JUST A LINE

Just a Line is an augmented reality drawing application developed by Google Creative Lab for iOS and Android. The app allows users to draw simple lines in physical space using their phone, anchoring marks in the real world and sharing them as short videos. A gesture as minimal as a line becomes spatial, persistent, and performative, extending drawing beyond the screen and into lived space.

The project reframes drawing as an act that unfolds in time and environment rather than on a fixed surface. Lines float, wrap around objects, and accumulate in space, turning everyday environments into temporary canvases. What might otherwise be a quick sketch becomes a small intervention in reality, a trace that exists somewhere between image, movement, and memory.

Dan Moore collaborated with Google Creative Lab to build and develop both the open source Android Experiment and the final application. The work involved translating emerging AR technologies into an accessible creative tool, emphasizing immediacy, play, and participation. By keeping the interaction simple and the output lightweight, the app lowers the barrier to entry while foregrounding the expressive potential of spatial computing.

As part of Google’s broader Android Experiments initiative, Just a Line also functions as a research platform, inviting users and developers to explore how augmented reality can reshape everyday creative practices. The project sits at the intersection of art, design, and engineering, where a single line becomes a way to think about presence, authorship, and the relationship between digital marks and physical space.

The project was recognized with a Webby Award, highlighting its impact as both a creative tool and a widely adopted experiment in accessible augmented reality.