Favourite Website Awards——theFWA, 業(yè)界真正稱得上無人不知無人不曉的幾個站點之一, 集合了網(wǎng)頁設計界最高水準的展示平臺。全球的網(wǎng)頁設計師每天都要在FWA上觀摩作品與尋找靈感, 代理商與制作公司也以獲得FWA的各類獎項為榮。互動中國這次采訪了FWA的創(chuàng)始人Rob Ford, 他將代表FWA為大家解密這家行業(yè)評獎風向標的創(chuàng)立、歷史、機制、以及未來。

采訪、編輯: 數(shù)英網(wǎng) Newsroom
 (原創(chuàng)內(nèi)容, 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明來自數(shù)英網(wǎng))

本次采訪受訪者為FWA創(chuàng)始人Rob Ford先生，他將代表FWA回答互動中國的提問

(數(shù)英網(wǎng)/Rob Ford=FWA)

關于FWA:

數(shù)英網(wǎng): FWA團隊目前有多少人手和部門? 這些部門都分別負責什么職能?

FWA: 我們擁有一個85人的評審團隊，其中51人負責審查SOTD（Site of The Day，下同），34人負責審查MOTD（Mobile of The Day，下同）。我自己負責一般的日常運營與項目維護，當需要做設計以及網(wǎng)站建設的時候我們會去找Group94，我們還有一些支持人員，比如財務、法務、商業(yè)顧問等。

數(shù)英網(wǎng): 你們的辦公室在哪兒? 還是說你們目前都是SOHO? 如果是遠程辦公的話，你們怎么解決溝通與合作方面的問題的?

FWA: 即使現(xiàn)在FWA已經(jīng)成長為一個國際化的品牌，我想我們還是不需要一間大辦公室，事實上對于這樣一個個人項目（指FWA）來說降低成本到最小化是至關重要的，F(xiàn)WA團隊一般靠郵件相互聯(lián)系，我個人住在劍橋。

關于評審:

數(shù)英網(wǎng): 業(yè)界一直想知道的就是FWA所謂“健全的評審機制”到底是什么，我們已經(jīng)知道你們的一些評分角度，以及一個公共評審環(huán)節(jié)，但是你能給我們揭露一下更多的細節(jié)么?

FWA: 在過去的11年里FWA曾經(jīng)引進，后來又放棄了打分制規(guī)則來選拔SOTD與MOTD，現(xiàn)在我們采用的是大評委團制度，每個評委在每個評分組成上只能對作品打“Yes”和“No”，一件作品如果認可度在70%以上，那么就有資格獲獎。

公共評審環(huán)節(jié)又是另外一回事了，之前經(jīng)常有讀者來信說我們評出的獲獎網(wǎng)站他們并不認可，所以我們設置了這樣一個環(huán)節(jié)來讓大家親自參與。每當一個作品被提交到FWA，它就會出現(xiàn)在“最新提交作品”欄目，訪問網(wǎng)站的人可以在這里對作品投票（一樣只有“Yes”和“No”），同樣的，超過70%認可率的作品會被放到“公共評審名單”里——要注意的是這不是一個FWA官方獎項，它僅說明該作品的公眾反響度如何。——因為發(fā)動群眾刷票是在是太容易了。

基本上只有SOTD等才是經(jīng)過FWA專家評審的官方獎項，而“公共評審名單”則只顯示作品在更大的圈子里的好評度而已。

數(shù)英網(wǎng): 接下來我們想了解一下評委方面。FWA的評委是從哪里選擇的? 你們有一支固定的評委團隊么? FWA選擇評委的標準又是什么?

FWA: 51個評委負責審查SOTD，34人負責審查移動類作品。評委們遍布世界各地，而且名單一直在變動，但是我們每天都會收到很多人的報名。我會確保評委名單中有相當數(shù)量的年輕人——他們對這項事業(yè)更有熱情和動力，對這一行業(yè)的發(fā)展趨勢也更有洞察力。同樣的，我們的評委團隊中也擁有很多行業(yè)高層人士，用一個詞形容的話，就是“兼收并蓄”。

我們選擇評委的標準只有一個——必須獲得至少一次FWA獎項，團隊或個人皆可。我一般會把評委招募信息發(fā)送到twitter上，感興趣的人可以去fo。

數(shù)英網(wǎng): 不同分類的作品是由不同評委團隊審核的么? 一般一次評審流程需要多長時間?

