Sharing Matariki via AR

Students partnered with national company Deloitte to create a social media lenses which use Augmented Reality (AR) to teach users about Matariki—and their creation reached 90,000 users around the world.

At the start of 2022, a Year 13 Te Ara classed piloted the Deloitte Grow – Wāhine in Tech programme. The programme aims to increase interest and knowledge in and about technology and entrepreneurship.

Students were challenged to work through a design thinking process and innovate a solution to an identified problem. Student Ella Hartell worked as part of a team that developed AR lenses for social media apps Snapchat and Instagram centred around educating people about Matariki.

“The lenses were intended to be a fun way of educating people on the names of the nine stars of Matariki,” says Ella.

“We realised that many people were unaware of what Matariki is and had never learnt simple facts about it. Considering for the first time Matariki is a national public holiday this year, what better time to introduce a fun creative way for people to gain some knowledge.”

Using the filter, the names of the stars are read out loud allowing users to practice their pronunciation.

In just two months, these AR lenses reached over 90,000 people around the world and totalled over 155,000 engagements.

Ella says working with a large national company like Deloitte was a meaningful experience—especially pitching the idea to partners at the firm.

“The whole process was something new to all of us and we definitely faced our fair share of struggles. The opportunity of being able to work with a corporation like Deloitte was a fantastic experience. I know we are all very grateful for it and have learnt so much.”