Apple reveals eight winners of the 2020 Apple Design Awards following WWDC

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Following a full week of WWDC announcements, Apple today has officially announced the winners of the annual Apple Design Awards. The goal of these awards is to recognize developers for “outstanding app design, innovation, ingenuity, and technical achievement.

Apple has named eight app and game developers receiving an Apple Design Award this year. Usually, winning developers receive a hefty swag bag of Apple products, including the latest Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch hardware. Apple has not confirmed what hardware winning developers will receive this year, but Apple generally spares no expense.

Head below as we detail all of this year’s well-deserving winners.

Apple Design Award Winners: Apps:

Darkroom:

Darkroom, from Bergen Co., is a powerful photo and video editor whose interface is as beautiful as it is easy to use. It delivers great performance with super-intuitive controls and a layout that both casual and pro photographers can truly appreciate. With Apple technologies including photo and camera APIs, Home Screen quick actions, contextual menus, and haptics, Darkroom is a shining example of a high-end mobile editing tool.

Looom:

Looom, developed by iorama.studio, is an animation playground that takes inspiration from music creation tools. Looping hand-drawn stop-motion animation in this playfully creative interface is designed for pros and consumers alike. The app’s deep functionality and intuitive interface are complemented by novel custom controls. Made for iPadOS, Looom uses Apple technologies including Apple Pencil and Dark Mode to their fullest.

Shapr3D:

Shapr3D, from Shapr3D Zartkoruen Mukodo Reszvenytarsasag, is a powerful CAD app for iPad that has the potential to drastically transform the architectural and technical drawing workflow. There’s no need for a desk, so inspiration can hit anytime, anywhere. Using only an iPad and Apple Pencil, technical designers have access to a robust modeling toolset to easily create complex 3D models. Designed exclusively for iPad, Shapr3D takes advantage of ARKit and drag and drop. Later this year, the app will use the LiDAR Scanner to automatically generate an accurate 2D floor plan and 3D model of a room, which can be used as the basis to design remodels or room additions. The new design can then be previewed in real-world scale using AR right in the room scanned.

StaffPad:

StaffPad, from StaffPad Ltd., brilliantly converts handwritten musical notations into digital sheet music. Designed for composers who want an easy solution for writing and composing music digitally, the app uses Apple technologies such as Apple Pencil, drag and drop, and Core ML to transform each bar into beautifully typeset music notation that can be edited using intuitive touch or Apple Pencil tools.

Apple Design Award Winners: Games

Sayonara Wild Hearts:

“Sayonara Wild Hearts,” from developer Simogo and publisher Annapurna Interactive, has been lauded for outstanding design since its launch. A pop album video game that is hopeful, gorgeous, and unique, “Sayonara Wild Hearts” gets players’ adrenaline pumping and makes their spirit soar. The game delivers vibrant and surreal landscapes, mesmerizing visuals and motion, and thrilling and kinetic gameplay. It makes extensive use of Apple technologies including Metal, Game Center, spatial audio, and game controllers.

Sky: Children of the Light:

“Sky: Children of the Light,” from thatgamecompany, has players flying across sweeping landscapes in a magical kingdom to help celestial beings find their way back to the heavens. With its clever multiplayer integration and adventurous graphical showcase, “Sky: Children of the Light” is a groundbreaking social quest. The team used Apple technologies including a custom Metal engine, haptics, Game Center, and spatial audio.

Song of Bloom:

“Song of Bloom,” from indie developer Philipp Stollenmayer, is a unique game with a nonlinear tale packed with clever puzzles. Players explore a story told in rapidly changing art styles as they progress though the game. “Song of Bloom” delivers an innovative, handcrafted gameplay experience with great design.

Where Cards Fall:

“Where Cards Fall,” from developer The Game Band and publisher Snowman, is a slice-of-life adventure game in which players build houses of cards to bring formative memories to life. The game takes advantage of Apple technologies, including Metal, haptics, Game Center, and iCloud, to bring to life its dreamlike spatial puzzles, immersive audio, and unique miniature-art style.

Read Apple’s full announcement here. You can catch up on our past coverage of the annual Apple Design Awards below:

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