With over 1 billion active users worldwide and 800,000 active users in Kosovo, the social platform Instagram has become a sensation particularly for creating fun and interesting stories by the use of various effects and filters. 

Filters on Instagram are effects, details and visualizations created through AR-Augmented Reality technology. 

AR is actually a relatively old technology that has existed since the 60’s but in the past few years it has gained a lot of popularity especially with Google Maps and Pokemon GO. Now, the social platform Facebook has made it possible for everyone who wants to create filters and effects through Spark AR Studio. Since we’ve always been up to date with the latest trends, we decided to create some fun filters ourselves.

Our new colleague, Gjini, at first created a filter test with the Kosovo flag. We haven’t shared the filter to this day, and it still got 7,200 impressions. ? 

During a brainstorm session we were thinking about what kind of special filter to come up with next. We wanted to create something original and that characterizes Kosovar tradition, culture and history. Through the Spark AR app from the Face Paint section of the social platform Facebook, we created the filter inspired by the old tradition of brides from the Zhupa region in Prizren. This is one of the oldest traditions of Kosovar culture emphasizing the drawing of bride’s faces with different colors.  

The lines and colors in the face are very detailed and every detail has a different meaning. The colors used symbolize the 3 different cycles of a woman’s life. The sun painted on the bride’s face is taken as a symbol of happiness. The red circle represents fertility, while the red and blue dots represent protection from anything bad. 

Now it’s your turn, try the Digital Bride ?