In the past most design awards would focus purely on visual aesthetics without much attention paid to the actual usefulness or effectiveness of the design. As a result, gorgeous looking but entirely unusable designs would often win over amazing experiences.
These days there's greater awareness of good design encompassing more than aesthetics alone and I've noticed more awards placing a greater emphasis on the experience. The Interaction Design Association is one such organisation with an awards ceremony which is now entering its sixth year.
Here are my top picks from the finalists...
Chrome Web Lab
Visitors to a Science Museum (London) play and learn collaboratively with online visitors through controlling physical machines. A great example of merging physical installations with digital data and the clicks and taps of remote visitors.
Urban Forest
Urban Forest reveals connections between pedestrians in the Chicago Loop through a collaborative interface that encourages them to share their opinions and contribute to the growth of a social family tree. Basically, it's a fancy "hot or not" poll.
zSpace
3D virtual-holographic computing platform. Industrial designers and fabbers will love this.
The Virtual Chemistry Lab Table
The Virtual Chemistry Lab Table is an interactive multimedia learning tool that uses tangible objects to navigate and control a simulated chemistry lab. Click Suite is working on something similar using augmented reality and glyphs, but we can't tell you about it just yet!
And my favourite!
21 Balancoires
The installation consists of a series of 21 musical swings. When in motion, each swing triggers different notes. When used all together, the swings compose a musical piece in which certain melodies emerge only through cooperation. It's a game where, from the start, you need to adjust to the actions of others.
Vote!
You can cast your vote for these and others - visit the People's Choice Awards at http://awards.ixda.org/vote. All 75 of the shortlisted projects are eligible for the Award. Voting closes on January 28, 2013 at 11:59pm EST (if you're in New Zealand I think that's Tuesday, 29 January 2013 at 5:59pm NZDT).
ABOUT IXDA
Interaction Awards is an initiative of the Interaction Design Association (IxDA), a global network of over 25,000 members worldwide dedicated to the professional practice of Interaction Design. Find out how to join your local group and get involved at www.ixda.org.