University of Tampa produces first 3D yearbook.

Contrary to popular belief, high school is not the best time of anyone’s life- but college just may be. Starting college is starting a journey of self discovery. We learn about our likes and dislikes, try different sports and clubs, fall in love and live away from home for the first time, decide on a career path, and learn how to use our voices. Yearbooks were created for the many of us who cherished that time, they are a way to help us hold on to all the memories we made. Seeing how yearbooks are a treasured item for many, it is surprising to know that throughout history, yearbook has stayed relatively the same. Until now.

People currently in college were truly born in the digital age. They use Google and JStor for research, having no clue what an encyclopedia or periodicals are, and can’t fathom life without a computer or a cell phone. This line of thinking has led to a decline in yearbook production and purchases, causing some universities and high schools to do away with them all together. Others, still, have chosen to create digital yearbooks, providing graduating students with a PDF or website address where they can locate mementos of their glory days. Donny Murray, Editor-in-Chief of the University of Tampa‘s yearbook, The Moroccan, has decided to blend the two.

In the video below, Murray says that he wanted to maintain the print form, but also add some digital content. What he wound up deciding to do, is create an augmented reality component to the yearbook. Certain pages will have a ‘3D Yearbook’ logo, which can be scanned like a QR code by an app on your mobile phone. Your phone will then pull up videos, images, and slideshows. If you scan someone’s face you can leave them a five second shout-out, and if you scan a sports page you can pull up statistics from that season. This integration of technology within print adds a new level to yearbooks, allowing them to come alive off the page.

This year’s Moroccan was published by Walsworth Publishing Company, who worked in collaboration with Aurasma- the creators of the app used with the yearbook. This is the first edition of the yearbook to have an augmented reality component, but it is an idea that could easily catch on.

University of Tampa
[h/t] Augmented Reality Trends