FWA: SOTD和MOTD是分開的，當然有一些評委會同時參加兩邊的評審。流程長度視乎具體情況而定，一般會需要幾天時間，但如果作品得到的分數(shù)咬得太緊的話有時也會需要幾周的時間——有時候比分真的非常、非常接近，我不得不自己去做決定選出哪一件作品。

關于產(chǎn)品:

數(shù)英網(wǎng): 關于FWA TV，我們知道所有在FWA獲過獎的團隊每周都有一小時時間在這個平臺展示自己，不過你們對FWA TV的定位是什么? FWA TV未來會發(fā)展成什么樣? 為什么你們不去為它做一個移動app，而是鼓勵用戶直接上瀏覽器觀看?

FWA: FWAweb TV是我們的一個新項目，很多代理商都在上面直播了有趣的內(nèi)容。不過現(xiàn)在我們開始對內(nèi)容進行審核與選擇，并且期望能做出一個內(nèi)容更實用的迭代版本。我很理解觀眾們既希望看到有趣的內(nèi)容，又希望內(nèi)容很實用。我們的底線是這樣一個平臺必須能吸引很多人的參與并有機的成長起來。

我們基于以下兩點理由沒有做FWA TV的APP: 第一是我們沒有足夠的預算去讓這個APP覆蓋所有的平臺，第二是我們希望一個mobile版的網(wǎng)站（FWA）能統(tǒng)籌所有的移動設備。

數(shù)英網(wǎng): 最近你們接受了移動類作品的參賽，但是為什么選擇這個時間點創(chuàng)建這樣一個分類? 要知道離開只能移動平臺開發(fā)的大潮已經(jīng)過去一年多了（從ipad1發(fā)售開始算起），你們是如何考慮的? FWA對移動類作品的審查機制與web類有什么不同么?

FWA: 我們從兩年前（2010年九月一日）就在m.thefwa.com開始做移動類項目獎項了，移動設備開發(fā)的大潮給我們帶來了大量的參賽作品。至于審查機制和SOTD沒有什么差別，除了評審團隊不同之外——難點在于我們必須確保擁有使用全部類型移動設備/平臺的評委庫，幸好我們做到了。

關于未來:

數(shù)英網(wǎng): 你對移動時代的來臨有什么看法呢? 現(xiàn)在看來每個人都圍著智能手機與平板電腦打轉(zhuǎn)——更重要的問題是，作為行業(yè)標桿的FWA，你們認為移動狂潮之后的大熱點是什么? 為什么這么認為?

FWA: 人們不希望干什么事情都必須坐在電腦桌前而已。我自己其實對小屏幕無甚好感，但是大的趨勢是平板將取代PC，也許有一天一整代人將會根本對臺式PC毫無概念。

智能移動行業(yè)其實還是個嬰兒，很多人才擁有自己的第一部智能手機，因此我想現(xiàn)在人們的狂熱大約和20世紀90年代初人們剛接觸到互聯(lián)網(wǎng)并因此而狂熱是一樣的原因。我認為移動app行業(yè)如今的確有點過熱了，當你意識到你在買下智能手機的頭兩個月下了超過三位數(shù)的APP結(jié)果之后只用到其中10個時候，你就明白我的意思了。我想這一行最終的出路是——要么你做出橫跨全平臺的APP版本，要么你干脆做一個在任何設備上都能瀏覽的網(wǎng)頁端，除此之外都是死路一條。

我對社交媒體的未來也充滿好奇，人們現(xiàn)在同樣對之趨之若鶩。不過Facebook真有它的fans認為的那么給力么? 起碼我不信。內(nèi)容始終為王。品牌所投放的平臺本身如果吸引了用戶過多的注意力（比如FB），總有一天后者會覆蓋掉前者。然后就是品牌商的集體逃離，并且反省之后重新規(guī)劃自己的創(chuàng)意、自己的網(wǎng)站、自己的目標，而非一股腦的把一切都扔到facebook頁面上去。

數(shù)英網(wǎng): 能告訴我們一些FWA自己的“未來”計劃么? 在未來的一段時間內(nèi)你們將會為我們帶來什么好玩的新東西?

