AndySowards is known as a web design blog that regularly reviews notable sites from around the world. In the roundup of fifteen works, the top spots go to projects the blog's authors consider the most daring in visual language and presentation. Sponge made the list with the address, and this is an important detail: it is not the bureau's main site but a promotional resource created for American clients.
The description given by the author reads:
“Sponge Digital is a stunning website. It's a mix of mystery, high-technology, luxury and science-fiction”
AndySowards separately noted the team's skills diagram, which he called very original. For an agency, such a detail matters: the site tells about the people and their competencies not with a list but with an unconventional visual scheme.
A promo site for the American market
The American version existed as a standalone project with its own path through industry galleries. In the summer of 2015, the site received a nomination at CSS Winner and was featured on One Page Love, a gallery of one-page sites. On August 10 it was noted as Site of the Day on BestCSS, and on August 14 it received a special recognition from CSSDA with a score of 7.57. Two months later came the attention from AndySowards.
CSS Winner and CSSDA are international competitions where juries evaluate sites on design, code, and usability and award prizes of the day, week, or month. BestCSS and One Page Love operate as galleries with daily or thematic selections of works. Being featured in such feeds means the site was seen by professional developers from various countries, not just the client.
A year of awards and rankings
The blog roundup was just one episode of the season. In 2015, the bureau's main site went through the same venues: CSSDA named it site of the week on May 24 with a score of 7.80, on May 29 it was featured on CSS Nectar as site of the day, on June 3 it received a CSS Light award, and on June 13 it became site of the day on CSS Winner with a score of 7.5. On July 20 came BestCSS, on July 27 CSSReel declared it a winner, and on August 8 Awwwards chose it as site of the day with a score of 7.03. Awwwards is one of the leading international web design galleries, and being featured there is considered a strong signal in the professional community.
By this time, Sponge's profile on CSS Winner had accumulated 21 nominations, 6 stars, and 9 site of the day awards. Earlier, in December 2013, the previous version of the bureau's site received an Awwwards honorable mention, meaning it was included in the list of notable works without the top award.
The picture within the domestic market was also changing. In 2014, according to the interim ranking of the VRK, the studio held 12th place with four points, and the final result of the 2014/2015 season was 21st place. This is less about competition with the largest agencies and more about the studio's work beginning to reach beyond local reviews.
The people behind the projects
The bureau's founder, Bohdan Hnatiuk, consistently built the studio's work around a strong design culture. In an interview with Innabits in August 2014, Sponge's executive director Kyrylo Soliar discussed the approach to projects, while lead designer and SPONGE STORE director Serhii Semernov was responsible for visual solutions. Later, Semernov became art director of Sponge D&D, a division whose site in 2015 received a Best of B-1 mark in one of the professional catalogs.
The skills diagram noted by AndySowards belongs to the same line: the team presents itself through visual tools rather than a list of services. This matches the overall style of the promo site, where atmosphere becomes the main instrument.
The final episode of the season was the Golden Site 2015 ceremony, held on October 22 in Moscow. The Sponge site took first place in the 'Digital Agency Website' category. Foundator was second in the financial media category, and Estetico was third in the educational sites and blogs category. In the developers' ranking, the studio placed in the 17th to 19th range with nine points.
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