IKEA is taking interior design to the next level with its latest augmented reality tool.
During a time where people are leaning more towards online shopping, brands are relying on technology to create a unique shopping experience for their consumers. Etsy, Target and Wayfair are just a few of the retailers that have introduced augmented reality tools to help consumers reimagine and redesign their living spaces. These AR applications allow consumers to superimpose home décor into their spaces before purchasing a product.
Hanging up art on your wall is one thing, but when it comes to bigger purchase decisions such as a couch, the question remains: is it going to fit?
IKEA is here to save the spacial-mapping day by placing an elephant in your room. Yes, you read that right, an elephant. The homeware brand’s design and research lab, Space10, collaborated and experimented with creative studio, Field, to create an AR tool that places inflated “elephants”in your living environment to measure space. And we, at Because, love it (you know us and how we get over creative tech).
Whether its on the shelf, under your bed, or behind the couch; IKEA’s balloon elephant will inflate to the confines of your space to help you visualise and understand the surroundings of your home in a fun, fascinating way.
Field explains that, “The metaphorical ‘elephant in the room,’ or something we’re trying to ignore, is subverted into a way of seeing potential, of sensing space intuitively, non-metrically. Why an elephant, you ask? Well, why not?”
And why not indeed, especially when the world is so ‘heavy’ at the moment. IKEA’s elephant in the room is not only a useful tool, but it is also a beautifully abstract experiment that delivers a sense of entertainment and playfulness. Something we’re all in need of right now – simple, light-hearted fun, and that’s exactly why we love it.