WINNER
The Body Coach app
by Ustwo, for The Body Coach
Ustwo brought one of the most famous faces of the pandemic – Joe Wicks, aka The Body Coach – into people’s pockets with the launch of his new app. The digital design studio was tasked with turning the fitness coach’s 90-day plan into a new app, service and business model which would help Wicks live up to his name as the nation’s PE teacher.
Focusing on Wicks’ belief that fitness is about feeling good rather than shaving inches off your waistline, Ustwo’s design leant into a “bouncier, friendlier and more inclusive” look. Eschewing visuals reminiscent of slicker fitness platforms, the app featured mental and physical check-in features, weekly exercise and meal plans (with flexibility between vegan, vegetarian and meat-eating options) and Lives, where people could join Wicks for live workouts.
When it launched in the UK in December, the app topped the health and fitness chart on Apple’s app store and has since logged one million workouts (with an average of four workouts per week for a user). The business side has also been a success: the Body Coach’s paying customer base has increased six-fold, compared to the previous plan’s rate during the same period.
The judges said: “A great brand and position for the app, delivered with energy and style. The numbers show it was a great success as well.”
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Jonathan Yeo Studio app
by Jonathan Yeo Studio
As portrait artist Jonathan Yeo adapted to lockdown, his studio designed an immersive app as a way to take people behind the scenes of the creative process. Using AR, the app rendered a digital version of Yeo’s studio – complete with canvases, easels and past work – which users were able to explore in a “doll’s house” format. Yeo himself appears in this space as a hologram. During the pandemic, Yeo attempted to paint portraits of his subjects over FaceTime and virtual visitors were able to watch this process in one composite piece (it was shot from multiple camera angles, in keeping with the 3D feel of the app). Additional features included a display of Yeo’s favourite portraits and educational videos about previous portrait sittings.
Lover
by Lover App Inc
The Lover app is designed to help people overcome problems with their sex lives, an area that has been plagued by confusion and embarrassment and one that often creates issues in relationships. Almost half of women and over a third of men have a sexual complaint in their relationships, according to the app’s team. Lover allows users to chat with a licensed sex therapist or subscribe to personalised content which target taboo topics such as increasing libido, climaxing or lasting longer in the bedroom. The app also has services to improve communications in relationships with a Myers-Briggs personality type sexual profiler and a community platform where licensed professionals answer questions about users’ sex lives.
Ikea Mobile App
by Work & Co, for Ikea
Work & Co’s app for Ikea sought to bring the furniture store to people’s phones, while retaining signature features from the physical locations. Rolled out in timely fashion amid a pandemic and shop closures, the app provided a completely virtual version of the store. Features included a faster checkout, which allows people to buy through their mobiles – a first for Ikea – and scan display products to skip the checkout. The app also featured a personalised inspiration feed, incorporating the store’s much-loved catalogue, which showed customers how products would complement their own homes. The app also featured a data protection tool, which allowed customers to set controls over how their data is collected and stored. In markets where the app was first tested, there was a 10% growth in revenue.
Nestlums – Money Training for Kids
by Cauldron
According to Cauldron’s in-house research, one in three parents in the UK are not sure that their children have the right financial literacy for their age. Additionally, nine out of 10 consumers feel they are uneducated in personal finance. The studio designed Nestlums – a game-centric money training app – as a way to teach children about the concept of digital money. It aims to tie into children’s “innate sense of empathy”, the studio says, with its own universe of fantastical characters. In the app parents can set real world tasks such as walking the dog, and children receive money for achievements. They can also win gems for use on a series of educational games. “Every interaction in the app has been designed to delight and intrigue kids (as well as parents),” according to Cauldron.
App Design
shortlisted
App Design