Overview

Client Snapchat

Tools Adobe Suite / Lens Studio / Blender

My Role
‍UX Designer

Timeframe
August 2025

AuraBlooms is an augmented reality (AR) lens created as part of Snap Inc.'s Lens Lab programme. An AR lens is an interactive filter that overlays digital elements onto the real world through your smartphone camera.

AuraBlooms explores how to make the invisible energy people carry and leave behind in spaces visible and tangible. Using Snapchat's AR technology, ordinary movements are transformed into poetic, immersive visuals: flowers bloom at your feet as you walk, objects shimmer with glowing beams, and a calming soundscape plays in the background to create the feeling of walking through a garden.

Unlike many AR experiences that assign users a single mood or emoji, AuraBlooms avoids labels. Instead, it represents energy in a fluid, open-ended way. It visualises an aura, a lasting impression that is personal and unique to each interaction.

Challenge

In cities like London, life moves quickly. People rush through their environments without noticing the subtle effects they have on the spaces around them. This disconnection is common in busy, overstimulating settings where time to reflect feels rare.

The design challenge was to create an AR experience that went beyond novelty. We wanted AuraBlooms to be shareable and fun but also meaningful. The questions guiding the project were simple but powerful: how can we make invisible energy visible and how might that help people reconnect with themselves, their environments and others?

Solution

The solution was to design a Snapchat lens that blended visuals, sound and interaction in a way that felt immersive but simple to use. AuraBlooms avoided reducing users to a single emotion or label. Instead, it represented presence as something fluid and evolving:

Flowers bloomed as users walked, symbolising growth and leaving behind an energetic trace.
Aura energy appeared as soft clouds and overlays, giving users a direct reflection of their presence.
A soundscape layered ambient tones to slow the pace and create a sense of calm.

Together, these elements turned an invisible concept into something tangible and engaging.

Chapter One

Development: Behind the Scenes

How We Built It

Bringing AuraBlooms to life meant combining creativity with technical experimentation. The goal was to make the experience feel organic and immersive, so every step of the build was about giving digital elements a sense of life and presence.

Asset Creation

We began with the visuals. Real flowers were 3D scanned to capture natural detail, while handmade pipe-cleaner flowers were digitised to add a tactile, crafted quality. To broaden the visual palette, we also sourced and adapted non-copyleft 3D models. This mix of sources created a library of assets that felt both authentic and imaginative.

AuraBlooms - Flower 1

AuraBlooms - Flower 2

AuraBlooms - Handmade flower — AuraBlooms - Handmade Flower

Animation in Blender

The next step was animation. Using Blender, we applied noise and transparency effects to make flowers bloom and fade in rhythms that echoed natural growth. A stylised cloud layer was introduced to represent aura energy, creating a soft, atmospheric backdrop that gave the lens more depth.

Lens Studio Integration

In Snap's Lens Studio, we adapted the shoe-tracking template so flowers appeared to bloom at a user's feet as they walked. Hidden planes were masked with occluder materials to make sure the animations felt rooted in the environment rather than floating on top of it. Careful organisation of models and assets helped balance richness with smooth performance.

Front-Facing Camera

For the front-facing camera, we designed a calmer, more reflective mode. A volumetric cloud animation moved slowly across the screen to suggest aura energy, while a subtle overlay gave the mode a meditative quality that contrasted with the garden-like feel of the world-facing view.

Sound Design

Sound was the final layer that tied everything together. We went into a recording studio and captured a mix of natural and delicate sounds, including bells, wind, birds and footsteps. These recordings were blended into a calming soundscape that gave the experience rhythm and texture. The result was audio that enriched the visuals without overpowering them, slowing the pace and drawing users deeper into the experience.

AuraBlooms Soundscape

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Chapter Two

User Journey: From Start to Bloom

The user journey offers a glimpse into how AuraBlooms comes to life on Snapchat. From the first moment of unlocking the lens to the unfolding experience, it shows the flow a user would follow when engaging with the design. Give it a try and experience the journey for yourself!

Get Started

Scan the Snapcode to unlock the AuraBlooms lens and begin the experience.

Click the link below to unlock the AuraBlooms lens and begin the experience.

🌸 Try AuraBlooms

Get Started

The user experience was designed to be intuitive. Scan the Snapcode to unlock the AuraBlooms lens and begin the experience.

The Aura

With the front-facing camera, users saw their own aura represented as soft clouds and overlays. This gave them a direct reflection of their presence and introduced the concept of energy in a gentle, personal way.

The Aura

The Interaction

Switching to the world-facing camera revealed the main interaction: flowers blooming at the user's feet as they walked. Each step left behind a visible trace, making the invisible idea of energy feel tangible.

The Interaction

The Soundscape

As visuals unfolded, a calming soundscape of bells, wind, birds and footsteps added depth. The audio slowed the pace of the experience, making the simple act of moving through space feel more considered and intentional.

The Soundscape

A calming soundscape adds depth, slowing the pace and drawing users into the experience.

The Invitation

The journey ended with an invitation: “Share the energy you have created.” This prompt encouraged users to reflect on the mark they left behind and to share their aura with others, turning a private moment into something collective.

The Invitation

User Journey

Click or drag a card to view its content here.

Chapter Three

Live Demo: A Moment on Stage

We presented AuraBlooms in a live demo where the audience could see the lens in action. I guided them through unlocking it, exploring the front and world-facing modes and watching flowers bloom in real time as the soundscape played. The demo turned an abstract idea into a shared experience.

AuraBlooms live demo, image 1 — On stage — introducing AuraBlooms

AuraBlooms live demo, image 2 — Explaining the aura mode

AuraBlooms - Live Demo

Chapter Four

Future Developments: Evolving the Idea

AuraBlooms was built as a prototype, but the idea has plenty of room to grow. With more time and technical scope, the lens could become more expressive and personalised, helping people engage more deeply both on their own and with others.

Customisable colours: A colour wheel could let people choose the colours of their aura, selecting shades that feel personal to them or reflect their mood in the moment.

Custom flowers: Users could unlock or design custom flowers, making each interaction feel distinctive and giving the lens a sense of growth over time.

Emotion experiments: An optional emotion picker could invite people to see how different states might influence their blooms, without reducing them to a single emoji or fixed label.

Full-body aura tracking: With advanced motion tracking, blooms and clouds could expand beyond footsteps to surround the entire body, creating a more immersive sense of presence.

Community mode: A multi-user feature could show overlapping auras in shared spaces, visualising the collective energy of groups and transforming everyday environments into shared gardens.

These directions would allow AuraBlooms to move beyond a prototype and grow into a more personal and connected design, encouraging both individual reflection and collective awareness.