The best UX of 2016

As UXUK Awards 2017 is now open for entries, we thought it could be a great time to look back at last year’s winners and finalists. There was an outstanding array of excellent entries last year, so what does it take to become a UXUK winner? Let’s take a look…

SH:24 took home a haul of three awards for Best Public Sector, Best Innovation and, the one to win, which is open to entrants across all categories; Best User Experience, for their innovative online sexual health service, enabling South Londoners to order free, STI self-testing kits to use at home, post off and get results by text message. The service has led to greater convenience for users, meaning they no longer have to take time off work for clinic appointments, and greater efficiencies for clinicians, enabling them to spend time on more complex cases. Initially SH:24 created a minimum viable product to get early feedback from users, and the service now has tens of thousands of satisfied users.

Blue Cross walked away as Best Not for Profit winner, for their website, showcasing the charity’s work and emotive stories encouraging donations, fundraising and pet adoption. The redesign has boosted traffic to the site, with 20% more sessions year on year and twice as many people signing up as regular donators. Others shortlisted in this category were WaterAid’s height calculator, with Forward Action and Informi, with Vivid Creative.

SH:24 had some tough competition in the best Public sector category with Direct2inmate Usability Testing, Royal Navy Graduates, with e2 Media and Information Commissioner’s Office all on the shortlist.

Winner of Best Transactional Experience was Revolut for their innovative banking service and the in-depth UX design process that was carried out, including persona development, stakeholder interviews, instore user research and more. They were up against shortlisted: Monzo Bank, EDFE Home Move, with Bunnyfoot, RBS DigiDocs,  Turnbull & Asser, Nationwide Building Society’s next generation banking app, and Confused.com.

RBS DigiDocs, won Best Effect on Business Goals for its online loans application process, enabling users to take photos of documents and upload them rather than filling in paper forms and making trips to the bank. Efficiencies were increased all round, with the application process reduced by 9 days and call centre interactions expected to be significantly reduced. Throughout the design process customers were at the centre, leading to such success that they are now looking to roll out DigiDocs across other bank application processes. Others shortlisted in this category were: Home Let, with Experience UK, Clear Channel Direct, with Access Advertising, Screwfix, Charity Challenge, with Huddle Creative, and Cross Country Trains, with McCann.

BBC iPlayer Kids won Best Entertainment and Leisure Experience, for their child-friendly interface and safe way for children to download and watch video content without fear of them seeing anything unsuitable. Others shortlisted in this category were: The ITV Hub and HTC Mood Player, with Sapient Nitro.
In the Best Innovation Category, SH:24 were up against: Chop Chop iOS app, with Pivotal Labs, Dulux Amazing Space, with MRM Meteorite, Cambridge Core, with Cambridge University Press, Allianz, with Numiko and Sony with The Curtain Menu.

Royal Navy Graduates, won the Best Information category for their redesigned website and video content seeking to convert website visits into job applications. Others shortlisted in this category were: Cancer Research UK, Digitising IT Support: Computacenter and Hays, with Octopus Group, EDFE Digital Appointment Booking with Bunnyfoot, Histropedia, with Geeks Ltd and The Financial Times.

The Best Student Project winner was from City University London for their ‘Nuts about the park’ work which aimed to encourage families to get out and about in their local parks and green spaces to explore nature. After extensive research revealed that families want a tech-free time in parks, they devised a cardboard tree/ vending machine that dispenses ‘nuts’ – a surprise package containing an activity to do in the park along with a ‘Park passport’ for recording activities and a supporting app. Shortlisted student projects were from Loughborough University for ‘Child safety in the home’ and ‘Be part of the culture’ projects.

Bunnyfoot are proud sponsors of the UXUK Awards 2017.

Have you worked on a great user experience this year?

Want to see your project listed in the UXUK 2017 award winners? You have to be in it to win it! Visit www.uxukawards.com to find out more and submit your application.