Augmented reality (AR) is a form of immersive technology taking the world by storm today, with considerable developments across the entertainment and design arenas, and recently with books.
Little Hippo Books, a US-based company, has utilised immersive augmented reality technology to bring alive story books got for children and their parents.
Albert Haug, the owner, and president of Little Hippo Books was recently in the Philippines, on being invited by the Big Bad Wolf sale founder Andrew Ng.
Several of the titles offered by Little Hippo Books were brought to the World Trade Center in Manila city, for the purpose of this much-anticipated sale event.
The books from Little Hippo can be read like any other conventional book, without the help of augmented reality. But readers can witness something completely different after they download the Magic Hippo application from the Apple App Store or Google Play. The app utilises the camera of one’s smartphone to perform scanning processes for locating markers present on the cover and inner pages. The application also uses the surface of a particular book for the purpose of projecting specific characters, locations, items, and other relevant visual content. Users will also be able to enjoy music and audio effects along with the visuals.
In principle, augmented reality is making characters jump off the pages of storybooks.
Little Hippo Books began its journey as a publishing house for children’s books. Down the line, its owner Haug started becoming keen to look towards a different path.
Haug spoke regarding his realisation regarding the emergence of AR as a viable and more vivid form of entertainment and knowledge. When the technology gained widespread exposure, Haug started considering it as the future. This prompted him to combine his company’s regular publishing business with augmented reality, which gave fruition to the company’s AR books.
Till now, the company has made six books available to audiences. Four of them are children’s storybooks – “The Three Little Pigs,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “The Velveteen Rabbit,” and “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” These are the offerings of the company to help little children get started with education.
Haug revealed that the company also outdid its own efforts, by going ahead with the development of educational book titles, which are – “123” and ABC”. Engaging children and retaining their interests are prime objectives, as the young ones need to learn their ABCs and 123s thoroughly. Augmented reality brings an interesting dynamic to the entire thing, making the experience more than just reading.
According to Haug, the parents of children were also quite overwhelmed by the technology’s impact on their children. He expressed that there are a lot of existing books that point to the relationship between children’s books and augmented reality. Whilst a child might vaguely remember what he or she reads, AR-based books actually get them familiar with the characters of the stories, with whom the youngsters can interact. It ensures that the children are more engrossed and show interest in learning.