FWA: 新一代FWA TV，以及一本關于移動作品的study book——The App and Mobile Case Study Book。年末我們也將會開始FWA Site of the Year 2011和People’s Choice Award 2011的評選，我也一直和其他品牌探討聯(lián)合進行創(chuàng)意合作的方法，近期將會有一個新的project出現(xiàn)，總之敬請期待。

關于廣告:

數(shù)英網(wǎng): FWA對提交作品是收費的（不止一個環(huán)節(jié)），但是你們最近也賣起了滾動Banner這種“傳統(tǒng)業(yè)務”，這是前所未有的舉動，能告訴我們?yōu)槭裁催@么做么?

FWA: FWA從創(chuàng)立開始的六年里其實分文未掙，都是靠我個人的繼續(xù)在維持運營。在FWA免費的時期我只能靠自己一個人來審查所有的作品——每天50到200個，基本上占用了我眼睛掙著的所有時間，實在是力不從心。因此我通過向作品收費的方式把作品提交數(shù)量控制在了一個合理的數(shù)目——我也得到了足夠的資金維持FWA的運營和發(fā)展。同樣的，因為收費，稿件的質(zhì)量也相應提高了很多。

其實FWA早在06年就開始做廣告了。當代理商與品牌商意識到FWA在全球的影響時（累計超過1.4億PV），他們對投放廣告的需求很強大。招聘板塊也是同時開設的。你需要選擇、張貼所有的招聘內(nèi)容，因此我必須收費來保證服務的質(zhì)量和信譽。

關于Rob Ford與FWA

數(shù)英網(wǎng): Rob，作為FWA的創(chuàng)始人，為我們講講你的生平以及在FWA之前的職業(yè)吧。

Rob: 哇，還有個人環(huán)節(jié)。我在讀大學之前就走上社會了，事實上我從來都不喜歡墨守成規(guī)，走進校園好好讀書。當我從高中畢業(yè)的時候我去一家銀行面試，并工作了一段時間，然后是美國運通，然后是汽車銷售。當我回顧我自己的過去，我會發(fā)現(xiàn)我?guī)缀跻簧荚凇芭Σ⒖鞓返臑樗斯ぷ鳌迸c“循規(guī)蹈矩”之間掙扎。于是在20幾歲的時候，我選擇了辭職休息——去干一些體力活，包括在夏天為別人除草。這一段狂野的日子徹底打開了我的心扉，讓我看到了一個全新的世界。

在90年代中期的時候我開始越來越深入的接觸網(wǎng)絡——其實是為了下載免費游戲。然后我開始想擁有一個個人網(wǎng)站，于是又去學了HTML，然后是Flash 3，我成立了一家叫Treecity的小公司為別人做一些小的flash和網(wǎng)頁設計。 當我的公司獲得了UK Web Award 時，我開始意識到一個獎項能帶給人們多大的快樂。我開始參與一些獎項的評審工作，期間我看到大部分頒獎機構(gòu)在不斷宣稱自己多權(quán)威的同時卻從不向公眾展示那些“厲害”的獲獎作品，因此我想更進一步，于是在2000年五月，F(xiàn)WA誕生了。當年我設立FWA的初衷只是為了展示那些與flash相關的設計，當然，現(xiàn)在完全不一樣了。

數(shù)英網(wǎng): 你覺得FWA和其他同類站點最大的區(qū)別是什么? 是什么特質(zhì)讓你們成為了行業(yè)標桿?

