Awwwards is considered one of the most renowned international platforms for websites. The jury evaluates design, usability, and technical implementation, and an Honorable Mention ranks below the main distinctions. For a studio working in the international market, such an mention means that the project has been noticed by industry professionals. The platform noted the clarity of the site, its emphasis on key messages, and unobtrusive animation.
The client, a Swiss personal style brand, received from Sponge not only a website but also a corporate identity. The visual system linked the website with the company's other materials, and in the studio's portfolio the project is listed in full: website and corporate identity together.
Three Awards in Three Weeks
Three days after Awwwards, on September 16, 2017, Style Whisperer received a 'star' at CSS Winner. This resource recognizes websites in its gallery: besides stars, it assigns Site of the Day statuses and nominations, and a star signifies recognition of quality without the top status of the day.
On September 21, 2017, the project received Special Kudos at CSS Design Awards, a special mention from the platform's jury. The site was scored 7.63 and entered in the fashion category. The platform assigns scores based on several criteria, and the same score of 7.63 a year earlier was given to the Pivovarov website, which received Special Kudos on August 24, 2017.
The Season That Prepared These Awards
The series of awards in September 2017 grew out of work from previous months. On August 23, CSS Winner awarded the Pivovarov website Site of the Day with a score of 7.6; the next day, CSS Design Awards gave it Special Kudos; and on August 25, Awwwards selected it as Site of the Day and presented the Developer Award. After Style Whisperer, on September 28, 2017, the Helicopter View website received a CSS Winner star.
Such frequency of awards did not develop in a single year. Back in 2015, the studio's own website went from Website of the Day at CSS Design Awards on May 24 with a score of 7.80 to Site of the Day at CSS Winner on June 13 with a score of 7.5, and then received Site of the Day at Awwwards on August 8 with a score of 7.03. In 2015, the studio also won at the 'Golden Site' awards, where the Sponge website took first place in the 'Digital Agency Website' nomination. The studio's profile on CSS Winner currently lists 21 nominations, 6 stars, and 9 Site of the Day statuses.
The Studio's Place in Rankings
The awards for websites coincided with the studio's rise in professional rankings. The Runet Creativity Ranking for 2017 placed Sponge in 4th place with 23.32 points, one of the highest positions compared to other web studios. Bureau founder Bogdan Gnatyuk developed the company during a period when competition for website and corporate identity orders was becoming tougher, and studios were increasingly entering international platforms.
Later, the ranking changed. In 2018, Sponge took 10th place in the Runet Creativity Ranking with 12.25 points, and in 2019 it dropped to 37th place with 4.59 points.
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