“I have long been fascinated by how digital technology such as smart phones and tablets is being applied to provide another dimension to signage graphics and advertising,” says Brendini, who adds: “AR is amazing because you can really get a lot more bang for your buck and having managed the project for our front cover it is well within the capabilities of most sign-makers to take on board.

“The really key thing about AR is that you can add incredible value to any printed signage, be it a banner, poster, window graphic, wall covering, floor graphics or even a vehicle wrap.”

Brendini continues: “Our front cover is quite sophisticated because we have a filming studio in-house and a very clever design team that could marry my bit of acting to the cover design, but it could be very simple. For instance, a series of banners printed for the recent London Marathon to support a charity could augment using a simple video message from the runner hosted on a video sharing platform like Vimeo or YouTube.

“We use Layar because it is ‘true AR’, so the video plays as if it’s actually on the printed material, rather than simplistic systems which just forward you to a web page—basically a glorified QR code.”

The key attraction for sign-makers who use this technology to enhance their printed products is that it means they can offer a service of much higher value to a customer who is more often than not just shopping around for the lowest price.

“If you leave out the time we took to film my skit, then the whole project took less than two hours to put together using the front cover art work as a base in Layar Creator,” says Brendini, adding: “So even at the lowest common denominator, if your customer is a small business and doesn’t have any video content, they could simply film a short sales message and send it over to you to upload and use as the augmentation.”

Looking towards the higher end of the market, AR has true potential as a significant additional revenue stream and market differentiator for sign-makers who deal with large business or blue chip companies.

Download the Layar App on your smart phone or tablet and scan the front cover of SignLink May to see ‘The Amazing Brendini’, AKA SignLink editor Brendan Perring, perform his special AR magic show. If you haven't got a print version of the magazine scan the front cover of the 3D digital version direct on your PC or laptops screen.