The competition was designed to encourage artists and developers to share the experimental apps that they create on the WP7 platform. With an extended deadline of 13th February in place this should give you all time to get your submissions in, with results to be announced on 17 February 2012.

During the competition launch, onedotzero’s director Shane Walter introduced three experiments that had been created by selected teams of artists and developers for the purpose of inspiring the audience with real working demonstrations. The work showcases the creative possibilities of the platform and the phone, and was impressively developed in just two weeks.

Check out the edited highlights of the three projects that were showcased on the launch day for a reminder of the inspirational demonstrations of app creations. Certainly worth viewing to get an idea of what is achievable on the Windows Phone platform.

VEQUENCER – STUART WARREN-HILL + TEAM HOLOTRONICA
REDSHIFT – FIELD.IO + TREEHOUSE DEV
KALEIDOBOOTH – MAX HATTLER + INDIESKIES

With just over two weeks to go there’s still time to submit your entries, don’t forget the cash prize incentives for the best experiments:
£5000 for the winner
£500 x ten runners up

Entries do not necessarily have to be completed projects – we want to see the best experimentations of the Window Phone platform.

Here are some UX and design guides for the Windows Phone Platform:

Windows Phone UX Guide MSDN

Design Templates for Windows Phone 7

Windows Phone Grid – Design Using these Grid Templates
Photoshop and Illustrator

Expression Design

If you’ve got any questions, or share your thoughts on your ideas feel free to drop a line to support [at] alphalabs.cc

Check out the previous blog posted on 12th December 2011 for a full overview of the Nokia Lumia 800 launch in November.

Follow the competition conversations on twitter: @alphalabscc

We look forward to seeing your creations!

One day, 19 speakers, 200 delegates and a whole host of big ideas – it was a chance to look back on 2011 and the themes and projects which defined it, and look forward to how these might shape our industry going forward.

Its Nice That stated that “at the end of the day our aim had been to provoke conversation and debate and thanks to our eclectic roster of speakers we feel we did just that.”

Award-winning graphic artist Barton Damer has scooped the top prize in a joint Computer Arts / Veer competition with his work, Malaria Kills.

Describing the idea behind his Malaria Kills piece, Barton Damer said:

“At first glance I want it to look like the continent of Africa. Next I want you to notice a beautiful African Queen. Then I want you to notice that there are a lot of disturbing things about this ‘Africa’ — malaria being a big one. So you have this tension of a beautiful African queen, but on further observation you notice some of the disturbing elements that make up the artwork.”

Barton Damer wins £2,000 for charity, Malaria No More, along with £2,000′s worth of Veer credits, which can be used to buy images, vectors and fonts for use in future projects. You can find out more about Barton Damer and his work in the February 2012 issue of Computer Arts, which goes on sale on Thursday 12 January.

Runners-up

Barton Damer’s Malaria Kills piece was recently displayed alongside the work of nine runners-up at the onedotzero_adventures in motion festival in London. Each runner-up was awarded £1,000′s worth of Veer credits. The runners-up were:

Richard Davies for The Cruellest Disease
Nick Calvert for Water Aid
Dan Erik Ronnback for The Gears of Mankind
It Starts for Play Your Part
Oleksandr Parkhomovskyy for Esst Mehr Obst
Charles Williams for Young Minds Campaign
Laurie Sumiye for Eat Invasive Species!
T.H. Barczyk for Konrad Lubi Jezdzic…
Orlando Facioli Jr. for We Were Here First
The Creative Catalyst: Design For Change competition was judged by a panel of design industry luminaries, including Computer Arts’ editor Rob Carney; Billy Tennant, creative director at Veer; and Shane Walter, co-founder and creative director of onedotzero.

Check out the video below for a summary of the project and a few words from the judges and Barton Damer.

This project started with the objective of getting Nokia’s new Windows Phone devices into the hands of developers. In the light of the partnership between Nokia and Microsoft, the mix of existing and potential developers for the new platform proved to be diverse, which created an exciting opportunity.

