Awwwards is regarded as one of the leading international platforms for web design. Its professional jury evaluates sites on visual design, usability and technical execution. An Honorable Mention sits below Site of the Day on the scale of distinctions, yet far from every project makes it onto the list of recognized works. For a studio, such an assessment means its solutions stand comparison with work from around the world.
The Trendon Store entry on Awwwards describes the project in a single line: multi-brand clothing store, footwear, accessories. This is a store selling clothing, footwear and accessories from various brands under one roof. The interface of such a site must gather a large assortment into a clear storefront and not exhaust the shopper with transitions between brands, categories and filters. That was the task facing the team, and the jury's final score showed that its solution was convincing.
multi-brand clothing store, footwear, accessories
A series of awards in one year
Trendon Store was not an isolated success. On 10 July 2016 the site received Site of the Day at CSS Winner, a web design gallery where the jury confers Nominee, Star and Site of the Day statuses. Notably, exactly a year earlier, on 13 June 2015, Site of the Day at CSS Winner went to the bureau's own site as well, with a score of 7.5. The coincidence of dates neatly shows how the assessment of the studio's work changed from year to year.
In 2015 the Sponge site also entered Awwwards: on 8 August it received Site of the Day with a score of 7.03. In 2016 the streak continued. On 30 January the Furgoneta site received an Honorable Mention at Awwwards, on 4 February it became Site of the Day at CSS Winner, and on 7 February it was featured on CSS Nectar as Site of the Day. Defence Group received an Honorable Mention at Awwwards on 3 August, and Simbrella was recognized with the same status on 30 November.
Ukrainian Design and the Golden Site
Ukrainian Design, a Ukrainian design award, evaluates work by category and confers a Best of mark. In 2016 Trendon Online Shop received Best of in category B-1. A year earlier the Sponge D&D site was distinguished in the same category, so the Ukrainian jury consistently singled out the studio's work.
Another platform where the project gained recognition is the Russian Golden Site award. In 2016 Furgoneta and Trendon took first place in their respective nominations. The studio itself ranked between 13th and 18th in the developers' rating and scored 10 points. In 2015 the award gave the Sponge site first place in the Digital Agency Website nomination, and on 22 October 2015 the ceremony was held at which the results were announced.
The studio and its people
Bohdan Hnatiuk, the founder of the bureau, structured its work so that sites for clients from various fields would receive the attention of the professional community. Sponge's executive director, Kyrylo Soliar, spoke about the studio's work in an interview with Innabits in 2014. Leading designer Serhii Semernov was, in the same year, director and co-owner of SPONGE STORE, so online stores remained an important part of the practice.
In the Runet creativity rating for 2016 the studio took 11th place, and in 2017 it rose to 4th. This trajectory coincided with the growth in the number of international awards the studio received throughout the year.
The series continued in 2017 as well. On 16 January the BizzGrid site received an Honorable Mention at Awwwards, and on 25 August the Pivovarov site received Site of the Day at Awwwards. In September of the same year Style Whisperer received an Honorable Mention at Awwwards, and on 16 September it received Star status at CSS Winner.
1
