Apple app design awards.

Apple has always stressed the importance of design when it comes to mobile apps and games. it even promotes apps that do a particularly great job of it at WWDC each year. Yes, there's more to this week-long developer conference than the keynote. Apple has announced the winners of its annual design awards, and there are some stunning apps this year. Let's take a look at them, starting with the games.

Monument Valley: This is a fantastic geometric adventure game with mind-bending puzzles and beautiful graphics. It's no wonder it was singled out by Apple. We posted about this game when it arrived on Android a few weeks ago.

Threes!: This is a simple but challenging number puzzle game with a very clean style and extreme attention to detail. It can be endlessly addictive if you're even a little bit fond of numbers.

Device 6: This might not look like a game at first, but that's because Device 6 offers a unique experience. This is an interactive story told in a retro 60s style filled with puzzles and interesting UI experiences. Definitely something to try for yourself.

Blek: A deceptively simple game, Blek tasks you with collecting all the colored dots and avoiding the black holes. You simply draw a pattern, and your line segment races off, replicating that pattern over and over until it either collects all the colors, or hits a black hole. The minimalistic graphics and elegant interface have won Blek many fans.

Leo's Fortune: For the more adventurous types, Leo's Fortune sends you on an epic quest through lush environments filled with physics-based puzzles. This is a fully 64-bit game and it looks stunning--almost photo-realistic in places.

Okay, enough fun. Now it's on to the app winners.

Sky Guide: This is a gorgeous, detailed map of the heavens in app form. From the high-resolution imagery to the handcrafted illustrations, Sky Guide is a killer app. You might even learn something.

Storehouse: The end of boring vacation slideshows—that's what Storehouse promises. We took a look at this app a few months back, and now Apple has recognized it for letting users tell visual stories with elegant editing tools and transitions. This is also a 64-bit app on A7 devices.

Yahoo News Digest: Yes, even Yahoo can still knock one out of the park when it comes to design. The News Digest app combines slick animations and clean lines with excellent editorial to make for a great news app. It supports all manner of iOS technologies like background fetch, core animations, and more.

Well, those are all the big winners from 2014. The official Apple page also includes a few Mac apps, as well as some winning student iOS app submissions. Feel free to check those out too.