The Runet Rating maintains a separate creativity ranking for design studios. It evaluates creative work, not revenue or headcount. For a bureau that has been on the market since 2009 and was founded by Bohdan Hnatiuk, this is an important benchmark: a place in the table shows how the studio's work looks against other companies in the industry.
In 2016, Sponge D&D took 11th place with 10.93 points. Before that, the studio was in 28th place, so the rise was seventeen positions. The result is backed by awards the bureau received in 2015 and 2016 in several professional competitions. They are worth examining separately, because each platform has its own rules and its own reputation.
What stands behind the awards
The main competition for web studios is considered to be Awwwards, an international platform where a jury selects the best sites of the week and day. A site receives Site of the Day (SOTD) status, or lands in the Honorable Mention (HM) list or among the nominees. The second key platform, CSS Winner, works on a similar scheme: sites receive Nominee, Star and SOTD statuses, and are also included in selections of the best work. CSS Design Awards, or CSSDA, hands out separate prizes, including Winner of the Day (WOTD) and Special Kudos. Scores on these platforms are given on a ten-point scale, and scores within 7 are considered high for competitions of this level.
The chain of awards that Sponge received in 2015 clearly shows how this system works. The bureau's site landed in CSSDA as Winner of the Day on May 24 with a score of 7.80. A few days later it was noted by CSS Nectar, on June 3 it was included in the CSS Light selection, on June 13 CSS Winner awarded it SOTD status with a score of 7.5. In the summer came BestCSS, CSSReel and Awwwards, where on August 8 the site received Site of the Day status with a score of 7.03.
The site that worked for reputation
In the autumn of 2015, this series continued at the Russian Golden Site award. At the ceremony on October 22, the Sponge site took first place in the Digital Agency Website category. The award evaluates websites, and for the studio this is direct confirmation that its own work meets the standards it offers to clients.
The results of other ratings also showed momentum. In the Ukrainian VRK rating, the bureau took 21st place with 4 points in the 2014/2015 season. At the end of the 2015/2016 season, it entered the top eight digital agencies with 29 points. The difference in points and places between the two seasons reflects not only new work, but also the fact that the studio became known on international platforms, not just in the professional community within the country.
What happened in early 2016
The bureau's work was not limited to its own site. In January 2016, Awwwards noted the Furgoneta site in the Honorable Mention category on January 30. A few days later, on February 4, CSS Winner awarded this site SOTD status, and on February 7 it was included in the CSS Nectar selection. The Kvadrat site received SOTD status on CSS Nectar on February 21, and the Carts Guru site received SOTD status on CSS Winner on March 6.
These dates are important for understanding why the rating grew specifically in 2016. The awards came not as a single peak but as a series: from sites created for the bureau itself to work for clients from various industries. Such a flow of publications and competition marks in one season gave the studio 17 awards in professional competitions that were counted in the rating.
The final place in the Runet Rating became confirmation for Sponge D&D that the strategy of recent years had produced a measurable result. The studio made a name for itself on the international stage, and now its work is evaluated alongside sites that reach the top positions in the main competitions.
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