Rob: 對我來說，F(xiàn)WA就是我的BBC——獨一無二，與眾不同。10年來無數(shù)人模仿FWA，10年來我?guī)缀醢衙恳惶於紦湓贔WA上，即使生病了依然——有一次我食物中毒發(fā)燒超過40度依然在更新站點——我想就是這樣的熱情與犧牲，并且在六年里都毫無回報的瘋狂，造就了今天的FWA。

這些年里我看過太多站點的起起落落，太多的站點抄襲FWA的創(chuàng)意乃至內(nèi)容。我只想說，就FWA而言，所有的“創(chuàng)新”都表達了這兩個字的字面意思。

作為行業(yè)標桿，你必須保持最高的職業(yè)道德和中立的立場。過去的十幾年里我結(jié)識了全球各地在頂尖代理商工作的很多朋友，但是當他們提交作品的時候我依然會一視同仁。有時我們被指責說收了錢于是讓垃圾作品獲獎，這讓我很憤怒，事實上從FWA成立至今只有一家公司試圖來買我們的獎項——回答自然是想也不要想。FWA作為展示世界上最有趣和有創(chuàng)意的作品的平臺，是無價的。錢不能讓你的作品獲獎，作品本身才可以。

數(shù)英網(wǎng): 除了FWA之外你還有別的興趣所在么? 請列出三個除了FWA之外你最喜歡的站點。

Rob: 是的，最近幾年我都在努力尋找FWA之外的人生，我妻子一直在勸我找一些其他愛好來擺脫FWA的魔掌。我一直想成為一個DJ或者音樂制作人，也許有一天我會真的去做，問題是現(xiàn)在40幾歲的我都能當那些DJ的爺爺了。我喜歡園藝，至今為止我已經(jīng)親手培育了500多株盆栽和樹——這也是為什么當年我的公司名字叫Treecity。

在把自己的十多年歲月投入FWA之后，我開始明白因特網(wǎng)外的世界更精彩，我現(xiàn)在至少在2/3的節(jié)假日里選擇休息，長期來說我的計劃是從每日運營退居幕后負責FWA的創(chuàng)意和決策，為了FWA的未來，新鮮血液是必須的。

以下是三個我最愛的站點:

1. Ukbassradio 在線音樂播放網(wǎng)站，超級解乏。

2. Twitter 我已經(jīng)上癮了，關注FWA的人請follow @fwa

3. Thathipster 在線游戲網(wǎng)站，背后的創(chuàng)意非常強大。

尾聲:

數(shù)英網(wǎng): 互動中國曾經(jīng)做過兩期《歷年被FWA收錄的中國網(wǎng)站 大陸地區(qū)篇/港臺篇/國際友人篇》，在制作過程中我們發(fā)現(xiàn)FWA上的中國作品或者都出自少數(shù)幾個設計師之手，或者就是不夠商業(yè)化，你們對此有什么建議么?

FWA: FWA很歡迎也很需要來自中國的作品，希望互動中國的這次采訪能傳達我們的聲音。FWA很希望推介中國廣告和設計界的作品給世界其他地方。如果我們有那么一個評委（當然是拿過FWA獎的）來自中國就更棒了。如果誰有興趣歡迎到FWA主站上來聯(lián)系我。

言歸正傳，F(xiàn)WA上大部分的中國作品出自個人之手，我想這表明了在網(wǎng)絡與科技告訴普及的年代里個人比大廣告公司轉(zhuǎn)身更快。新鮮事物永遠是由個人先創(chuàng)造出來，而非大企業(yè)——并不是哪家大公司發(fā)明了輪子，不是么? 當你為自己工作的時候你可以很容易做自己想做的事情，一旦你出名——在網(wǎng)上出名很容易——你很快就會收到大公司的offer。你必須遵守公司的命令的各項制度，然后你的創(chuàng)意速度就會越來越緩慢。

我想在獨立工作階段，你必須自己給自己壓力——越大越好。反復做試驗，完善你的作品然后再打破它。創(chuàng)作，然后破壞，然后再創(chuàng)作，這是逼近完美的必經(jīng)之路。

數(shù)英網(wǎng): 還有什么想和大家說的么?

FWA: FWA歡迎來自中國的作品，我們接收以下范圍內(nèi)的任何作品投遞，即使非英文作品亦可——設計才是我們最關注的方面。我們同樣接收壁紙類作品投稿，你可以在這里了解具體的內(nèi)容。如果你會撰寫關于網(wǎng)頁和社區(qū)方面的文章，也歡迎投遞給我們。

以下是一些分享鏈接:

• FWA上最具創(chuàng)意的得獎者集合:
  http://www.thefwa.com/press/creative_displays/

• 獲獎者展示的FWA獲獎證書(其中有來自中國上海的30ml)
  http://www.thefwa.com/gallery/

• FWA關于世界100強品牌作品的集合:
  http://www.thefwa.com/press/top100brands/

如果你想了解更多關于FWA的一切，請直接聯(lián)系我，我會親自回復。以上是所有采訪內(nèi)容，感謝互動中國的采訪。

以下為采訪原文:

ABOUT FWA:

數(shù)英網(wǎng): How many people are there in FWA team? How many departments do FWA have and what are their functions?

