WINNER
Arctic Escape
by Megaverse with Artfelt, for Sheffield Children's Hospital
The Childrenʼs Hospital Charity arts programme Artfelt collaborated with digital arts studio Megaverse and Sheffield Childrenʼs Hospital staff to create an augmented reality game which aims to help patients through their treatment for burns- related injuries.
The game – one of the first to use AR in a clinical setting – transforms the hospital into a virtual environment of Arctic and woodland worlds, with a calming 3D soundscape with a variety of compositional layers to avoid repetition in longer procedures. The idea is to distract patients, aiming to increase endorphins and decrease cortisol levels to reduce stress and anxiety around treatments such as
wound dressings, and potentially reducing the development of scarring.
A 'retro' aesthetic looks to appeal to all ages; and each room is individually mapped to surround the patientʼs bed, to enable interaction in a way thatʼs not time limited. Megaverse deliberately included humorous elements for nurses to use as distractions, “such as seagulls that poop with accompanying sounds and penguins that get fat and fall over the more fish you feed them”, Artfelt explains.
The judges said: “A brilliant application of AR technology which can be applied to other contexts too as a distraction for children in traumatic situations. The exploratory nature of the app feels just right. It is clear children, parents and nurses have all been active through the design process to transform a space into one of comfort, and less clinical. This is a very worthwhile and fascinating example of great use of digital.”
Macy’s App – Redesign, AR, Style Quiz & Inspo
by Macy’s
In 2019 the internal team at department store Macy's redesigned its mobile app, having seen that over the years the addition of numerous extra features had made it feel overly complicated, cluttered and outdated. Its first redesign in a decade looked to streamline the app’s numerous shopping and style-oriented features across beauty, fashion and home furnishings; as well as new augmented reality features that allow customers to preview products virtually through their mobile device.
The look and feel of the app is clean, simple and fashion-inspired; with increased clarity and gesture-based interfaces. User engagement increased dramatically following the launch of the new design.
APP DESIGN
Scape App
by That Thing, for Scape
That Thing created an app for student accommodation company Scape that aimed to prioritise student wellbeing, as well as offering “super-slick” functionality around day-to-day needs. During focus groups, student residents vocalised a desire for their lives at Scape to be more seamless, so the app is broadly divided into four sections: Wellbeing, containing resources for students concerned about themselves or a friend and offering digital or in-person chats; Parcels, for easily arranging when to pick up deliveries and allowing users to nominate a friend to do so; Events, detailing what’s on and allowing for ticket purchase; and Maintenance, where students can log requests if there’s a problem with their room.
The team commissioned illustrator Cecilia Castelli to create images that “brought warmth and humanity” to these key features. That Thing created a new digital design language for the app that worked with the existing brand and evolved it for movement; mapping out the user journey and writing the content; working with developers at Glance.
