June 8, 2023
June 8, 2023

Unlocking the Power of AR: Key Insights from AWE ‘23

This past week, Snap AR took center stage at Augmented World Expo 2023, joining other leading AR developers and business leaders to discuss the latest in AR. We were thrilled to showcase the innovative technology and creative capabilities available through Snap AR and Snap’s developer products. With Lens Studio, Camera Kit, and Spectacles, augmented reality takes many forms: from colorful self-expression, to practical educational resources, to useful tools for leveling-up your business or product. All of this potential and more was on full display at AWE.

In case you missed it or want a chance to dive in further, we’re sharing a few of our key takeaways from the event — and what excites us most about the future of AR.



5 Principles for Best-In-Class AR

Arcadia leaders Resh Sidhu & Ben Feuerstein took the main stage on day one of AWE to reveal five principles that any creator, developer, brand, or business can apply to their AR creation process.

1) Find solutions for problems — not the other way around.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of getting excited by a technical solution and then going off to look for a problem that it can fix. This distracts from trying to solve real world problems and increases the chance of people asking, “So what?” Instead, ask yourself, “Why should this exist in AR?” 

2) Art and tech in equal measures.

Technology should be the invisible magic behind any experience, and as developers, we can often over-prioritize it. Technology married with human-centered design and storytelling is what moves people. 

3) Use process as platform, and elevate work through a streamlined workflow.

Talking about processes may not be the most thrilling topic, but we firmly believe that meticulous adherence to our process is what enables us to consistently deliver exceptional work. 

We follow a five-step approach, leveraging an agile methodology for project management.

4) Easier done than said. Put action over words.

Overcomplicating things and moving slowly can stifle creativity, so we prioritize speed and action in everything we do. AR is so dependent on the environment that it’s built for, which is why we focus on getting our work out into the world as quickly as possible to observe how people interact with it. 

5) A diverse team, inclusive and equal by design.

To create exceptional AR experiences, we need exceptional talent. Our recruitment process focuses on building a diverse, inclusive, and equal team that brings unique perspectives and experiences to drive creativity and innovation.

Later this year, the Arcadia team will be offering an AR Masterclass for creators, development teams, and businesses looking to build out their own AR strategy and up-level the AR experiences they make.



Educational Opportunities

Snap AR’s breakout session, led by Snap Product Manager Patrick Hadley and MousePack Founder Alex Bradt, provided an opportunity for developers and business leaders to learn more about our AR Try-On and product visualization capabilities. The Snap team also spoke about AR's impact on the future of shopping and civic engagement in panel discussions.

The Snap AR Lounge not only proved to be a popular networking hangout, creators had the chance to demo our latest tools and see how AR Lenses can be configured to run on multiple platforms.

We were also excited to announce the new Snap AR Learn Hub, which includes AR courses to teach different AR development concepts in Lens Studio. The hub contains a library of live streams and product tutorials taught by the Snap team and leading members of the Snap AR developer community. If you’re new to AR, our new AR Foundations course is a great place to help you get started. 

Building Community

Our community of more than 300,000 creators, developers, and teams from around the world continues to grow. This vibrant group plays an important role in advancing what's possible on our platform and helping further our creator and developer products, like Lens Studio which took home an Auggie for the Best Creator & Authoring Tool. The bigger we get, the more important it is for us to stay connected — and what better opportunity than at AWE! It takes courage to build the future and invest in AR, and we know we can move forward together if we’re able to learn from each other and work together. Thank you to everyone who made 2023 the best Augmented World Expo yet.

If you’re new to the AR community and feeling inspired, download Lens Studio and start building AR Lenses for Snapchat or your own mobile app or website. We look forward to seeing you all again next year — and in the meantime — we can’t wait to see what you create next!