Jerzy tells us about quitting his agency role to concentrate fully on creating social AR content.

1. How did you get started creating AR experiences?

I started experimenting with AR when I discovered AR Studio, the predecessor of Spark AR, during summer 2017. After that,  I started experimenting with Facebook AR while working in a social media agency in London. During this time I created some AR experiences for brands like Thomas Cook, Maddox Gallery,  Andre Rieu and others. In December 2018 I was invited by Instagram to beta test Spark AR. In May 2019, I left my agency job to focus only on social media AR, exploring platforms like Snapchat and TikTok.

2. What are the challenges you face on a daily basis?

Despite being almost 3 years since Pokemon Go introduced the idea of augmented reality to the mass public, AR is still in a very early stage.  

The main challenge I face every day is educating clients about functionalities, possibilities and limitations. Very often, clients have an idea that was taken from a different medium that they want to replicate in AR. However, the effects work best when they are a bespoke design with not only with the user in mind but also using all capabilities that AR offers. Augmented Reality is a new medium which needs to be treated separately to anything else on social platforms. This required a completely new approach not only to UI and UX design but also to the whole campaign strategy. 

The second challenge is that while the platforms like Spark AR or Lens Studio are maturing new policies and functionality are being introduced and the old updated. Sometimes on a daily basis without warning or announcement. This creates lots of unnecessary tensions between not only creators and platforms but creators and their clients.

3. What excites you most about AR and the industry?

One of the biggest challenges is also one of the most exciting features. The industry is very young, not yet established enough. I personally think it will be a couple of years before headsets like FB or Apple glasses will get introduced and become mainstream. We might also see bigger players emerging from many AR startups. There is a long journey ahead of us before the market becomes saturated like the app stores now.

 4. What piece of work are you most proud of?

I am always the proudest of the effect I am working on currently. I am trying to learn new techniques for every effect and I feel like all the older ones are outdated. But if I need to choose one I will have to say Black Neon. It is one of the simplest effects I have done, but it resonates with people a lot. I see lots of people on IG using my filters to create their IG profile picture and this is extremely flattering.

Jerzy is one of the creators signed up to Blend Market. To get started all you need to do is post your immersive brief on Blend Market and find the best creators to match your needs. For more information contact Laura@blend.media