So on Saturday 26th November we invited a selection of hand-picked artists and developers to attend the launch event at the onedotzero_adventures in motion festival at London’s BFI.

The event kicked off with Keith Varty, Head of EDX, Nokia UK/EIRE and Will Coleman, Mobile Product Manager at Microsoft UK, who introduced the new Nokia Lumia 800 and talked about why they were excited by the new possibilities that the partnership created. Will Coleman then led the crowd through the exciting creative, design, and technical opportunities that the combination of the Nokia Lumia 800 handset and the WP7 platform has created.

Shane Walter, co-founder of onedotzero, gave an inspirational talk about code as a medium for creativity, and showcased some exciting examples of this in practice. In order to highlight the diversity within the audience he asked everyone in the room to introduce themselves to the person next to them – everyone got carried away chatting to each other, which in turn demonstrated the interesting potential collaborations in the room.

Shane then introduced three experiments that had been created by selected teams of artists and developers for the purpose of inspiring the audience with real working demonstrations. The work showcases the creative possibilities of the platform and the phone, and was impressively developed in just two weeks.

First, Stuart Warren-Hill and Team Holotronica showcased Vequencer, the world’s first real time, multi-device audio visual sequencer. Stuart is one half of the ground breaking act Hexstatic who specialise in audio and visual experiences. He collaborated with a team of developers; Martin Caine, Simon Jackson and Matt Lacey, who are all part of the WP7 and XNA user groups and had worked day and night to create this impressive app.

Next, Max Hattler – a progressive moving image artist from London who worked with IndieSkies, an exciting young games development start up based in Derby, to create Kaleidobooth. Kaleidobooth is a kaleidoscopic camera inspired by children’s toys and psychedelia. It uses the Lumia 800’s 8MP camera and microphone, as well as the Motion API to enable the user to create and interact with the visuals.

The last demo was Redshift, created by leading digital design studio Field.io and developers Treehouse Dev. Redshift is a prototype for a racing game through music videos. Although in its early stages, this demo is a visually stunning experience supported by a brilliant soundtrack from record label Numbers.

These experiments clearly demonstrated the exciting possibilities of the platform and how quickly experiments can be created.

To finish the day, Shane introduced the launch competition for alphalabs.cc, which is designed to encourage artists and developers with cash prize incentives to share the experimental apps that they create on the WP7 platform. Ten runners up will each win £500, while the winner will receive £5000.

After the event all attendees were given their free Nokia Lumia 800 as well as a complimentary pass to one of the onedotzero_adventures in motion festival screenings which went on through into the evening.

The competition is open for submissions until 09.01.2012, and will be judged by representatives of Nokia and onedotzero.

In order to enter the competition, entrants simply document their experiments, and submit them to alphalabs.cc after creating a profile in the site. The judges will be looking for prototypes and poof-of-concepts that demonstrate a creative use of the platform. This is about new ideas and experimentation and not necessarily fully finished apps.

For more information and updates on the competition please visit alphalabs.cc.

The shortlist for the 2011 prize encompassed one of the widest ranges of design disciplines in the Prize’s history, from museums and gallery designers to millinery for Kylie Minogue and hydraulic ankles, and Creative Director Shane Walter was priveleged to be part of that lineup.

David Kester, Chief Executive of the Design Council, commented:…This year’s winner and nominees likewise demonstrate a dedication to creative excellence, but they are also exemplars of the international commercial success which springs from that creativity. Now more than ever, we must celebrate our world-leading designers, innovators and creatives, and their vital contribution to our economic future.”

This was the final year that HRH The Duke of Edinburgh delivered the Prize. Having headed up the judging panel and presented the Prize since its inception in 1959, he will be stepping down from the Prize as he reduces his work-load and royal responsibilities in his 90th year.

See Shane Walter’s comments on Design Weeks voxpop:

Who should replace the Duke of Edinburgh as patron of the Prince Philip Designers Prize?

Portrait by Christine Donnier-Valentin