Augmented Reality Marketing App for Artists to Boost Fan Engagement

Client

A creative technology studio

Industry

Technology, Entertainment

Services

Business Analysis, Software Development, Testing

Stack

Unity, GitHub, AR Foundation, ARKit XR Plugin, Universal RP, Firebase, Swift, MVP architectural pattern, Git, UIKit, StoreKit

Challenge

A creative tech studio was looking for innovative ways to help artists promote themselves and engage with fans. After studying market trends, the company understood that augmented reality could be a winning choice. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, AR adopters were reporting significant increases in engagement rates and brand awareness thanks to AR marketing. So, our client decided to build an AR marketing app for artists. They wanted to create a virtual space where artists could display 3D models of their art pieces and merchandise for fans to explore, buy, and share. The studio turned for assistance to ITRex as a tech partner with extensive experience in AR development. We were happy to help.

Our task was to:

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Conduct business analysis to scope the project

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Build an AR mobile app for creating and sharing augmented reality experiences

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Integrate the app with an external NFT marketplace

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Perform extensive manual testing

Solution

An AR-based app for iOS allows fans to create an AR portal by pointing a camera onto a surface and enter it to explore virtual rooms created by their favorite artists. The user can decorate the rooms with art pieces and merchandise available as 3D objects and share videos or pictures of their AR experiences with friends, or buy selected objects in an NFT marketplace. The key components of the app are:

Augmented reality Upon start, the app turns on the phone’s camera, inviting users to choose an icon of a virtual room they want to explore and find a surface for initiating the AR portal into this room. Available options in the room include:

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Interacting with available 3D objects by rotating or resizing them

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Using the objects for decorating the room

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Retrieving a popup description of an object to see if it’s available for sale, and if yes, going straight away to an external marketplace

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Making a video or a picture of their decorated room

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Sharing their experience with other fans

Social feed

In the main feed, designed to foster community, users can see their rooms and rooms decorated by other community members. They can also like or comment on other people’s content and share theirs on outside social media networks.