Ikea has published a short promotional film for its 2014 catalogue, outlining the process behind its new visualisation app. Using augmented reality (AR), the user can place virtual furniture into their own home to see how it will look, and if it will fit.

After scanning selected pages of the printed 2014 catalogue with the Ikea catalogue app – available for both iOS and Android – or by browsing the digital document on a smartphone or tablet, the user simply places the printed catalogue in the desired location for the furniture visualisation, and chooses a product from a current range of 90 to see how it will look in their home. The app uses the catalogue itself to judge the approximate scale of the furnishings – measuring the size of the catalogue itself (laid on the floor) in the camera and creating an augmented reality image of the furnishings so it appears correctly in the room.

According to Ikea, making the most of the available space in a home is particularly important in the UK because it has the smallest houses in Western Europe, with the average house having shrunk to as little as 85 sqm.

Peter Wright, country marketing manager, Ikea UK and Ireland, says: "When our designers and interiors experts started to think about how we could use augmented reality to help our customers, we felt that we could solve some of the very real problems they face.

"Our customers want to be able to test out whether the products they've been inspired by in our catalogue will work in their own homes – particularly when it comes to larger pieces of furniture. Offering a way of using mobile technology to enable to test products means the technology has a practical purpose and really helps customers visualise the way their homes could look.

"It means they can bring the Ikea catalogue into their own homes from the comfort of the very sofa they’re planning to replace."

The print version of the Ikea catalogue will also feature over 50 pages that readers can scan with their mobile to get access to additional product information, videos and alternative views of products.

The new app will launch in the Apple App Store and Google Play on 25th August. Take a look at the film by clicking on the link below.