Advertisement
For £35 you can help a vendor keep themselves warm, dry, fed, earning and progressing
BUY A VENDOR SUPPORT KIT
News

Welcome to The Big Issue's Augmented Reality special

We're bringing our page to life with exclusive video and audio content, while giving a new voice to our hard-working vendors

We’re hurtling into a new year swamped with uncertainty, debate and momentous change, but one thing is staying true through all of this: The Big Issue.

Our very reason for existence – to support our vendors – has never been clearer. Universal Credit is knocking countless families across Britain into poverty, and the number of homeless people on our streets has been rising every year for almost a decade.

But as always, there are seeds of hope, because with change comes opportunities to flourish in ways previously impossible. That’s what our Augmented Reality special is all about. On the streets now is living proof that hope can find a way through change; our message can adapt to whatever is thrown at us.

Go ahead, scan the front cover of the magazine with the GenARate app, then go and show your local vendor. Make it a conversation starter. Flick back to our regular My Pitch page, but use the app to unlock a video of our cover vendor Ann telling her story. She’s just one of thousands. Hear her out, and pass the message on.

We’re also featuring an exclusive Cressida Cowell bedtime story, read by David Tennant, as well as a video interview and musical performances from author Matt Haig and The Snowman and The Snowdog composer Andy Burrows. David Keenan, author of This Is Memorial Device, is also reading an extract from his new book For The Good Times.

Advertisement
Advertisement

We’ve partnered with technology company Konica Minolta on this project because week in week out, we are fighting for our vendors to succeed in any way possible. We’re testing contactless payments, we’re connecting vendors with future employers, and now we’re bringing the very pages of our magazine to life through augmented reality. Tech can get a bad reputation, sure, but we also understand the good it can do for society.

Welcome to The Big Issue’s AR special.

To download the GenARate app on the Apple App Store, go here

If you’re using Android, you can get the app here

Advertisement

Change a vendor's life this Christmas

This Christmas, 3.8 million people across the UK will be facing extreme poverty. Thousands of those struggling will turn to selling the Big Issue as a vital source of income - they need your support to earn and lift themselves out of poverty.

Recommended for you

View all
Energy bills set to rise in January as millions 'dangerously' rationing heating
a woman sitting in a bed wrapped in a duvet
Energy bills

Energy bills set to rise in January as millions 'dangerously' rationing heating

Pension credit wait times double – fuelling fears pensioners may miss out on DWP winter support
a pensioner holding a walking stick
Pension credit

Pension credit wait times double – fuelling fears pensioners may miss out on DWP winter support

One million homes are lying empty in England. Here's how we can fill them
boarded up empty homes
Empty homes

One million homes are lying empty in England. Here's how we can fill them

How house prices and sky-high rents predicted Donald Trump's US election victory
US president-elect Donald Trump
Donald Trump

How house prices and sky-high rents predicted Donald Trump's US election victory

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know