Spark AR Creator Stories: Meet Luke Hurd

Today, we’re profiling Spark AR creator Luke Hurd.

Within the Spark AR Creator Community, Luke is known for his playful, easy-to-use effects like Kathedra, Googly Eyes and Pickle Cat and he tells us that for inspiration, he likes tapping into the styles and tastes of the 80s and 90s.

Luke says he’s been captivated by the capabilities and creativity made possible by immersive technologies like AR and VR, which is what got him into creating his own effects. Today, Luke has more than 30 Spark AR effects published on Instagram, with 15 more on Facebook. Here’s a small sampling:

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Connecting Advertising with Augmented Reality

Luke has a long history in visual design and digital advertising, and (like many Spark AR creators) has worked through his share of bubbles and bursts. Earlier in his career, Luke worked on website design and explored how to make digital ads more effective, and has since continued to explore jobs and projects where he can blend technology with creativity.

Today, as a digital immersion director for an advertising agency, Luke likes to explore the potential of AR and VR as mediums for brands to connect with their audiences. Over the last several years, he’s learned that there’s power in enabling people to create and express their own stories and experiences — and that AR is a much more memorable and engaging way to do this for brands.

Having previously tried other AR tools, as well as various digital advertising platforms, Luke realized that while some tools had strong technical abilities, none were a perfect solve for the needs he was seeing.

“What drew me to [Spark AR] was this great feature set...it’s on devices that everyone can use, doesn’t require headsets, with built-in shareability,” he says, “Really everything connected to where I thought ‘I really need to be involved in this and figure out how people use this.’”

One of Luke’s most popular Spark AR effects is called Pickle Cat, earlier this spring he posted that it had generated over 10 million views. This effect took him about three hours to create and was made mostly using Spark AR Studio.

“The modelling was done with Cinema 4D / Blender; the images with Photoshop – but the rest is all Spark AR Studio!”

Part of a Global Community

Luke is active in the Spark AR Community, and says he uses it to stay up-to-date on the latest developments and uses of Spark AR Studio. It’s also the primary way he interacts with other creators.

Engaging with a global community has helped him to learn more about what international audiences are interested in, and he says the experience has brought him together with people from other parts of the world he otherwise would not have been connected to.

Luke plans to continue creating fun effects for people, while exploring how brands can use Spark AR to connect with their audiences.

When asked what trends he sees on the horizon, Luke say that the growth of AR is inevitable as smartphone adoption increases. Luke has a positive outlook for AR, saying, “Even if we look at AR like it’s silly, or it’s a use that doesn’t quite feel like it’s a world changing thing, [like dog ears or goofy faces], you have to start small and let people understand how to adopt things. It’s important to make sure we meet people where they are.”

Our thanks to Luke for being such an inspirational creator, you can follow and try some of his Spark AR effects on Instagram @LukeHurd. And you can find more profile stories about AR creators here on the Spark AR blog.

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