Rating Runeta compiles rankings of agencies and studios working with the Russian-language internet and divides them by city and specialty. The Sponge D&D studio holds several separate positions in this ranking, and they change from edition to edition, so the figures must be checked against dates.
The archived studio profile from 30 September 2020 lists 4th place among website developers in Odesa, 37th in the web design studio ranking, and 149th in the website developer ranking. The archive from 24 January 2021 presents a different picture: 2nd place in Odesa, 6th among web design studios, and 33rd among website developers. These two dates confirm the high positions mentioned in the profile.
There is also a separate creativity ranking. In it, the studio rose noticeably higher than in the general lists: 4th place in 2017 with 23.32 points, 10th in 2018 with 12.25 points. In 2019, the studio received 37th place with 4.59 points. This decline coincided with the studio continuing to receive awards at international web competitions, so the ranking and the competitions should be considered together.
Awards at Web Competitions
The studio's most notable results are tied to website competitions. CSS Winner awards the titles Site of the Day, Star, and Nominee, as well as separate prizes for works chosen by the jury. The studio's CSS Winner profile lists 21 nominations, 6 stars, and 9 Site of the Day awards. The bureau's founding date in this profile is given as 22 November 2009.
In 2015, the studio's own website received several awards in succession. On 24 May it was marked as Website of the Day on CSS Design Awards with a score of 7.80, on 13 June it became Site of the Day on CSS Winner with a score of 7.5, and on 8 August it was chosen as Site of the Day on Awwwards with a score of 7.03. Awwwards selects works based on jury scores, and inclusion in its daily selection is considered a separate mark of quality for a studio.
In October 2015, the studio's works also took prizes at the Russian competition Golden Site 2015. On 22 October, at the ceremony in Moscow, the Sponge website took first place in the Digital Agency Website category. In the same developer ranking, the studio placed 17th–19th with 9 points.
People and Projects
The studio's founder is considered to be Bohdan Hnatiuk, who is listed as general director in the Rating Runeta profile for 2019–2021. He is also listed in the profile of the Workspace bureau. Under his leadership, the studio grew from a small local bureau into one of Odesa's prominent web studios.
In an interview with Innabits in August 2014, Kyrylo Soliar was named executive director of Sponge. In the same year, Serhii Semernov served as lead designer and director of SPONGE STORE, and in 2018, according to DOU, he worked as art director of Sponge D&D. These positions show that by 2015 the studio already had a team producing work for competitions.
The team's results were not limited to its own website. In 2017, for the Pyvovarov website, the studio received Site of the Day on CSS Winner on 23 August with a score of 7.6, and on 25 August the work received Site of the Day on Awwwards and the Developer Award. Another work from the same year, the Style Whisperer website, received an Honorable Mention on Awwwards and a CSS Winner star in September.
In January 2021, the studio's profile on showed 2nd place in Odesa, 6th place among web design studios, and 33rd place among website developers.
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