Background
The AR Storybook Guide is a resource to aid designers and developers who wish to help parents and children connect through augmented reality storytelling.
Last updated
The AR Storybook Guide is a resource to aid designers and developers who wish to help parents and children connect through augmented reality storytelling.
Last updated
Tip: This section gives a more in-depth overview of the background of this research. If you want to skip ahead to the guide, click here to go to the UX Examples section.
What is an augmented reality storybook? Today, augmented reality books are still an uncommon phenomenon. Augmented reality (herein referred to as AR) can be described as an interactive experience that blends digital, 3D objects with the real world through a camera or lens. An AR storybook is a physical book paired with an AR app to enhance the reading experience. Most people know AR as that intriguing feature in the popular game Pokémon GO where the application (herein referred to as app) uses your camera to allow digital 3D characters to appear in your physical environment. While this use is considered for entertainment purposes the real world applications for AR go far beyond novelty.
When I was trying to get an AR storybook startup off the ground, I learned a lot about the potential of AR as a learning tool. Even looking more recently, AR in the education industry is gradually on the rise (Carter, 2020). I remember being at a startup conference in 2019 with a small team, showcasing an MVP AR storybook called The Boy by the Sea. We got such great engagement and feedback! I'll never forget a question that I was asked by a teacher attending the conference. "Can AR books be used in classrooms to help students learn?" I didn't have an answer to that. My first thought was "Yes!", but I couldn't say that because I didn't have any data to justify that response. After the startup failed, I continued research in AR, which is what led me to study at NYU's Tandon School of Engineering. Having heard that question and similar ones about a hundred times, I started my research journey in AR for learning. I knew I wanted to prove that AR books could be useful as a learning tool, but didn't know how. After taking the time to parse through studies, research, interviews, etc. I decided to take a step back and conduct research around AR storytelling in general, without a direct focus on learning or education. The AR learning experience will vary greatly depending on the subject, student age, goal of the learning activity, etc. But before those learning experiences can be perfected, a foundation for using AR with books must be established.
I chose to focus my research on AR for storytelling to address a gap that I found in the literature: a lack of design standardization for creating AR storybook experiences. That's right, there is no guide, no UX guidelines, no standard or fundamentals for creating AR storybooks. There's plenty when it comes to UX for general AR, but nothing that is specific to creating a storybook experience. Having some sort of reference or list of fundamentals, I believe, will be key to these books being successfully used and enjoyed by the users: parents/caretakers and children.
Note: It's also worth mentioning that AR storybooks are already on the market, available on websites like Amazon.com and in stores like Barnes & Noble. While they might not be widely adopted, they are out there. A comparative analysis I conducted shows the wide variety of pain points that exist in a lot of these books. This guide aims to start addressing those pain points so that future AR storybooks can be more accessible and provide a better user experience. It's up to us to design and develop AR storytelling tools that are useable and accessible.
STORYTELLING IS IMPORTANT! The power and importance of storytelling is sometimes underrated. Storytelling is what connects us. It helps us learn how to build relationships, it plays a huge part in creativity, and it's especially important for children. Studies show that reading and telling stories with children helps to promote their imagination and development. It helps them develop emotions and relationships, especially with their parents.
AR can be a powerful storytelling tool. I saw the potential for this when I was trying to run the startup. I have continued to see it over the years. In my research this previous year, I sent out a survey to parents and caretakers to gauge how willing they are to try alternative, technology driven storytelling methods. I won't get too into the details here but I do want to summarize the findings in these bullets:
The majority of parents and caretakers still use traditional books for storytelling.
More parents and caretakers allow children to use mobile devices than those who do not. Those who do not may be open to the idea if it proves to be useful for the child.
More parents and caretakers are open to using technology for storytelling than they are closed, but for a sizable group it depends on the type of technology. The technology also needs to be easy to use.
Parents and caretakers want technology to connect children with their loved ones. They are also frightened by the lack of engagement and social interaction that are a bi-product of certain technologies. Connection is key.
Keeping these points in mind when creating an AR storybook experience is going to be vital to the success of that experience. For more on the survey "How are parents/caretakers doing storytelling with children?" head to the Research Methods section.
So what this research and what this guide is really about is connection. The goal isn't for AR books to replace traditional storytelling. I don't think they ever should, at least not completely. The goal for this guide is to lay out a foundation for helping designers and developers build accessible AR storybook experiences that can help connect parents and children with storytelling.
Miguel Sanabria was born in Manhattan, New York on July 19th, 1992. He graduated from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor of Arts in Digital Media and Web Design in 2019. He has a background in both design and development, and works as a product manager in tech for a non-profit organization. Miguel has experience with augmented reality book design from a prior startup. He worked in product design for the startup and saw the potential for how the technology could be useful as a learning tool, but quickly realized that there was a lack of data to back that theory. In his graduate studies, his efforts were first focused on augmented reality for learning. He ended up pivoting to more general research on augmented reality for storytelling to first address the gap which is a lack of design standardization for creating augmented reality storybook experiences.
This guide is meant to be a living project. It's not a one size fits all solution. The fundamentals mentioned here are not exhaustive and do not cover all means of good user experience or accessibility. Instead, this guide is meant to be iteratively built upon through collaboration, research and user feedback. The book shown in the examples in the guide, The Boy by the Sea, is of my own creation. The 3D assets used in the guide are not. They are used for demonstration purposes under a CC By 4.0 license and will be cited properly throughout to ensure that attribution is given to the artists who designed them. For a complete list of references visit the References and sources cited section.
