#BreakTheBias this International Women’s Day

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2022, we asked our social AR guru Abbie Peach to magic up a Snap Lens that offers a way for people everywhere to show their support.

The theme of this IWD is ‘Break The Bias’. A simple gesture – crossing your hands – can be a powerful statement on gender equality, and one to which everyone at Arcade is fully committed.

Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women's equality. Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias.

Abbie, with design support from the wonderful Dani Verburg en Zach Thompson-Howley, put together this brilliant Lens. Will you show your support and help #BreakTheBias?

Scan the Snapcode below, or tap hier to access the Lens.

Arcade is an official Snap Lens Partner

Get in touch to see how Social Media AR could help you

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Testers Wanted! Keeper of Paintings goes into Beta at the National Gallery

The Keeper of Paintings and the Palette of Perception, the new immersive game set at The National Gallery in London, is being Beta-tested by children and their families throughout the half-term week, February 12th-20th.

This is the last major milestone before the full public launch of the experience at Easter, and is the result of nearly a year of development by the Arcade team, working in collaboration with The National Gallery, StoryFutures and a wider partnership group including Royal Holloway University of London, Brunel University of London and Foremost.

HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED

If you are a parent or carer of 7-11 year old children and would enjoy spending an hour or so having fun playing together in the iconic surrounds of The National Gallery, click the image or link to sign up!

Click here to sign up!

ABOUT THE KEEPER OF PAINTINGS

Step into a hidden world of art and magic at The National Gallery. Have you got what it takes to help the Keeper of Paintings and find the lost Palette of Perception? The Keeper of Paintings and the Palette of Perception is a free mobile-based immersive adventure that encourages children to explore one of the world’s most iconic galleries and learn about some of the greatest artworks ever created. The child-led experience takes place in the physical world of the National Gallery but also – through the magic of augmented reality – in the fictional storyworld of the Keepers, a mysterious group of magical beings who watch over some of our world’s most precious treasures. Suitable for ages 7-11. Families participating in the Beta testing will help to shape the final experience due to launch at Easter, and will receive an Amazon voucher in thanks for their time.

Click here to sign up!

Lipton Ice Tea Goes Festive

Following the hugely successful ‘Share Some Sunshine‘ campaign over the summer, Lipton Ice Tea wanted to extend the experience and adapt it for the winter months ahead.

During the summer, consumers could bring out a joyful bright Lipton sun with a nod of their head, and play with a series of fun smiles and sunglasses that were linked to limited edition pack designs.

For the winter, the brand wanted to keep the successful formula but with a bucketload of festive spirit thrown in! Flashing holly tree glasses, Santa beards, presents and more were all designed and built in to the new effect on Instagram, and launched in the month running up to Christmas.

We are again working with our friends at global design agency Design Bridge, and are so excited to give consumers a new way to enjoy some festive cheer, Lipton Ice Tea-style!

Check out the full story hier, or try it out yourself on Instagram by scanning the code below!

Hope Sculpture Unveiled In Glasgow and on Social Media AR

The Hope Sculpture started as a conversation with Ramboll and became a gift from 50 companies to Glasgow. It is a testament to the power of collaboration and dedication to deliver a better future

Steuart Padwick

The Hope Sculpture is a 23-metre high monument designed by Steuart Padwick, newly unveiled in Glasgow’s stunning Cuningar Loop. It features an anonymous child embracing the surrounding nature and reaching out to a greener, hopeful future, and comes at a critical time for the future of the planet and all that live on it.

The child stands atop 20m high elegant columns that take their form from the brick chimney stalks that once littered the East End of Glasgow, with the entire sculpture constructed using low carbon, reclaimed, recycled or sustainable materials, of which almost all have been locally sourced.

The team behind The Hope Sculpture have developed an impressive and diverse partnership of over 50 organisations whose generosity has made the project possible. Arcade was approached to add an immersive element to the experience, offering a way for those unable to visit the sculpture in person to participate and show their support.

The result is an augmented reality effect that lets Facebook and Instagram users place their very own Hope Sculpture wherever they are in the world, and pose with it for selfies that can be shared with the hashtag #myhopesculpture.

We are proud to be a part of The Hope Sculpture team, and pleased to be able to play a role in raising the awareness and engagement with this wonderful and important project.

Facebook users can access the effect hier, and Instagram users hier. The effects work on mobile and tablet.

For more on The Hope Sculpture, follow the project on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn.

Get in touch to find out more

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The Hundred Avatars Wins Fan Engagement Award

The prestigious Broadcast Sport Awards took place at London’s Park Lane, and on a very special night for The Hundred, Sky Sports and the entire Avatar team, The Hundred Avatars was victorious in several categories. Of greatest excitement for Arcade was the win in ‘Best Use of Fan Engagement’, which rewarded experiences that ‘put fans at the centre of the action like never before’.

The Hundred Avatars were designed to give fans the chance to ‘Meet the Heroes’ of The Hundred in immersive augmented reality, and marks the first time motion captured avatars have been presented to sports fans at this kind of scale anywhere in the world.

