HEY! magazine, which now comes with augmented reality (AR), has won a string of communication awards in the US and in Asia

AR you ready for augmented reality?

Found on most smartphones today, AR rocked the gaming world with Pokemon GO in 2016. And last August, it made a splash in HEY! magazine. With the NTU HEY! AR app, flat photos in print were seamlessly integrated into our three-dimensional world.

This new approach to reading has caught the attention of international communicators and judges as well as HEY! readers.

Produced in-house with regular student contributors, HEY! magazine was awarded four awards recently – the Best of the Best Award and the Excellence Award at the 2020 Gold Quill Awards in the US, and Gold awards for Best Use of VR/AR and Corporate Publications at the PR Awards Asia 2020.

We are focused on harnessing the power of digital technology and tech-enabled solutions to support better learning and living experiences, the discovery of new knowledge, and the sustainability of resources at the NTU Smart Campus. These efforts also extend to communication and a ‘smart’ publication like HEY! offers a range of options to share the NTU experience with prospective students, current students and recent alumni.

– NTU President Prof Subra Suresh

The NTU Corporate Communications team was also named PR Communications Team, with Chief Communication Officer Dr Vivien Chiong being named PR Professional of the Year (In-House), by the judges of PR Awards Asia 2020.

One Gold Quill Awards evaluator said: “The engaging visual style is fresh and fun, bright and bold, [and] seems on brand for a smart university”, while another praised NTU’s “choice of colours, layout, styles and the outstanding use of imagery and 3D animation, alongside the selective and effective use of AR”.

With just a point and tap of the smartphone, readers can unravel the stories hidden between the lines and interact with them spatially. For instance, in the launch issue, a Tyrannosaurus Rex popped out of a page and readers could bring it into their space and take photos with it.

The team held an AR roadshow during the year end, where polar bears and penguins appeared at the North Spine Plaza, thrilling the HEY! readers.

Digital devices are carried by almost everyone, and today’s smartphones already come with AR. Fast and reliable data networks are everywhere, attention spans are short, and the young expect news to be informative and yet entertaining… it’s especially satisfying to have combined the digital and the physical realms to create a new product that offers new spatial and sensory experiences for our digitally-savvy audience.

– Dr Vivien Chiong, Chief Communication Officer, who conceptualised the AR-enhanced HEY!

Said engineering student Kelvin Kaung: “Seeing the first AR-enabled magazine in a university definitely reinforces how technologically advanced NTU is. Having seen the magazine come to life, I don’t ever want to read normal magazines again.”

The free HEY! AR app trended no. 1 as the most downloaded education app on both the App Store and Google Play at launch. Since its debut in 2011, HEY! has won 24 awards from organisers of global competitions for communication excellence.

 

 

I was very excited to be part of the revamp of HEY!, from gathering views on how to improve the magazine, to becoming a student contributor. The team used many new elements that really re-energised the publication, especially with the integration of AR technology.

– Communication student Sergul Toh

 

 

My experience here has indeed given me the most empowering platform to develop impactful work, and has built my passion towards breaking boundaries through storytelling as an aspiring content creator. It’s truly heartening to see that more of my peers have been extremely responsive to our interactive content.

– Communication student Chia Kun Liang