AR u ready? is a publication developed from a studio class at RMIT University’s School of Design in Melbourne led by Karen ann Donnachie and Andy Simionato during the 2020 pandemic lockdown. Students were asked to “imagine new worlds which they could explore through Augmented Reality technologies” (Karen ann Donnachie, Andy Simionato, AR u ready?, 3). They produced images and animated digital models as counterparts that would be loaded and overlaid on the image as soon as the smartphone camera was pointed at it. The works derive from the interaction of these two parts: Faces start to move, texts extend into their surroundings, floor plans turn into 3D architecture and objects rise from the page and splinter into fragments.

For this, the class cooperated with the immersive technology company Appearition, who developed an app that needs to be downloaded to fully experience the works. In the publication, each work is presented on one page of a double-page spread with a short introduction on the opposite side. Technically, all these experiences could also be triggered by the full preview available on Blurb and the project’s accompanying website—though the amazement and allurement of augmented reality only comes into full effect when triggered in tension with physical objects, the surface of which cannot be animated. Because of this, the print-on-demand publication becomes a necessary physical counterpart for the app and further enhances the playfulness and disruptive experience of the students’ works.

The cover features a collective work by all participants: Kezya Anatha, Thomas Bellamy, Meg Bielby, Jiaqi Chen, Zhongrui (Ray) Feng, Stavros Giannoulakis, Sylvain Girard, Karenina Kartikahadi, Jackie Liu, Jinni Low, Ka Wai Mak, Timon Meury, Alexander Mienczakouski, Garima Minocha, Jia Sheng Ong, Alexandra Palioportas, Alessia Petrini, Medina Siregar, Anastasia Stanisiaus, Ellen Waite, Blake Walshe, and Brock Willis.