Flatiron Portal
An interactive Instagram AR filter commissioned by the Flatiron NoMad Business Improvement District for their Portal installation - the public art piece that connects New York and Dublin through a live video stream. The AR layer introduced randomized inclusive mini-games that prompted strangers on opposite sides to interact through rock paper scissors, dance battles, and charades. Custom promotional stickers were designed alongside the digital campaign to drive foot traffic and QR-based activation.
Strategic Context
The Challenge
The Flatiron Portal already drew crowds as a visual novelty - a live video link between New York and Dublin. But observation is passive. The BID wanted to increase dwell time, encourage direct interaction between participants on opposite sides, and generate organic social media content that would extend the installation's reach beyond the physical location. Any solution had to feel spontaneous and inclusive, not prescribed or exclusionary.
The Solution
An Instagram AR filter that layers randomized game prompts over the user's face via a floating crown graphic. The games - rock paper scissors, dance battles, charades, and freestyle challenges - are universally understood, require no language, and naturally produce the kind of animated, shareable moments that drive social amplification. The AR layer transforms the Portal from something you look at into something you do.
The Installation
User Flow
Scan
Visitors approaching the Portal encounter floor decals and stickers with high-contrast QR codes optimized for fast outdoor scanning. One tap launches the Instagram AR effect directly in-camera.
Randomize
A custom randomizer script triggers on face detection, selecting a mini-game prompt and rendering it as an AR crown element floating above the user's head. Each session produces a different game.
Interact
Strangers on opposite sides of the Portal read each other's AR prompts through the live video link and engage in the displayed activity. The universally understood games eliminate language barriers.
Share
Users record their spontaneous interactions directly within Instagram and post to Stories, generating organic user-created content that amplifies the campaign reach beyond the physical installation.
Campaign
Custom animated GIPHY stickers designed for the Flatiron Portal campaign. Available across Instagram Stories, Snapchat, TikTok, iMessage, and all major messaging platforms.
Technical Architecture
Randomized Interaction Logic
The AR effect runs a custom JavaScript randomizer triggered by facial gesture detection. Each time a new face enters the tracking field, the system assigns a unique interaction prompt from a weighted pool. The weighting ensures game variety across sessions while favoring the highest-engagement activities identified during testing.
Environmental Design Integration
All AR assets - the crown graphic, text prompts, particle effects - were specifically color-matched to the physical paint palette and lighting conditions of the Portal installation. The digital 3D models were designed to feel like cohesive extensions of the real-world art piece rather than overlaid graphics.
Multi-Face Tracking
The filter was optimized to simultaneously track up to three faces, allowing groups of friends to receive coordinated prompts and participate together. The tracking system maintains independent state per face, so each participant receives their own randomized game assignment even in group scenarios.
Print-to-Digital Activation
The physical campaign component included custom-designed floor decals and promotional stickers with QR codes engineered for reliable scanning in variable outdoor lighting conditions. The sticker design served dual purpose: wayfinding to the Portal location and direct AR activation.
Campaign Impact
Engagement
The AR filter achieved over 50K impressions and an average engagement time of 3.5 minutes per session - significantly exceeding the typical Instagram filter interaction duration, indicating that the game mechanics successfully held user attention.
Organic Amplification
The playful interaction format naturally produced shareable content. Users recorded their spontaneous game sessions and posted to Stories without prompting, generating organic brand exposure that extended well beyond the installation's physical footprint.
Community Connection
The inclusive, language-free game design accomplished the BID's core objective: facilitating genuine interaction between strangers. The AR layer provided the social permission structure that allowed people to engage with each other across the Portal.
