News
MEX Awards shortlists unveiled
Stuart O'Brien May 16 2008, 10:24am
The shortlists have been released for the 2008 MEX Mobile User Experience Awards.
After a lengthy review by the panel of independent judges (see below), the shortlists for 2008 MEX Mobile User Experience Awards have been unveiled.
The winners will be officially announced at a special evening reception in London on 27th May, the opening night of the 4th annual MEX conference.
The category shortlists in full:
Commercial category
Taptu
Zeemote
Mobyko
Vuzix
Freelance category
Flat Music Player
Cloudaware
BSR Blind Phone
Professional category
My Link Wireless Accessory
Couple IT
MoDist
Student category
Context aware
Pixie TV
MyView
MEX Mobile User Experience Innovator of the Year
Taptu
BSR Blind Phone
MyView
The process
The judges were universally impressed by the quality and breadth of entries received, making the judging process a difficult and exhaustive task. The judges focused on the following 5 principles when making their decision:
1) The central challenge of the Design Competition was: "Design an interface, idea or product to delight customers and enhance the mobile user experience."
2) Specifically, we asked contestants to show us how their product met the needs of their target user. We wanted to encourage people to design for individuals rather than broad, inaccurate market segments. The judges considered how detailed the contestants had been in their description of the user and how well suited their design was to that user's needs.
3) The Competition was also designed to encourage new innovation. The judges looked at each entry and asked whether it represented a cutting edge mobile user experience?
4) The public vote count and public comments were also considered.
5) Overall, the judges were looking for ientries which balanced a clear understanding of users as individuals with a flair for solving user experience issues through innovative design.
The judges
Marek Pawlowski, editorial director, PMN
Ken Blakeslee, chairman, WebMobility Ventures
Steven Dotsch, managing director, WirelessMatch
Mike Grenville, director, 160characters.org
Rudy de Waele, M-Trends
Stuart O'Brien, editor, Mobile Entertainment magazine
