing any other label. You’ll want to start with a great design that reflects your brand effectively. However, part of your design process should plan and account for your AR animation or for any interactions that you would like to take place. If you’ve ever heard the phrase “form follows function”, you know that the concept of your artwork should follow the function your design will be expected to perform. The purpose of your artwork should be the starting point for the design. Imagine designing a beautiful butterfly that is so complex that you find it impossible to animate effectively.
From there, the process for creating a fully animated or interactive design relies heavily on your technical skills or your ability to hire someone to help you with this task. If you are technically minded or have an in-house development team, there are several AR application creation apps and platforms that are helpful. Many options have free plans for small-scale projects. Here are just a few:
- EyeJack Creator – EyeJack Creator helps you bring art to life with animation and sound in 3 easy steps. Just upload your artwork, add your animation and preview your creation. EyeJack Creator even has a free plan available.
- MyWebAR – Create and edit AR projects for business using a visual drag-and-drop editor. They even claim that no experience is required and they have a “free forever” plan.
- Assemblr – Assemblr says, “We’re on a mission to make Augmented Reality accessible for anyone, anywhere, in one easy platform.”. With a modern interface and extensive templates and 3D objects, Assemblr appears to be a very robust creation tool with a lot of options for assembling and promoting your AR label and brand. And best of all, they offer a free plan as well!
If you don’t have the capabilities to build your own AR animations and do not have in-house talent, you can always hire freelance designers and programmers to help you with the work. Sites like Fiverr and UpWork are great places to start. However, be warned that there are a lot of people claiming to be designers who simply leverage (steal) examples of other people’s work to give the impression they are experienced. Make sure you check reviews, ask pointed, smart questions, and generally… do your homework before hiring a freelance worker to help you with this task.
More Ideas for Designing Augmented Reality Labels
Augmented reality (AR) technology can be a powerful tool for enhancing the customer experience and increasing engagement with your product labels. Here are some creative ways to use AR on product labels:
- 3D product demonstrations: Use AR to create 3D product demonstrations that show customers how the product works, its features, and how to use it.
- Scavenger hunts: Create an AR scavenger hunt that takes customers on a journey of discovery, leading them to different locations or products throughout the store.
- Personalized experiences: Use AR to create personalized experiences for customers, such as customizing the appearance of a product or allowing them to interact with different features based on their individual preferences.
- Education: Use AR to provide customers with educational content about your product, such as how it’s made, where the ingredients come from, and how it’s best used.
- Product reviews and ratings: Use AR to display product reviews and ratings from other customers, so that customers can see what other people think of the product before making a purchase.
These are just a few ideas for how to use AR on product labels. The key is to think creatively about how AR can enhance the customer experience and make your product stand out in a crowded marketplace.
Find the Right Labeling for Your Business at Chicago Color Label
If you have more interest in leveraging augmented reality labels for your business, reach out to our team at Chicago Color Label for more information. You can also find plenty of great options when it comes to commercial printers and inks to make your statement stand out. Request a free sample of colors to see which you like best. Be sure to check out our growing blog for all of your labeling and printing needs!
