The Core77 Design Awards Interaction category includes interactive content and user interface design for websites, mobile devices and experiential installations. Examples include: software, mobile apps, interactive projections, products with embedded user interface, animations, simulations, and robotics.

The Apps & Platforms category evaluates web or mobile screen-based software programs designed for user-friendliness. Examples include: mobile apps, websites, computer programs.

Stephanie Aaron, Vice President and Design Lead, J.P. Morgan Chase.

As a Vice President and design lead at J.P. Morgan Chase, Stephanie Aaron focuses on making things simpler for employees and customers. She recently became the first designer to join an innovation team and is excited to use that platform to teach people "how to be more innovative in their product creation and build a pipeline of ideas generated by our employees who are so knowledgeable about our business and customers."

Prior to joining J.P. Morgan Chase, Stephanie worked with several other large financial firms as well as the New York Federal Reserve. For more than a decade, she ran her own design firm, serving clients such as The American Museum of Natural History, Citibank, and Barnes & Noble. In addition to her day job, the native New Yorker serves as North America regional coordinator for IxDA and enjoys reading and spending time with her 62-pound pit bull or kayaking on the Hudson River.

Stephanie cites "the degradation of design education" as her biggest concern for the design industry. She holds both a BFA (from the Cooper Union) and MFA (in Interaction Design from the School of Visual Arts) but finds that many designers' education today consists of little beyond short-term boot camps. And, as she said, "even those boot camps are struggling to survive. It takes more than a few weeks or months to acquire a skill and learn how to apply it, play with it, and get deep into usage and understanding."

To entrants in the Core77 Design Awards, Stephanie's suggestion is to start small, and find the smallest, fastest change that will create an impact. "Understand the business goals as well as the user goals for your products and make sure that they are not in conflict," she advised. "Have metrics that you can use to demonstrate the success of your project."

Tesselate Studio won the Interaction category in 2023 for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The 2023 Core77 Design Awards winner in the Interaction category was "Tower of Faces: Augmented Reality Experience," created by Tessellate Studio for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Peekabook | A Magic Portal Into Creative Imagination won the Apps & Platforms category for 2023.

The winner in the Apps & Platforms category was "Peekabook | A Magic Portal Into Creative Education" by STUCKMADE PTE LTD.

Our jurors want to see your ideas for innovating and simplifying the way we work and live. Submit your entry to the Core77 Design Awards today.