From October 13 to 17, 2014, Kyiv hosted the Ukrainian Design competition, which combined an exhibition, seminars and an awards ceremony. The entries were judged by designers from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Russia, the USA and Poland, so the results were of interest beyond the Ukrainian industry. The report on the results in the television category was published by Detector Media on October 14.
The highest tier of the competition, The Very Best of, went to works by ICTV, STB and 1+1 Media. ICTV was recognized for 'Yalynky' and 'The Time Machine,' STB won with the project 'Seven Wonders,' and 1+1 Media presented 'New Year IDs.' The next most significant category was Best of. In it, alongside ICTV with the work 'Provocateur,' was the logo of the Odesa television channel 'First City,' specifically in the 'TV channel logo' category.
An Odesa logo alongside national channels
'First City' broadcasts from Odesa, and having its logo in the same list as works by the largest national channels was notable recognition for the local studio. In its piece, Detector Media explicitly named the creator: the logo was designed by creative bureau Sponge.
“the logo of the Odesa television channel ‘First City’… developed by creative bureau Sponge”
That is how the authorship was stated in Detector Media's publication. Best of ranks below the highest tier, but for a studio from Odesa it was an opportunity to show its work alongside projects by the country's leading television channels, and before a jury from several countries.
The bureau, founded by Bohdan Hnatiuk, already knew what competition awards were by that time. Back in 2013, at the same Ukrainian Design, the studio received Best of for the Chkalov school project. In December 2013, Awwwards, an international platform where websites are evaluated by professional designers and developers, gave the previous version of the bureau's website an Honorable Mention. Even then the bureau was already making a name for itself in the design community beyond Ukraine.
Ratings and awards after Kyiv
A few days after the competition, on October 17, the Ukrainian rating Creativity Ukraine placed Sponge 12th in the interim VRK ranking with 4 points. By the end of the 2014/2015 season, the bureau held 21st place with the same 4 points. In August 2014, the studio's executive director, Kyrylo Soliar, spoke in an interview with Innabits about the bureau's work, which by then had grown from a small Odesa team into a notable player in the industry.
In 2015, the geography of awards expanded. At Ukrainian Design, works were recognized in the The Very Best of category, and the Sponge D&D website received Best of. The same competition also recognized the KTK logo in the Best of category. On international platforms, the bureau's website received accolades from the professional community: on June 13, 2015, CSS Winner named it site of the day with a score of 7.5, and on August 8, Awwwards selected it as site of the day with a score of 7.03.
In the autumn of 2015, the bureau received the 'Golden Site 2015' award. Its website took first place in the 'Digital Agency Website' nomination, and in the developers' ranking the studio placed 17th–19th with 9 points. A year later, the VRK for the 2015/2016 season put Sponge 8th among digital agencies with 29 points.
Results in the Runet rating in the 'creativity' category confirm this dynamic. In 2017, the bureau took 4th place with 23.32 points, and in 2018, with 12.25 points, it rose to 10th place.
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