We all want to beautify our homes with some kind of visual decoration. But we are often disappointed when we compare how a photo looks on a website and how it fits in our room. As hard as people try to imagine an object in a specific environment, the actual results vary. However, this will definitely change if you choose to buy images from Shutterstock. The latest addition to their app is an augmented reality feature “View in Room”.
What is “View in Room”?
With this new addition to the customer app, Shutterstock allows people to virtually place any image on the wall in their room. To achieve this, it only takes to select an image and tap on the “View in Room” button. This button activates the camera mode on the phone.
Next, the user scans the room with the phone camera until dots appear on the screen. At a certain point, a green square will appear on a free area on the wall. When the user taps on this area, the selected image appears on the wall. If they are happy with what they see, they can tap to order the image.
To avoid confusion, the user will see the message: “Reminder: you are downloading a digital image and not a print”.
Why Did Shutterstock Create the Augmented Reality Feature?
Although AR is a terrific and trendy new technology, it must always have a practical purpose. For Shutterstock, it is all about helping their customers make better choices. Thus, the Founder and CEO of the company, Jon Oringer, said in a press release:
“We have been committed to experimenting with cutting-edge technologies for over fifteen years. This is yet another great project to have been developed from its initial iteration at our annual employee Hackathon, Hack to the Future. We decided to put this hack into production because of its potential to have an immediate customer impact.”
A New Way to Shop for Images
Speaking of customer impact, it is worth noting that people changed their shopping behavior when looking for artwork. The age of traditional art galleries is over. People use social media, online art forums and even stock photo services for inspiration. With a gallery of over 250 million high quality images, Shutterstock looms as a big player in this niche.
Thus, beside advertising agencies, web developers and graphic designers looking for content they need in their work, there is a new category of customers. These are individuals or companies who want to buy images and use it in their homes, offices or stores as artwork. Whatever kind of subject they are looking for, they can find it on Shutterstock.
Once they find something they like, potential customers can now place the image as an AR object in the room where they want to display it. Thus, they will be able to decide whether it is a good fit with the chromatic palette of the furniture and other decorations. Also, they can identify the ideal size of the image and order the adequate resolution for optimal printing.
How Can You Get the “View in Room” Augmented Reality Feature?
To enjoy this new feature offered by Shutterstock, users need to install or update the app from the Apple App Store. Since the company used Apple ARKit to develop the feature, it is only available for iPhone smartphones.
Here’s how to use the new AR feature offered by Shutterstock:
