Outsight recently participated in a unique interactive design and development challenge - The PhizzPop Design Challenge. Microsoft, looking to stir up interest Silverlight and Expression Blend, approached 6 firms in each of 6 metropolitan areas in the US - New York, Austin, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston. Each firm could send a 2-3 person team for two days of training, a challenge would be issued, and each team would have the remainder of the week to create a solution using Expression Blend.
Outsight was invited, so we went.
Our team was comprised of Jon Reil, Brandon Goldsworthy and me, Denise Preston -- a designer, a developer and an information architect/project manager. We were up against some great folks from Digitas, Molecular, Cramer, RDVO, and PixelMedia.
The challenge? Create the interface for a home automation system. Details can be found here (DOCX).
Outsight architected, branded, designed and developed a system called Varlet (a knight's page, archaic form of Valet) that could be accessed via touch screens mounted within the home, via television screen and via a smart phone interface.
The competition culminated in an event held at the Saint Lounge where each group had to present their solutions to an independent panel of judges. The Boston panel of judges included representatives from Monster.com, Burnt Sand and 3 Comm.
After the presentations, the judges deliberated and presented positive feedback for each of the teams. The competition was pretty tough. What we heard from the judges about our solution was:
- Our interface was able to be implemented using technology available today.
- Our interface could be used by each of the personas we were presented with in the challenge
- Our interface, although perhaps not as feature-rich as some others, could go to market next week.
Honestly, that kind of feedback made the late nights and challenges all worthwhile for us, but then they announced that we had taken the top prize. Our solution had been deemed the best of the group.
For further details of the challenge, take a look at the PhizzPop Design Challenge site.
Submitted by Aaron Johnson (not verified) on January 25, 2008 - 3:29pm.
That's filthy cool guys! No screenshots though? Show it off!
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