Judging for Lens Studio AR Poster Design Hackhaton , Istanbul

The AR Poster Hackathon, January 6-7, Sponsored by Snap Inc.  that is organised by Aylin Taslak, in Istiye University , Istanbul is one of the talent building program for the community of XR Turkey.  This time the goal of the hackhaton is to familiarise participants with Lens Studio, design within theme and publish a filter of AR Poster Design to Lens Studio .
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The participants consist of selected students, aged between 19 and 26, from distinguished design departments in Universities in Istanbul, Türkiye. Istanbul Bilgi University: 5 students | Bahçeşehir University: 5 students | Mimar Sinan University: 5 students | Istinye University: 5 students | Marmara : 5 students and undergoing 2 days mentorship from some AR Developers and Snap Lens Network members Cansu Türkmen, Rüya Baraz and Academic and Media Artist İrem Coban and after that, me, Alongside Murat Fırat & @Meltem Şahin as part of the jury line up , have the opportunity to offer our evaluation and insights for the designs and present participation certificates to all attendees.

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On their first day, students had a comprehensive day, starting with introduction to the day's themes and agenda, followed by interactive workshops on the "Designing the Future" theme and a technical workshop on AR Poster Design by Cansu Türkmen, along with ideation sessions for Marker Template Design. The day concludes with individual project work and mentorship sessions for students personalized guidance and support.

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In my experience of designing and concepting, until now .. AR Marker Experience has been a really great entry point for mass audience, wether it is with or without interaction. Eyes cannot lie, we as human are always looking for something more to see, and AR marker experience allow them to do it easily as it add a layer of surprise to the elements. Today AR Marker Experience has been extended to mixed reality, where user not only see an overlay of digital content but, overlay that recognise the physical surrounding.

Though , now i believe we are in the era of building impact beyond the awed experience . Hence , the impact need to be louder beyond a one time experience. And to successfully create impact, it's crucial to understand your audience. Knowing who they are and what they need allows you to craft the right content. This involves  compelling user stories, adding creativity, choosing the interactive elements, and finally implementation.

In line with this approach, the hackathon has adopted 'Designing for the Future' as its theme. This theme encourages students to explore the impactful use of technology within this context. Their creations will be evaluated based on three key judging criteria: Technicality, Creativity, and Relevance to the Theme. These criteria ensure that the projects not only showcase technical proficiency but also creative thinking and contextual alignment with the theme, all essential for designing impactful AR experiences for the future.

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In regard of this, assisted by Aylin , and in collaboration with the other 2 judges .. we were  preparing some of the thing we needed to ask ourselves as the students came up with really nice design and story telling . We have to admit that creative students in paired with user friendly platform of Lens Studio, makes a good!

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Some of the experience they are come up with :

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It wasnt easy for us to come up with 3 winners , because of the output of their work and creativity the put into it. 🥹 For me , even i was inspired by some of the fresh idea that was being made by these students . Some of them are quite scalable and it's a great inspiration for some projects. Hopefully the hackhaton manage to birth the next generation of designers and soon we will be able to see more of their work in Lens Studio 🤓
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Thanks everyone for the collaborations ! ⚡️🦄 💫

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