FWA: FWA has a team of 85 judges, 51 for site of the day and 34 for mobile. I personally handle the daily running and maintenance of the project and use the services of our design/development team at group94 when required, plus the advice and services of our business advisors, legal and accounts.

數(shù)英網(wǎng): Where do your office located, or you prefer SOHO more? If you’re working in the latter, how do you manage the problems such as incontinence of cooperation or communication?

FWA: Even though FWA is a huge and globally recognized brand, we don’t have or need large offices. In fact, it is crucial for projects created by individuals that you keep overheads to a minimum. This is why the entire project is run remotely, with everyone staying connected by email etc. Personally, I am based in Cambridge in the UK.

ABOUT THE JUDGMENT:

數(shù)英網(wǎng): People always wonder that what the “well-developed criteria” is, we already know you have several aspects to judge from, and public voting part, but can you reveal more it for us in addition?

FWA: Over the last 11 years, FWA has evolved and has moved away from a points scoring system for SOTD and MOTD winners. We now focus on having a large team of judges, who all vote either “yes” or “no” on submitted sites. Those sites which achieve the highest percentage of votes, above 70%, go on to be eligible to be winners.

Public voting is entirely different. This area of the site was introduced to give our users the chance to judge sites for themselves as they often emailed to let us know when we awarded a site they didn’t like. When sites are submitted to FWA they immediately are on view in the “Latest submissions” area of the site. This is where anyone can vote and judge them by voting “yes” or “no”. After 7 days of public voting, those sites that received at least 70% “yes” votes are then listed on the “Public shortlist”. This is not an FWA award but it does show how the public rate sites. One of the reasons the public votes will never decide the daily winners is because it’s very easy to get friends, work colleagues etc to vote for sites.

Basically, winning a SOTD is the actual FWA award and this is decided by our expert industry panel of judges. A Public Shortlist entry is more about praise from the community but not an award as such.

數(shù)英網(wǎng): We also want to have a study of the juries. Where are the juries come from? Does FWA have a regular jury team? Can you tell us your criteria of selecting juries?

FWA: The judging teams, SOTD is 51 people and MOTD is 34 people. The judges change quite often as there is a big commitment to judges submissions every day. Judges are also from all over the world. I also like to make sure we have a lot of young judges as they have more passion and enthusiasm for this medium. They are also better at knowing what the future trends are. We also have some global creative directors and high level managers as judges. Overall, a very eclectic mix.

It’s important also to have people from different countries so that we can always understand different language sites.The only criteria to becoming a judge is to have won at least 1 FWA award before. That could be for a personal site or as a member of a team that won.I usually post judging vacancies on my twitter feed @fwa. So, follow that account if you would like to know when new vacancies are coming up.

數(shù)英網(wǎng): Are the submissions from different category judged by different jury teams or all submissions handled by one team? How long will the judgment process go? Please take the SOTD (site of the day) as an example.

FWA: As said above, SOTD is one team and MOTD another. Some judges are on both teams. The judging process can be a couple of days or a few weeks if the voting is very close. Sometimes it’s so close that I have to make the final decision myself.

ABOUT NEW PRODUCTS:

數(shù)英網(wǎng): Move to next stage, we’ve acknowledged that all FWA awarded agencies have one hour a week showing something interesting, but what is the positioning of FWA TV, and what you hope it become in further days? Why do you recommend people just to use mobile browser for watching instead of making an app for it?

FWA: FWAwebTV is a new platform for FWA and in the early days of it a lot of agencies had great fun and threw parties. Now things have settled down and we are looking at launching version 2 of the platform, with a focus on more useful content. I totally understand that people what to see live shows which are sometimes entertaining but also sometimes very informative and useful. The bottom line is that this is an amazing platform and to have so many global agencies interested in taking part means that we can organically grow this project so that there is always something interesting to watch.

