Every year as part of its WWDC developer conference, Apple announces the winners of its Apple Design Awards. The awards are similar to Google’s Material Design Awards, though the apps are not limited to a specific design language. Instead, the Apple Design Awards reward innovative design in any form. This year, Apple held a reception to hand out the awards. Here are three of the ten winners:
Black box
Black box is an iOS exclusive puzzle game with more than 77,000 5-star ratings on the App Store. Black box uses input other than touch to progress in the game, including turning the phone, shouting, clicking and other clever uses of the phone’s sensors. There is no other game, on any platform that uses sound and movement in that way to directly affect objects in a game.
Splitter Critters
Developed by a two-man team out of Vancouver, Splitter Critters uses a unique tearing effect and other gameplay mechanics. The game is a level-based arcade game that players of all ages can enjoy.
Bear
Another app exclusive to iOS, Bear is an app for writing notes and prose. With elegant design, minimalist approach to its interface, and amazing typography, Bear allows the writer to focus on the content rather than the interface. The app itself can handle short notes, articles, essays, code etc.
The seven other winners of the awards are: Mushroom 11, Old Man’s Journey, Severed, Lake, Kitchen Stories, Things 3, Elk, Enlight and Airmail 3. The winners receive additional promotion in the App Store in addition to appearing on the Apple website.
