Facebook Messenger

2020

Facebook Messenger asked us to create a 360 degree background and corresponding AR effect to promote mental health awareness for World Mental Health Day with the modest, yet crucial goal of getting people to slow it down and breathe. Whew....sometimes that’s easier said than done.

360 Background ↓

Backgrounds are 360 degree virtual places to hang out with your friends. They use a built-in gyroscope to create a totally immersive virtual background and are available in their own tab in Messenger Rooms and on video calls. They are also an AR feature on the camera.

Doing a looping 360 animated background or a cool, trippy AR filter is all well within our wheelhouse. But doing something specifically to relax people and guide them through a breathing technique was brand new to us.

We wanted to do something unique and unexpected. Relying on shape and color to communicate a sense of calm we pushed the subject matter into the surreal as a way of nudging people out of the daily grind and into a new headspace.

AR Filter ↓

One of the raddest aspects of the AR filter is it’s synchronized with the world clock to get all users breathing as one. Let’s get together and feel alright.