Yesterday during my talk at the Augmented Reality Event in Santa Clara, California, one of the questions I brought up was whether or not QR codes continue to be used because of their association with AR. Should we prolong the use of these large black and white codes in order to help users and customers identify augmented reality experiences? This morning, during his keynote before the second day of the event, Bruno Uzzan, CEO of AR titan Total Immersion, announced the creation of a logo the company hopes will become a standard for identifying AR applications.
Dubbed, AR Plus (or AR+), the logo is designed to be a beacon that will signify when an interactive augmented experience has been implemented into an application. In the same way standardized USB or DVD devices brand the same logo on their devices and products, Total Immersion hopes AR developers will place the AR+ logo on their products.
Uzzan’s keynote this morning focused on the creation of standards within the AR community – a popular topic at the conference so far. Uzzan says the time is now for standardization for augmented reality because major technology players are considering AR experiences, and a lack of standards may temporarily keep them from adopting the technology. He believes standards are what the community needs to breakthrough into the mainstream.
“With the new AR+ logo, the industry can give consumers, developers, brands, and others a consistent framework for encountering and understanding augmented reality solutions,” said Uzzan in a press release Thursday. “There’s a sense that the AR industry has grown up too fast, that it has at times felt like the ‘Wild West.’ Today, the industry consists of multiple players, multiple platforms and easier access to AR. The new AR+ logo affirms that we’re working with a new human interface, now going mainstream.”
The benefits of standardization, Uzzan said, include stability and compatibility across platforms for AR experiences. Large downloads and poor quality have deterred users from using augmented reality in the past, and standardization will streamline development, providing higher quality to the user experience. The AR+ logo, he says, is a suggestion open for discussion, and a first step toward standards for AR.
AR developers can download the AR+ logo by visiting Total Immersion’s site where they can also find guidelines for the logo’s use.
