JD Institute of Fashion Technology, Bangalore organised a workshop on Augmented Reality (AR) with Czech Graphic Designer Mr. Vitek Škop on 19th November 2019 at their Brigade road campus.

Augmented Reality (AR) is an interactive experience to enhance the real world objects. It has already found a gateway in retail, jewellery and interior design. AR has the potential to grow bigger and change the way we engage with our environments.

The session commenced with an introduction by Mr. Škop that charted out his interest in design which started at a young age that led him to first self-learn Photoshop. He went onto complete his education from The Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, Prague. His professional escapades involve the creation of Vividbooks, which brings augmented reality into Physics textbooks and was also selected by the curators of the London Design Festival to represent The Academy of Art, Architecture and Design. His work is currently part of the exhibit at Bengaluru By Design at Bangalore International Centre till 24th November 2019. Apart from Vividbooks, he has also helped design an exhibition in London which depicted different innovations and inventors. He was also approached by the Republic of Prague to design a project which would help visitors/citizens understand the history of the country.

After explaining to the students about the usage and scope of AR, he divided the students into groups and asked them to pick up solutions to problems in Environment, Education, Transportation and the Health sector. Since the students of Fashion were also a part of the workshop, he gave them the liberty to identity challenges of the fashion industry and find solutions for the same. The students were to then present their ideas using Photoshop and Illustrator to provide a visual understanding of their concept. Mr. Škop guided the students with feedback during the initial discussion stage to help them present their ideas in an effective way and along the way answered any queries or doubts related to AR.

The interactive session alongwith the insights provided by Mr. Škop helped students understand and learn about the nuances of AR better. This also offered food for thought for any future endeavours. Mr. Škop was impressed with the creative bent of mind of the students and their take on some of the solutions. Few ideas pitched by the students also inspired the artist.

From the solutions presented by the students, Mr. Škop liked the following designs:

• An application that notifies people of the number of elderly people in their proximity who seek companionship, so that they can go and spend some time with them.
• A fitness buddy app that works as a trainer and also scans food at restaurants and provides calories of the ordered meals.
• An application that finds places that do not have trees, which can be used to recognise the location to plant more trees.
• Digitalized Mirror at a retail store that lets you choose the clothing from an array of clothes at the store on a model generated on the screen based on the customer selected size. This activity allows one to swipe, try and select without visiting the dressing room at the store.

It was a productive and knowledgeable session that helped students identify the scope of AR and interact with the likes of an international artist who has utilised his design background to contribute in the field of education. Mr. Škop advised students that apart from presenting a great idea it should be peppered with humor as it leaves a lasting impression on potential Clients.