Creating an augmented reality poster

When our graphic designers, Matt and Oscar, were challenged to create an Augmented Reality poster for Hamzah Butt’s debut fight, they embarked on a camp filled with learning, creativity, and triumph.

The result was nothing short of spectacular. Learn how Matt and Oscar took themselves from complete novices to creating a knockout piece of print.

A knockout challenge!

Matt and Oscar had no prior experience with AR before this challenge.

Matt added: “Before we were challenged to create an augmented reality poster, I knew absolutely nothing. I’d heard of it before but didn’t know what it was”.

Matt went straight onto YouTube to delve into design tutorials, particularly focusing on Adobe Aero, which he had heard was the best software for this kind of project.

The more Matt and Oscar learned about AR, the more excited they became.

Matt added: “Honestly, when I started to understand what augmented reality was and the possibilities it held, I was gutted I hadn’t heard about it sooner! I was so excited to get stuck into the design process”.

The training camp

With a newfound understanding of AR, Matt and Oscar had to think beyond the traditional 2D designs.

Matt said: “Myself and Oscar sat down to write a checklist of things we wanted to challenge ourselves to include in the design. Rather than designing something 2D, we had to envision how it could be brought to life in a 3D form”.

Our designers knew they had to create two variations of the poster: a still version for print and a moving version for the AR experience.

Dodging and weaving through the Challenges

One of the major challenges was the poster’s background.

Matt said: “Oscar had to find something that could move in the augmented reality version but would remain still in the printed version while still looking clean in both. Thinking about the still and moving designs together was a challenge.”

Another hurdle was getting accustomed to Adobe Aero, which is still in its beta phase.

Matt added: “Being its beta version which meant Adobe Aero was quite glitchy still. I wasn’t sure if I was making mistakes or whether it was the program and it took me a few days to understand!”.

The big reveal

Presenting the final product to Hamzah and his trainers in their gym was a memorable moment. By this point, our designers knew their design looked good.

Matt said: “It was the icing on the cake showing off our design and getting such great reactions from Hamzah and his team.”

As you can see in the video, Hamzah’s huge grin while interacting with his augmented reality poster pays homage to the hard work that our designers put in and makes all the effort feel worthwhile!

Title defence

Having triumphed in their challenge of creating an augmented reality poster from scratch, Matt and Oscar are eager to continue to improve.

With a desire to continue working with this technology, our designers expressed their wish to explore this newfound skill further and add more strings to their bows.

Matt said: “Next time I’d look to create something a bit more interactive for the user. I’d love to include some animated buttons in the design! I’m envisioning something like a game, where people can explore the design rather than just look and watch it”.

Augmented reality truly does have an endless list of possibilities. In a week when Apple released their Vision Pros, this has never been more evident!

Looking to their next creation, Matt added: “I’d love to go to town on it and push the boundaries of the technology.”

Wrapping Up

Looking to create your own augmented reality poster? Our designers have one more top tip.

Matt said: “I’d urge people to use and play with this brilliant software. Bear in mind that it’s still in its beta phase so it can be very glitchy at times!”

When you’re ready to start getting to work on your own printed masterpiece, we’ll be on hand to help you every step of the way!