Clarity Consulting Wins Microsoft's PhizzPop Design Challenge in Chicago;
Advances to National Competition
Local firm beat top Interactive, Web, and design agencies with solution that
pushed limits of technology and creativity in problem-solving
CHICAGO, Dec. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Clarity Consulting Inc. announced today
their win at Microsoft's innovative design challenge -- PhizzPop -- in
Chicago. PhizzPop challenges software developers and designers to push the
limits of creativity by developing unique consumer experiences using Windows
Presentation Foundation and Silverlight technologies. Clarity's winning
solution, which leveraged Microsoft's Windows Presentation Foundation, offered
airline passengers a simplified reservation and check-in process on the Web
and personalized entertainment within the aircraft.
Built using a combination of tools from Microsoft including Visual Studio
2008, Expression Blend, and Expression Media Encoder, Clarity's solution was
judged the best out of 5 other regional entries. While all entries succeeded
in creating applications that were visually impressive, Clarity's stood out
based on their ability to bring innovative thinking to their solution --
delivering an interactive, personalized, and connected experience for
passengers on any device, even their iPhones.
"At Clarity, we pride ourselves on always 'getting it right the first
time' and we're thrilled to have proven that again at this week's Chicago
PhizzPop challenge," said Jon Rauschenberger, CTO of Clarity Consulting.
"The competition is a great affirmation of the power of development and
design, personal commitment and innovative thinking -- things that Clarity
believes in strongly. We were honored to compete with so many innovators in
the industries of design, web and interactive and excited to be able to
highlight the benefits of extending our own user experience innovation
capabilities -- something we know is becoming more and more important to our
clients."
The Chicago contest was judged by an esteemed group of individuals
including Jeremy Alexis -- assistant professor at IIT's Institue of Design,
Scott Kinkaid -- Vice President of Usability Practices at Usability Sciences
and Carlos Segura -- one of the most revered graphic designers of our
generation.
"We are very excited about the new Microsoft Expression suite of tools
that support the designer -- developer workflow," said Kevin Marshall,
Clarity's Director of Product Management and leader of the winning team." With
only two days to implement a solution, we were able to quickly create and
integrate design assets into our solution with each team member using a
different application in the process."
The series of regional PhizzPop contests culminates in a battle against
the regional winners at the 2008 South By Southwest Interactive Conference in
Austin. Participating regions include New York, Boston, Chicago, Austin, Los
Angeles and San Francisco winner AKQA.
About Clarity Consulting Inc.
Clarity Consulting Inc. develops, customizes and implements software
solutions to help clients achieve their unique visions and drive business
results. Clarity's versatile and talented consultants specialize in
application development, business intelligence, legacy integration and
e-commerce websites for a range of clients, from retail and manufacturing
industries to financial institutions. Clarity Consulting Inc. is based in
Chicago, Illinois, USA. For more information about our company, our people,
and our solutions, please visit http://www.claritycon.com.
SOURCE Clarity Consulting Inc.
Monica Rohleder of Signal Rock Communication, +1-847-606-1973,
monica@Signalrockcomm.com, for Clarity Consulting Inc.