Our thanks go to our partners Sky Sports and the England & Wales Cricket Board for having the courage and belief to invest in this kind of cutting edge innovation, and to Dimension Studio for working tirelessly to produce the 3D avatars themselves, ready for us to offer up to fans via The Hundred and Sky Sports apps, and in WebAR via 8th Wall.

We were thrilled that Sky Sports also won for ‘Best Sports Graphics for a Live Production’, and received the Broadcast Sport Special Recognition award for everything Sky has done for cricket.

To Meet the Heroes yourself download The Hundred app, or visit our 8th Wall project on mobile.

Read The Case Study

The Hundred Avatars

Munch Named As Finalist In Digital Catapult Awards

We are thrilled that MunchMunch, the immersive arts platform for schools, has been nominated as one of three finalists in the ‘Responsible & Ethical Tech Pioneer’ category at the Digital Catapult Awards 2021.

Digital Catapult is the UK’s leading advanced digital technology centre, and one of the loudest and most important voices in supporting and promoting the UK tech industry. They identified Arcade as a future leader as early as 2018, appointing us to their Augmentor programme that year, and have continued to be supportive advocates for us and the entire immersive landscape in the UK.

In early 2020 we were invited to pitch for an incredibly exciting project in which the winning SME would partner with Digital Catapult and Norway’s Munch Museum to create a new immersive tool for schools inspired by the works and artistic philosophies of iconic artist Edvard Munch.

The result was MunchMunch, a fun, exciting creative platform designed for kids aged 7-11 to express themselves in entirely new ways. With MunchMunch, they can take their creations from 2D paper into 3D augmented reality and engage with the physical spaces around them in ways that, we think, Edvard Munch himself would have approved.

The awards ceremony is on November 17th, and you can find out more about the Digital Catapult Awards hier.

Read The Case Study

MUNCHMUNCH

Hello, Dani!

Arcade hires are coming thick and fast at the moment, and we are delighted to bring in our first Game Artist, the incredibly talented Dani Verburg! Dani will be based in our Netherlands office, and joins after impressing as a freelance artist on our National Gallery project. You can check out her portfolio here!

Welcome to Arcade, Dani! Tell us a bit about yourself.

Heya! I’m Dani, a Dutch game artist and illustrator! I’ve studied Game Art at the University of Arts located in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and gained my Bachelors Degree in Creative Media and Game Technologies there.

What have you done that you’re most proud of so far?

I am proud of my Game Art graduation project, which was an ambitious world building project as a proof of concept for my own action-adventure metroidvania game, as well as research about using colour psychology in visual storytelling.

Stunning work! Now you’re moving to permanent role with us at Arcade, what are you most looking forward to?

Contributing to amazing projects that that give people unique and awesome experiences, as well as the amazing creatively inspiring team!

What excites you most about immersive technologies?

I love how the field of immersive technology is still so full of potential. I’d love to see where it goes in the future and how I can contribute to it as a member of Arcade.

Us too! Can’t wait to start throwing your art into our projects. So, what do you get up to in your spare time?

I love to play video games like ‘The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth’ and ‘Hollow Knight’, and watch animated TV-shows like ‘The Owl House’ and ‘Amphibia’. I also love reading!

What sort of music are you likely to put on when you’re in charge of the playlist?

Lots of different things! From ‘Monster Cat’ electro mixtapes to punk rock bands like ‘Nothing But Thieves’, to beautiful video games scores like Gareth Coker’s soundtrack for ‘Ori and the Will of the Wisps’.

Yep, you pass! Anything else you think we should know or are prepared to admit to?!

Don’t be surprised if I suddenly show up in a conference call with an entirely different hair colour. I tend to just go from blue, to pink, to something else entirely unannounced. Keeps the creative energy flowing, ya know?

Fantastic, love a bit of colour around the place. Thanks for talking to us Dani, and welcome again to the team!

If you have any questions for Dani you can check out her various profiles hier, or give her a shout at dani@arcade.ltd.

Share Some Sunshine with Lipton Ice Tea

AR Snap Lens

How does an iconic drinks brand that’s all about fun, social connection make a splash during a summer where social interaction isn’t allowed?

We were thrilled to be able to work with our friends at global design agency Design Bridge, on a social media experience linked to the limited edition packs they designed for launch across Europe.

‘Share Some Sunshine’ launched on Instagram and Snapchat and generated hundreds of thousands of interactions in markets including France, Belgium, Poland, Turkey, and was even adapted for launch throughout Middle East.

Check out the full story hier, or try it out yourself on Instagram or Snapchat by scanning the codes below!

The Hundred Avatars Shortlisted for Broadcast Sports Awards

We are delighted to announce that The Hundred Avatars have been shortlisted in two categories of the prestigious Broadcast Sports Awards 2021. ‘Best Use of Fan Engagement’ rewards work that ‘puts fans at the centre of the action like never before’ – an apt description of the AR avatars that allowed The Hundred audiences to bring their cricketing heroes into their homes and gardens.