We haven’t made an app for 2 reasons. One reason is that we do not have a large budget and that to make an app would mean making apps for all different platforms. Therefore, it makes more sense to just have one mobile site that will work over all devices.

數(shù)英網(wǎng): Now you acquire mobile apps/websites submissions, do you think it seems a little bit late since the hurricane of mobile and apps have been blowing for more than one year (since iPad 1 launched)? What’s your consideration? And does FWA have a special review process of the new category?

FWA: We started to accept mobile entries two years ago and then, on 1 September 2010, we launched the dedicated mobile showcase site at m.thefwa.com. Here we focus purely on mobile submissions, apps etc. Anything that is for mobile and handheld devices. We are seeing this gain quite a lot of momentum lately as submissions are rising every week.

The review process is the same as for SOTD but with a different team of judges. It’s more complicated because we have to make sure we have judges with many different devices but things are going great so far.

ABOUT WHAT’S IN THE FUTURE:

數(shù)英網(wǎng)： What’s your opinion about the mobile-age? It looks like everything go with smart phone and tablets PC. And the more important question is, as renowned observer and authoritative awarding organization in this industry, what will be the hotspot right next mobile? And why?

FWA: I think the certain thing is that people want information, fun etc without having to walk and sit at a PC. This is why mobile is so successful. People like me will always have a PC as some of the large applications I use would be a bit tricky to use over smaller screens. But, for the majority, I can see tablets taking over from desktop computers and an entire generation not even knowing or using a PC.

Mobile is still like a baby and lots of people go mad for apps when they get their first smartphone, much like those of us who grew up with the internet in the 1990s went crazy for free demos and screensavers. J

The reality is though that apps are a bit of a fad really as you soon realize that out of the one hundred apps you downloaded within 2 months of having a smartphone, you only actually need less than 10 of them.

I think eventually, all mobile apps will have to be generic across all devices or they will die a death and everyone will create mobile websites which they can be sure will work across all devices.

I also wonder about the future of social media. Again, everyone jumps with excitement but in the long term, does it have as much value as Facebook lovers think? I am not convinced. Content will always be king and if brands and people focus too much on one website, like Facebook, one day something will definitely take over from it and lots of brands will be left wondering why they didn’t focus on their own ideas, their own goals and their own websites, rather than dropping everything to have a Facebook page.

數(shù)英網(wǎng): Reveal us a little bit of FWA’s further plan, what’s the fascinating you will show us next few months? And why FWA will do this?

FWA: As mentioned above, FWAwebTV version 2 is coming soon. There is also a new book on mobile coming out any day now: The App and Mobile Case Study Book (http://amzn.com/3836528800).

We are also coming up to the end of the year and will be starting to judge for FWA Site of the Year 2011 and also the People’s Choice Award 2011. This is always very exciting as we look at the 12 site of the month winners (http://www.thefwa.com/sotm) and judge them for the awards.

I am always talking to other brands about ways of working together to make creative work get more exposure so stay tuned for the next FWA project which is never far away from realization.

ABOUT ADVERTISING:

數(shù)英網(wǎng): FWA charges fee for every submission in several review sections, but today you also sell banner rotation ads, which had never been done in such years. Why does FWA make such a “traditional” business now?

FWA: I founded FWA in May 2000 and for six years I worked on the project with no funding and no income. I had to finance the project and my life at that time from my personal savings. It also got to the stage, with free submissions, that I could be getting between 50 and 200 submissions every day! This meant that I spent almost all of my waking life clicking on links! It was amazing to see the type of sites people would submit when it was free entry. It reached the stage when I couldn’t cope any more so I had to introduce the submission fee. Not only did it provide financial support for the project but it also cut down the number of submissions to a sensible level and it also meant that we only got good designs being submitted.

Advertising has been on FWA since 2006 as well. There was high demand from agencies and companies to advertise the site as they were aware of the global reach of the website. In fact thefwa.com has served over 140 million site visits. So, advertising has been on FWA for 5 years now. Same with jobs, lots of agencies wanted to advertise so we introduced the job load for them. Again, you have to charge for postings or you get swamped with adverts and some of them may not even be genuine. Charging a premium ensures that advertisers are of good and reputable quality.

