Augmented reality is still waiting on its “killer app,” but a new demo from Toronto designer Adam Pickard shows off a use-case we could likely all get on board with: turning paper Ikea manuals into animated demonstrations.

For anyone who has ever looked, with growing bafflement, at the blueprints for assembling their coffee table or new chest of drawers, this proof-of-concept demo is enough to have you gratefully reaching for your iPhone.

In Pickard’s unofficial app demonstration, users would need only to scan the barcode of their new item of furniture. This would then bring up an animated version of the manual, depicting a three-dimensional model of your piece of furniture gradually assembling as you swipe between different steps.

While there’s no guarantee that this is ever incorporated into the official Ikea app, we can’t help but think this is kind of genius. Right now, AR has some pretty big limitations when it comes to areas like mapping — since it’s socially unacceptable to walk around the streets holding an iPhone in front of your face. In the privacy of your home, however, that’s exactly where augmented reality could shine.

Ikea has previously shown itself to be willing to experiment with AR. Last year, it debuted its Ikea Place app, which allows users to virtually place new pieces of Ikea furniture in their homes for a bit of AR “try before you buy” action.

Source: Dezeen