Possibilities for brands to licence technology are “endless” says Mardles co-creator.
British sticker company Mardles has launched a Kickstarter campaign to back its latest initiative – the world’s first educational colouring book that comes alive on a smartphone or tablet in both virtual and augmented reality.
Co-creator James Murden has told The Source that the possibilities for brands to licence the colouring book technology are “endless”.
Children can use any pens, pencils or paints in order to colour scenes from the book. Then, by holding a smartphone or tablet over any page, the characters and environments pictured appear in 4D using the exact same colours chose by the budding young artists.
Billed as ‘discovAR’, the initiative will be the first to use augmented and virtual reality in one colouring book. This means that while a scene in AR will be shown against a real-life background (like a kitchen table for example), the app can also be switched to VR mode offering children a full 360-degree view of their coloured-in environment.
“Giving children the opportunity to colour-in their favourite well-known characters and then see them come to life in a virtual world the child can explore creates an even more magical relationship between the two,” James – who formed the company with mum of one, Sharon Wyness – explained to The Source.
“We’re very keen to have conversations with anyone who wishes to discuss the possibilities of bringing their brands to life through discovAR. And there’s still time for anyone to back us on Kickstarter too and show their support from the very beginning.”
The Kickstarter campaign runs until June 1 and needs to raise £16,500 to get the first run of backed books shipped in September.
The colouring books – themed on ideas such as underwater, outer space and wildlife – will also include three fun facts on each page to encourage children to learn. They will be available in four languages worldwide (English, Spanish, French and German).
You can find out more about the Kickstarter campaign by clicking on this link.
The Mardles stickers – which The Source first wrote about in January at Toy Fair – have already sold more than 200,000 packets in the UK and US since launch in 2015.
