Ukrainian Design is a Ukrainian design competition that concludes the exhibition of the same name. The Best of mark is awarded to the best works within each category, and for websites it is one of the few awards on the Ukrainian market that studios receive regularly. Works that make the shortlist undergo expert evaluation, and the winners are included in the exhibition catalogue.
Estetico is structured as a magazine. The core consists of thematic articles with illustrations, and a separate Gallery section allows downloading works in high quality. The site was adapted for mobile devices from the very beginning, which in 2014 was not yet the norm for publications of this type. The studio described the design as concise and functional, with an emphasis on the reader's attention: content was to remain central, and the interface was not to distract from text and images.
A Project Without a Client
The unusual aspect of the entry is that there was no client. Websites are usually submitted to competitions by studios with client work, and juries are accustomed to evaluating solutions for a specific business task. Here, the task was set by the studio itself. This was stated directly by Sponge's executive director Kyrylo Solyar in an interview with Innabits in August 2014:
“Estetico.me is indeed our internal project.”
The Cyclopedia catalogue classifies Estetico as a non-commercial information project of the agency and associates it with 2013, meaning the magazine appeared before it received its first external recognition. For a studio that sells website development, such a project serves as a showcase: it demonstrates how the agency handles design, typography, and adaptation without an external brief.
A Series of Awards in One Category
For Sponge, the Website Design category at Ukrainian Design was already familiar. In 2013, the Best of in it went to the Chkalov School website, and in 2015 the same level of mark went to the studio's own website, the D&D version. A year later, in 2016, the Best of in the same category went to the Trendon online store. Thus Estetico became one link in a series in which the agency's own projects and client work were judged by the same measure.
International recognition had also come earlier for the studio. In December 2013, the agency's website in its previous version received an Honorable Mention at Awwwards, a platform that selects sites of the day and week based on evaluations by professional juries. At that time the studio was already participating in international competitions, and Estetico added to its portfolio a work created without an external commission and with complete freedom of form.
Russia and the Golden Site
A year later Estetico was also recognized in Russia. At the all-Russian Golden Site 2015 competition, the magazine was among the top three prize-winners in the nomination Educational Portal, Popular Science Site, Blog. In the final list it stood third, ahead were Newtonew and Architecture of Soviet Modernism 1955–1985. For a magazine without a commercial goal, such a result meant that it was evaluated not only as design but also as content.
The results of Golden Site were announced on 22 October 2015. At the same ceremony, the studio's own website took first place in the Digital Agency Website category, and Estetico shared the podium with projects from other themes. Thus the agency's internal project, which began without a client and without a promotion budget, by the end of 2015 had brought the studio several awards in different competitions.
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