Transcript of Snap Lens Lab 2024 video

Last updated 14 April 2025

Watch the Snap Lens Lab 2024 video and find out more about the Snap Lens Lab 2024.

Transcript

[Cordelia] Hi, my name is Cordelia Bunnis, and I am a SNAP philanthropy program manager.

SNAP has collaborated with the Royal College of Art over the past two years to run the London Snap Lens Lab, which is a three-week programme that gives students from underresourced communities professional development training and hands-on experience creating augmented reality, developing creative knowledge and skills and bringing their ideas to life.

[Participant 1] I didn't realise that the world was so much bigger. I came in with an open mind, then I got introduced to the hardware stuff, then machine learning and AR. And you could do so much more. I'm just going to keep continuing to use what I've learned through the whole three weeks, and continue my own practice, whether that's in the creative industry or as a professional person.

[Tom] Hi, my name is Tom Simmons and I'm the head of the Digital Direction programme at the Royal College of Art. Through a custom-built curriculum prepared by SNAP and the RCA, we've developed an immersive programme where students combine real-world environments and computer-generated content to create exciting new interactive experiences.

[Participant two] Doing the challenge and this experience were quite different, because with the AR challenge I was doing it by myself and I was remote. II'd say those brought more of a community aspect, I guess, being able to build relations with other people and learning from them.

[Tom] Through cultural visits, technical workshops, feedback sessions, presentations and mentoring, students are supported in experimenting with what augmented reality is and could be, and how it is impacting our world.

[Participant 3] Actually, I've been really inspired by the rest of the cohort; everyone's been working really hard to learn and to make these ideas into a reality.

[Tom] Over the three weeks of the lab, students developed group projects and presented their work to senior Snap and RCA teams to get real-time feedback on the lenses they developed.