Designing the Sixth Sense: Wearable Technology and the Role of Prototyping in Fashion Tech Higher Education

The study investigates the design of smart jewelry, focusing on the materialization of the so-called “sixth sense” through a university workshop. The aim was to examine how in higher education designers can develop new interactions between body, object and environment by exploiting speculative tools and advanced design methods. The results show a prevalence of solutions oriented toward health and interpersonal connection, with movement and color as the main modes of output. Methodologically, storyboards, physical models, digital renderings and videos proved to be key tools to compensate for the lack of technological prototyping. The conclusions emphasize the potential of wearable technologies to broaden the sensory experience and open up new design perspectives in fashion tech.