Reality unfolds
Co-founder of Layar has both feet firmly planted in augmented reality
Claire Boonstra breaks the mould of what to expect of a tech whiz. The lively mother of two is co-founder of the Amsterdam-based fledgling company offering the latest cutting-edge innovation in mobile Internet called Layar.
A mobile browser that uses augmented reality (AR) technology to combine the digital world with the physical, Layar provides apps which serve as bridges that turn the everyday realm—from street scenes to print pages—into fully interactive digital experiences. It’s a technology that some predict will dramatically change the way we communicate and interact.
For Nissan Canada, the first company in the country to incorporate the technology into print ads, that time has come. Its static ads are brought to life with 3-D objects, special enhanced videos and links to the company’s website—Nissan.ca —as well as Facebook and Twitter. (See the Layar-enabled ad below.)
‘I seek innovation in everything. I always look at ways to make things better.’
Claire Boonstra, Layar co-founder
“Innovation is at the heart of everything we do, ”says Judy Wheeler, Director of Marketing for Nissan Canada. “Working with Layar, who shares our vision, makes an excellent alignment.”
With Layar, you can use your phone as a looking-glass to view data “layers” that appear atop print pages, linking you to more information, videos, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and a host of content providers and interactive sites.
You can also use it while you’re out and about in the real world to look for services or locations nearby or perhaps to play games. You can even view AR versions of certain sites to see what they used to look like in the past—say, the Berlin Wall and the Twin Towers in NewYork.
Meanwhile, in the midst of all this is Boonstra, a breath of fresh air in a digital age that is constantly changing, adapting to and challenging what is possible, which is pretty much what Boonstra, 36, is all about. Inspired by her engineer father and her technologically-minded mother, Boonstra was just 12 years old when she decided to study at the renowned Delft University of Technology, the largest and oldest public technical university in the Netherlands. The decision was an early indication of her single-mindedness and passion for technology, which would pave the way for her to cofound Layar. Later, she went on to study civil engineering at Delft but soon realized she needed to work in a much faster-paced environment.
“I need to move quickly. That’s just what I always want to do,” says Boonstra. “I seek innovation in everything. I always look at ways to make things better.”
In 2007 Boonstra met her Layar co-founders-to-be, Maarten Lens-Fitzgerald and Raimo van der Klein. The trio set up their first company, Sprx mobile, in May 2008. The following year, in June, they released into the market their brainchild augmented-reality browser.
“It was an exciting time. We developed and built Layar in just six weeks,” recalls Boonstra. “within 48 hours of our launch, we were featured in all the blogs that we read for our own inspiration. In two weeks, we had a big page spread in The New
York Times and we were featured on the BBC, CNN, you name it!”
The original 2009 launch focused on using Layar outside; now Layar’s newest version concentrates on making print interactive. “A person today is used to doing everything online—linking, sharing things, clicking, liking and buying things,” she says. “With Layar, you can now add digital behaviour to the real world.”
When you hold your phone over a page, Layar allows you to see a whole new unobtrusive layer that supplements what you are reading, allowing you to buy products, watch movies or share whatever interests you—all this without changing the print material’s esthetic.
The app works especially well for print ads for brands—for example, Nissan Canada. “if you are interested in a car triggered by a visual, you want to act on it, ”notes Boonstra. “at this moment, there is no way you can act on desire. Layar makes this possible. Directly there on the print ad, you can see more design details, information on where you can find the product and more.”
Layar is only the beginning of augmented reality, according to Boonstra.
“We’re at the moment when the radio became TV. We want to make the whole world interactive.”
And this will be made easier with the new Layar Creator, released this week, which allows printers and publishers to augment their materials with just a few clicks. Says Boonstra, “Soon the whole world will be clickable as we bring the digital world to physical reality.”