In summary, FWA now has to operate as a traditional business. That’s for legal reasons as well.

數(shù)英網(wǎng): FWA also offers job vacancy advertising service for many agencies and advertisers, but you just simply put hiring information on FWA and let job seekers contact with recruiters their own. Does it work pretty well? Does FWA have any further plan for this affair?

FWA: Yes, we allow agencies to advertise directly to our audience. Being such a small team, it would not be possible to do this any other way. With larger resources we could look at setting up portfolio systems but I don’t feel that would add much to the way the job board works. We have had companies of all sizes sourcing staff from our site, including the likes of Apple and Adobe and games giants like EA. I also know that over the years acquisition scouts often source interactive agencies by looking at the winners on our site.

ABOUT ROB FORD, FOUNDER OF THE FWA:

數(shù)英網(wǎng)： Rob, as the founder of FWA, we are interested in knowing more about you personally with FWA business. What did you do before you started FWA? What is your background? How did you get started in the field of creative web design?

FWA: This is the fun part of the interview where I get to embarrass myself. J I left school will minimal qualifications. I didn’t go to university or get a degree. I never enjoyed school, I always fought against the establishment that made me have to go to school. When I look back now, I can see how I ended up starting my own business as I always struggled to be happy working for a company and following the rules. When I left school I worked for a bank and made good progress. When I was interviewed for that job I had to sit a number of tests, they were logic and mathematical style tests. Apparently, I scored the highest they ever had.

From the bank I went to work for American Express and from there I went on to sell cars (Audi, VW and then Vauxhall). In my mid twenties. I had realized I was getting very bored with work and decided to just take a break and do some mundane jobs, including hay bailing during the summer (the hardest and most physical work ever!). I also enjoyed a few years of going to raves in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This totally opened my mind to a new and creative world.

It was in the mid to late 90s that I started to get more intrigued by the internet. I was always into gaming on my Vic 20 and Amiga 500 and with a Windows PC and the internet, I started to download free game demos like crazy. I then wanted to have my own website and learnt how to program HTML. This is where it all started for me and when Flash 3 came out I was hooked and then started a small web design agency called treecity. I was making small Flash sites for companies and my own agency site was nominated for a top UK web award. It was from here that I realized the amazing buzz awards gave to people. I then got involved in judging for some other internet awards and noticed how they spend way too much time showing off how great they were and not showcasing the amazing work they awarded. It was here, back in May of 2000 that I decided to set up FWA and to showcase the great sites that were going crazy in the Flash world at that time. FWA has grown from there and now showcases a huge breadth of content.

數(shù)英網(wǎng): What in your opinion that made FWA wined against all other competitors at that time and made it to be the leading one in creative web design field today?

FWA: For me, I always think of FWA like I do the BBC. The first, the originator and the project so many people have tried to copy and emulate. For ten years I worked every day on FWA and never had a single day off, not even when I was ill. I remember having food poisoning once and a temperature of 102.9 but I still crawled into my home office and updated the site. It was that level of dedication and my passion for showcasing other people’s amazing work that I always knew would be hard to rival. Working for 6 years and not getting paid shows a level of dedication or madness alone. J

Over the years I have seen so many new award sites come and go. So many of them have stolen FWA’s ideas and content and then tried to position themselves as being better than FWA. All I know is that every new addition and all growth of FWA has been organic, it has come from my own mind and not from someone else’s work.

To be one of the industry leaders, you must have the highest ethics and always maintain and neutral stance. Even though I have a huge network of people I have grown to know over the last 11+ years, from all of the top agencies all over the world, when they submit their work, it is treated the same as everyone else. We have sometimes been accused of being paid to award websites when some people have seen a site we awarded that they didn’t like. This really upsets me when I read such emails as it has never happened and will never happen. In FWA’s 11+ year history, only once has a company offered to buy an FWA award. That resulted in an instant email reply stating our revulsion at the idea and how it would absolutely never be allowed. No amount of money could buy anyone an FWA award, it’s purely down to making exciting and creative work. A simple idea, well executed is all it can take to win an FWA. You don’t need a big budget at all!