Our partners Sky Sports have also been shortlisted for their presentation of the avatars in the ‘Best Sports Graphics for a Live Production’ category, and for overall ‘Best Sport Production’.

The awards take place on November 3rd – wish us luck!

Read The Case Study

The Hundred Avatars

Hello, Jagoda and Shahd!

Over the summer we invited several hugely talented Masters students from Goldsmith’s AR/VR MA course to join our Arcade internship programme. After astonishing us with their skills and enthusiasm, we are thrilled to announce that Jagoda Wrobel (Immersive Experience Designer) and Shahd Sherief (AR Developer) have accepted full time offers and are now permanent members of the Arcade team! We thought it might be nice to find out a bit more about them.

Welcome to Arcade, Jagoda and Shahd! Tell us a bit about yourselves.

Shahd Sherief: Hii! I’m Shahd, I’m a Computer Engineer turned AR developer now at Arcade from Egypt!! I got my undergrad at the American University in Cairo, and am doing my masters in AR/VR at Goldsmiths in London!

Jagoda Wrobel: After living my best life in Newcastle for three years studying Graphic Design, I moved down to London to start a new chapter and, like Shahd, gained my Masters in VR & AR at Goldsmiths University.

A pair of Masters – how exciting! So, what have you done that you’re most proud of so far?

JW: While at university I co-created a few small companies with my friends that were recognized and won awards. However, my first full-time position was at the Arcade, and so far the whole experience has been amazing.

SS: Workwise, I am super proud of my academic projects. I love bringing my own ideas to life and I actually have another AR one in the works! The proudest is of my undergraduate thesis which was an AR projection mapping projector that we made from scratch with its own visual scripting interface! Lifewise as pertains to work, I’m most proud that I made the leap to quit my old very technical job that I just couldn’t see myself in, and move to London despite everyone saying it was a bad idea (I am known for those, but this wasn’t one of them).

What do they know?! You’ve made a great choice. What are you most looking forward to, working at Arcade?

SS: I’m most looking forward to being part of working on amazing projects honestly. I get really excited to see cool projects come to life, and feel so proud to know I was a part of that! And also to being a part of the absolutely unanimously wonderful team.

JW: I am looking forward to working on real-life briefs with existing clients alongside the professional team, to carry on exploring the creative possibilities of immersive technologies and create authentic experiences that immerse the audience and make them believe in the moment.

You’ve both spent time studying the immersive space – what excites you most about immersive technologies?

JW: It is exciting to shape the future of one of the fastest-rising industries and bring immersive experiences into everyday life. For now, there is a big knowledge gap when it comes to understanding terms like AR and VR. However, being part of the group that is spreading the awareness to a wider audience and seeing people try these immersive experiences for the first time is pretty awesome.

SS: I love that immersive tech is a relatively new field! It’s very cool to feel like you’re working in a field that you have the possibility to pioneer. What is also super cool, is that you can use XR as a tool to elevate basically most project ideas!

Great answers. So, what do you get up to in your spare time?

SS: I love to play the piano and guitar (as much as I adore London, I’m devastated to have left my piano behind) it’s truly therapeutic to me. I also sometimes write music and poetry!

JW: In my spare time, I like to keep myself busy and active. Usually, I would dance, meet up with my friends or do those two things together and hopefully soon get back on the plan to travel the world.

Music, dancing, poetry, travel – sounds very cool. Speaking of music, what are we going to hear when you’re in charge of the playlist?

JW: I have eclectic playlists that range through all sorts of music. What I listen to depends on my mood and the season of the year. Autumn is usually reserved for some post-summer nostalgia and indie rock.

SS:I’m a huge music snob and have a significant superiority complex when it comes to my music taste. It’s hard to describe so here is a playlist of songs that I decree as being fantastic. Which reminds me, I need to force this on everyone at Arcade in office!

Wow. I’m sensing some intense office debates – bring it on! Before you go, is there anything else you think we should know or are prepared to admit to?!

JW: I was very proud of my paper aeroplane making skills, which I had a chance to show off at the Arcade away day over the summer! If we ever have to enter some kind of origami competition I think I might be the right person for the job!

SS: Yes, I’m freakishly good at playing PianoTiles. I can play with one hand (trained myself to master it with both left and right) and even one finger. I get all of my best ideas when I play it, and if ever I’m stuck on a piece of code/work I just play PianoTiles for a bit and somehow the solution comes to me. Like I said, I owe my sanity and livelihood to the piano. This may or may not be my way of asking for a Steinway in office.

Well, it’s good to have an outlet! And as for the piano, we’ll definitely add it to the wishlist…! Anyway – thanks to both of you for speaking to us, and welcome again to the Arcade team.

If you have any questions for Shahd or Jagoda you can check out their LinkedIn profiles hier en hier, follow Jagoda on Twitter hier, or give them a shout at jagoda@arcade.ltd or shahd@arcade.ltd.