The past few days, the team at Bit Zesty has been walking around with a permanent slightly dazed smile on our faces. On Wednesday we picked up a much-coveted BIMA award in Product and Service Design. It’s a dream come true!
Back in July, when we received the news that we are BIMA finalist in two categories – we were overjoyed. BIMA awards are UK’s leading digital industry awards – a real stamp of approval. Many categories receive around 100 entrants – most top digital agencies and many household-name organisations enter. The entries are judged by industry-leading experts – all carefully selected for their expertise in the category they are judging. We were evaluated on the quality of the craft, level of innovation and the impact of the project. So to make it to the final list and in two categories was a great privilege.
The competition was fierce
Naturally, we checked out the competition. In the Service and Product Design (over £70K budget) category the competition was fierce – Hive Link by Centrica Hive; McDonald’s Happy Meal Readers by R/GA London; The Digital Blue Badge Service by Valtech for Department for Transport; and Tim Peake Space Descent by Cheil UK for Samsung UK and Science Museum in collaboration with European Space agency – what a line up! In the Healthcare (over 70K budget) category we were up against two other finalists – Amplifon Hearing App by Publicis Sapient (such a worthy winner!) and SafeTeam Guardian by Glow New Media. Now, I am sure you can understand, that as much as we believe in our work and the cause, we went to the awards ceremony trying to keep our expectations in check.
An inspirational and fun day from start to finish
The event itself was an incredible experience. The day started with the BIMA conference which had outstanding speakers talking about the latest technologies such as AI and VR and most importantly raising bigger issues such as climate change and democracy, that we as technologists, have a duty to address. Futurist, Nell Watson, closed the conference on a positive note – with technology, our future can be incredible, but for this to happen, setting ethical standards when it comes to technology is paramount.
The evening awards ceremony itself was fantastic! – The finalists were treated to reception drinks at a rooftop garden at Savoy Place, followed by a delicious dinner and awards presentation. And then we all danced the night away! 🙂
Many commented on our shocked faces when Bit Zesty was announced as winners in the Service and Product Design category – we were overwhelmed by the news! What an honour and a privilege!
Our winning entry – SXT Partner Notification Service
SXT Partner Notification Service is an amazing project that is not only innovative but also has a profound positive impact on people’s lives. The aim is to reduce the spread of STIs by notifying partners of diagnosed patients – to date, over 14,000 partners have been notified. It is masterminded by our brilliant client, Anatole S Menon-Johansson, the Founder and Director of SXT. Dr Menon-Johansson is passionate about the cause and has devoted his life to it; he is a true visionary – always looking for ways to innovate and push boundaries to achieve real impact. It’s only because he is open to the human-centred approach to creating technology that we were able to achieve such success – in terms of the industry recognition, but ultimately the effect on patients’ lives.
The right work done the right way
Over the last year, we won seven awards for our work with SXT, including Design Week Award for App Design in the UK, IF Gold Award for Service Design & UX in Germany, IDEA Silver Award for Service Design in the USA. On reflection, I believe it shows that the design and digital industry wants to celebrate not only the work that is done right but also the right type of work – the work that has a positive impact on society.