數(shù)英網(wǎng): What is your hobby besides work? And would you please list 3 of your favorite sites? (Except FWA)

FWA: I have struggled to find a hobby in recent years as I have been so devoted to FWA. My wife keeps telling me that I must find something to unwind from FWA with. I always wanted to be a DJ or music Producer so maybe one day I will get back into that. The only problem is that I am now in my 40s and I could be like an old granddad DJing at some event. J

I do enjoy gardening and this is how I started with the company name treecity as I had a passion for bonsai and trees. At one time I had over 500 small trees in 3 inch pots that I had grown from seed. Maybe I will start growing trees again.

Having devoted all of my 30s and now my early 40s to FWA, I really have realized that there is more to life than the internet and I am now taking at least 2/3 holidays per year. My long term plan is to retire from the day to day running of FWA and just maintain a creative and advisory role. It makes sense to have some younger blood pushing FWA into the future.

Oh… 3 of my favourite sites?!

1. I’m going to say: http://ukbassradio.com/ for keeping me young and for helping me through those long copy/paste sessions as I stream from their site frequently. Love my drum n bass!

2. Twitter. Totally addicted to it. Follow me @fwa

3. This year, http://www.thathipster.com/ has been one of my favourites. Great gameplay but even better ideas behind it.

THE PRELUDE:

數(shù)英網(wǎng): DamnDigital once did a work archive of Chinese wining-awards works on FWA, and while doing this we found out that most of works came from several designers and the “commercial ads” are few. What do you think about this, and do you have any suggestions to Chinese adman?

FWA: I think that we really need to get more work from China up on FWA. Maybe this interview will help to encourage individuals and agencies to submit their work. We are extremely keen to represent China’s creative industry to the world but we can only do that if people submit their work. China is one of the most exiting countries in the world and we would love to see more work from China on FWA. It would also be great to have at least one person from China on our judging team at FWA so if anyone is up for the job and, even better, has won an FWA, they can contact me via the FWA website, would love to hear from you all!

Most works on FWA from China has been created by individuals. I think this shows how individuals get technology and the internet a lot quicker than the big ad agencies. It’s always individuals that make big strides in the world. It’s always individuals that create new things. It’s never the big companies that innovate, always individuals. Think of the person who invented the wheel, not a big company. J

When you work alone it is easy to create whatever you want. Once you become well known, which can happen very quickly on the internet, you can soon get big offers from big companies. It’s then that we see the innovation start to slow down as those creatives then have to abide by the laws and rules of the big agencies. However, this is also when we see big agencies start to push out better quality work.

I guess the answer is the same… as an individual you should push the boundaries as much as possible. Be experimental in your work and personal portfolios. Make stuff work and then break the code and look for interesting results. This will get you noticed by bigger companies and all over the world if we get the chance to showcase you on FWA. It’s then that we might see better work from the bigger ad men.

To get noticed on the web, make something, break something and then mould it to perfection!

數(shù)英網(wǎng): If you and FWA have anything wishes us and to know, please feel free to write down and we will very happy to translate and press them.

FWA: I would really like to emphasise that we want to showcase more work from China on FWA. So, please consider submitting your work to us, we showcase a massive range of work these days as can be seen here:http://www.thefwa.com/about/work_we_award. We also welcome work that does not have an English version so never be afraid to submit a Chinese only site. We will focus on the design primarily.

If any of your readers would like to know more about FWA or get involved in any way, just get in touch and I’ll respond personally.We also have a great wallpaper section, which is a good chance for people to submit a wallpaper for potential showcase on our site: http://www.thefwa.com/wallpaperWe also have an article section, a great chance to write an article on the web community in China is someone wants to take this on.If I can just finish with some interesting links for your readers:

Here’s a selection of some of the most creative FWA award winners:

http://www.thefwa.com/press/creative_displays/
Here’s a selection of FWA Award Certificates displayed by our winners (one here from 30ml, Shanghai, China as well):
http://www.thefwa.com/gallery/
Here’s FWA touching 24 of the World’s top 100 brands:
http://www.thefwa.com/press/top100brands/
That’s all for now! Huge thanks for giving me a voice to your readers, I’ve really enjoyed it, thanks again!