As a brand renowned for innovation and pushing the envelope, it’s not surprise that TONI&GUY would experiment with some high-tech functionality in its mobile app for iPhone and iPad.

The new app features Aurasma, an augmented reality platform that merges the physical world with the virtual using advanced image and pattern recognition to recognize and understand real-world images and object in a similar way to our brain’s process. It then blends the real-world with rich interactive content like videos and animations called, “Auras,” which can be created for printed images, product packaging, clothing and physical places.

The Toni&Guy app will enhance the educational experience of TONI&GUY Hairdressing Academy students through electronic curriculum and an interactive learning experience. The hair company worked with beauty focused design studio SixAgency to produce the app. Toni&Guy is one of the first beauty and educational company to leverage Aurasma. In the Toni&Guy app, the device’s camera is used to recognize images and objects and overlay an image or video so that the video tracks as the camera is moved.

While the new mobile app is only going to be used by a select few (members of the hair dressing academy led by the brand, which has 24 schools across the US), we can learn a lot from the way the company is utilizing innovative technology; all of which is available to all of us retailers.

First, Toni&Guy’s app will incorporate a digital curriculum with Aurasma where students will use the app to scan their final looks into their text book and play a step-by-step video to create the technique. Next, an interactive drawing board with hairdresser head sheets will enable students to practice and plan their cuts, along with section patterns that can be created with the touch of a finger. The app also serves as a portfolio builder and step-by-step how-to tool where students can store pictures of their work and take notes within the app as they learn. Finally, the Stylefile portion of the app is a visual library of Toni&Guy collections that are meant to inspire students and also are meant to be client facing – stylists can present them to their stylists and fashion what they may look like in real life.