Station F, the largest startup campus in the world and home to 1,000 startups, houses Snap’s AR studio. (Photo by Melanie Hogue/Special to Cronkite News)
PARIS – With over 15 augmented reality experiences developed, this year’s Summer Olympics is incorporating AR like never before.
The IOC and the Paris 2024 organizing committee engaged in a variety of digital partnerships to bring AR into the Olympics. From the world’s first AR vending machine to Olympic-themed filters and Lenses, each AR experience offers a new way for users to engage with this year’s Games.
From its inception by computer scientist Ivan Sutherland at Harvard in 1968 to the launch of Pokémon Go in 2016, AR has entered the mainstream. Since then, AR, known for its digital overlays onto the real world, has found applications across various industries, including healthcare and entertainment.
Sports is no exception. While interactive graphics like swimlane overlays have become commonplace in sports broadcasts, AR is reaching a new milestone as it steps onto the Olympic stage.
“I believe we are at a tipping point with AR,” said Donatien Bozon, the Director of Snap’s AR Studio. “People are going to see it more and more as serious and very useful tech that can achieve a lot of great things and stop thinking of it as just the funny filters.”
Through collaborations with Coca-Cola, Meta, and Snap Inc., this year’s Games will feature a range of innovative AR experiences.
On the noncommercial side, Snap’s AR Studio engaged in a technical collaboration with the IOC and the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee on creating two key AR experiences for the Games.
The studio, consisting of a 12-person team of creatives, developers and designers, focuses on noncommercial AR experiences around culture, education, and art. Their goal is to transform people’s perception of AR. Donatien Bozon, the Director of Snap’s AR Studio, understands there’s more work to be done in order to educate those who may be familiar with or only see it through a narrow lens, and his team is up for the task.
Snap’s AR studio collaborated with the IOC to create a Lens that celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the last time the Games were held in Paris. For users on-site, it transforms the city around them, while for users globally, it transports them to Paris 1924. Additionally, Snap’s AR Studio played a role in bringing the official Olympic poster to life.
The poster, created by French artist Ugo Gattoni, 35, is meant to capture the spirit of the games as a diptych, artwork consisting of two pieces that create a single picture. The Olympic poster on the left and the Paralympic poster on the right can be viewed separately or together to form a full picture. For the first time in history, this year’s Olympic poster also features an official AR experience.
Snap’s AR Studio played a role in bringing the official Olympics poster, created by French artist Ugo Gattoni, to life. (Photo courtesy of Olympics.com)
Gattoni reflected how the idea came to fruition. With a love for animating his own artwork, Gattoni was onboard when Snap initially proposed bringing his work to life in a major way, using AR.
However, the idea behind the AR experience was the result of a happy accident. Around Christmas time, alone working in his studio, Gattoni was in the process of coloring his drawings when he made a mistake, creating a negative image that resembled a night scene. Gattoni chuckles as he acknowledges how a sleepless mistake resulted in a historic idea.
This concept would become the official AR version of the Olympic poster.
In the night version of it, the scene is brought to life and additional elements like fireworks and stars reflected in the water can be seen. For Gattoni, who strives to create an immersive experience in his own traditional work, AR provides an opportunity to push this invitation even further.
“I see my own drawings and my work like an invitation to dive into my world, to be able to walk through this surrealist world,” Gattoni said. “Thanks to this Snapchat project and immersive work, once again we are pushing a bit more this invitation to dive into this drawing, so it was a great opportunity.”
To explore these AR experiences further, fans have several ways to stay engaged. They can visit the AR section on the official Paris 2024 Olympics app, check out the IOC’s official Snapchat handle, or participate live on the big screen at competition venues.
With the inclusion of AR in Paris 2024, it has the potential to transform the Olympic experience and change future sporting events. Nonny de la Peña, the founder of Emblematic Group and the founding director of Arizona State University’s new Narrative and Emerging Media program, agrees.
“The Olympics is usually an early adopter of new technologies, it showcases what we are and celebrates what we can be,” de la Peña said, “and I think that having the Olympics decide to utilize these new technologies just really underscores how AR has arrived and people are going to be really using augmented reality all the time in their everyday life.”
While audiences may be focused on the world-class athletes in this year’s Games, it’s not too late to witness how AR has emerged as a major player at Paris 2024.
“People from all corners of the world, of all ages and backgrounds, will join together in a celebration of community, inspiration and joy,” Leandro Larrosa, IOC digital engagement and marketing director, told Olympics.com. “We aim to bring this spirit to life, delighting fans everywhere, through diverse fun and engaging digital experiences.”