As it does every year at WWDC, Apple has chosen a variety of apps to honor with Apple Design Awards, focusing on impressively designed apps that take advantage of technologies that Apple wants to highlight. Here are the winners for 2018:
Apps
- Agenda (Mac, iPhone, and iPad): A “date-focused note-taking app for planning and documenting your projects.” We reviewed the Mac version in “Agenda Offers a New Take on Note-Taking and Task Management” (8 May 2018).
- Calzy (Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch): A “beautiful modern calculator for your everyday use.”
- iTranslate Converse (iPhone and Apple Watch): A “revolutionary new speech translation app.”
- Triton Sponge (iPad): As an app for surgeons, Triton Sponge can evaluate a surgical sponge and calculate blood loss in a patient. Incredible.
Games and Amusements
- Alto’s Odyssey (iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV): A beautiful endless runner game that takes you on a sandboarding journey through the desert.
- Bandimal (iPhone and iPad): A “fun and intuitive music composer that lets kids discover the creative world of making music.”
- Florence (iPhone and iPad): An “interactive storybook from the award-winning lead designer of Monument Valley about the heart-racing highs and heartbreaking lows of a young woman’s very first love.” (For my review of Monument Valley, see “FunBITS: Monument Valley for iPhone and iPad,” 25 April 2014.)
- Frost (iPhone and iPad): “Draw paths to guide the flocking spirits to their home planets. Watch countless beautiful creatures emerge from light, bring balance to a world in constant motion, and unravel its mysteries.”
- Oddmar (iPhone and iPad): “Oddmar struggles with life in his village and is not worthy of a place in Valhalla. He is shunned by his fellow Vikings and must redeem himself of his squandered potential. One day he is offered an opportunity to prove himself, but at a price…”
- Playdead’s INSIDE (iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV): This spooky, mysterious game is from the maker of Limbo (see “FunBITS: Limbo Is Spooky Fun for iPhone and iPad,” 18 October 2013), so if that’s your thing, be sure to check it out.
Congratulations to all the winning developers!
It seems a bit meagre that Apple came up with only 3 apps for design awards (not counting the surgeon’s app and those games).
I’ve never heard any details about how the apps are picked, if they have to be submitted, if there are certain requirements, etc. That might explain some of what you’re seeing.