Hasta La Ideas

The new, even-numbered year is upon us and with it a new world design capital: Helsinki (along with the Finnish cities of Espoo, Vantaa, Lahti, and Kauniainen). Following in the footsteps of Turin (World Design Capital 2008) and Seoul (2010), Helsinki kicked off its year-long designfest with a “New Year’s Eve of Design” bash in the capital city’s Senate Square and is now getting down to business with a slate of 300 events, projects, and initiatives that “explore the benefits and value of design, and showcase the various ways it can improve all of our lives.” Meanwhile, the organizers are working to improve visitors’ experiences with a mobile app. Launched today and developed in collaboration with Fjord, the WDC 2012 app provides on-the-go access to the program of events, related news, and a map, all in your choice of Finnish, Swedish, or English. So whether you want to doublecheck the dates of the Lapland Snow Design Event (read: igloo-building competition) or browse a listing of related events around the world, there’s an app for that—and, in keeping with the WDC theme of “Open Helsinki,” the app is free and available on four platforms: Meego, iOS, Symbian, and Android.

Got an app we should know about? Drop us a line at unbeige@mediabistro.com

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