Though it’s becoming more and more common, augmented reality technology still seems a lot like science fiction. Unlike virtual reality, where everything the user sees is created by a computer, AR products superimpose a computer-generated image onto the real world using the camera on a tablet or smartphone.

At Lourdes University, the new iWolf program seemed like a perfect avenue to bring this immersive technology to the world of education. Beginning in the fall of 2019, all incoming freshmen at Lourdes will be given an iPad. Through their iPads, freshmen will be able to take courses optimized to make use of AR technology paired with online textbooks and open source materials.

Lourdes planned to kick off this program in the spring of 2019 with an AR station at a press conference designed to showcase the new technology. Somehow, Lourdes wanted to create an immersive AR experience to show press conference attendees an example of the sort of experiences new Lourdes students could expect.

But there were two problems. First, Lourdes didn’t know how best to quickly demonstrate the AR technology, given that everyone at the event wouldn’t have an iPad. And secondly, the press conference was just two weeks away.

Enter Communica. An account team of Chrissy Redrup and Kylie Gyurgyak, graphic designer Anna Vecchi and copywriter Ryan Gast quickly developed a short AR presentation that could be accessed from within an existing augmented reality app. This app showcased the kind of visuals students would experience through the iWolf program while offering attendees a simple download for the event.

The team completed a prototype of the presentation with a few days to spare. After some tweaking, Communica happily delivered the presentation and coordinated the AR experience at the press conference. Lourdes was pleased with the final result and plans to pursue Communica-led AR projects in the future.