专访：Favourite Website Awards创始人Rob Ford——解密theFWA

Favourite Website Awards——theFWA, 业界真正称得上无人不知无人不晓的几个站点之一, 集合了网页设计界最高水准的展示平台。全球的网页设计师每天都要在FWA上观摩作品与寻找灵感, 代理商与制作公司也以获得FWA的各类奖项为荣。互动中国这次采访了FWA的创始人Rob Ford, 他将代表FWA为大家解密这家行业评奖风向标的创立、历史、机制、以及未来。

采访、编辑: 数英网 Newsroom
 (原创内容, 转载请注明来自数英网)

本次采访受访者为FWA创始人Rob Ford先生，他将代表FWA回答互动中国的提问

(数英网/Rob Ford=FWA)

关于FWA:

数英网: FWA团队目前有多少人手和部门? 这些部门都分别负责什么职能?

FWA: 我们拥有一个85人的评审团队，其中51人负责审查SOTD（Site of The Day，下同），34人负责审查MOTD（Mobile of The Day，下同）。我自己负责一般的日常运营与项目维护，当需要做设计以及网站建设的时候我们会去找Group94，我们还有一些支持人员，比如财务、法务、商业顾问等。

数英网: 你们的办公室在哪儿? 还是说你们目前都是SOHO? 如果是远程办公的话，你们怎么解决沟通与合作方面的问题的?

FWA: 即使现在FWA已经成长为一个国际化的品牌，我想我们还是不需要一间大办公室，事实上对于这样一个个人项目（指FWA）来说降低成本到最小化是至关重要的，FWA团队一般靠邮件相互联系，我个人住在剑桥。

关于评审:

数英网: 业界一直想知道的就是FWA所谓“健全的评审机制”到底是什么，我们已经知道你们的一些评分角度，以及一个公共评审环节，但是你能给我们揭露一下更多的细节么?

FWA: 在过去的11年里FWA曾经引进，后来又放弃了打分制规则来选拔SOTD与MOTD，现在我们采用的是大评委团制度，每个评委在每个评分组成上只能对作品打“Yes”和“No”，一件作品如果认可度在70%以上，那么就有资格获奖。

公共评审环节又是另外一回事了，之前经常有读者来信说我们评出的获奖网站他们并不认可，所以我们设置了这样一个环节来让大家亲自参与。每当一个作品被提交到FWA，它就会出现在“最新提交作品”栏目，访问网站的人可以在这里对作品投票（一样只有“Yes”和“No”），同样的，超过70%认可率的作品会被放到“公共评审名单”里——要注意的是这不是一个FWA官方奖项，它仅说明该作品的公众反响度如何。——因为发动群众刷票是在是太容易了。

基本上只有SOTD等才是经过FWA专家评审的官方奖项，而“公共评审名单”则只显示作品在更大的圈子里的好评度而已。

数英网: 接下来我们想了解一下评委方面。FWA的评委是从哪里选择的? 你们有一支固定的评委团队么? FWA选择评委的标准又是什么?

FWA: 51个评委负责审查SOTD，34人负责审查移动类作品。评委们遍布世界各地，而且名单一直在变动，但是我们每天都会收到很多人的报名。我会确保评委名单中有相当数量的年轻人——他们对这项事业更有热情和动力，对这一行业的发展趋势也更有洞察力。同样的，我们的评委团队中也拥有很多行业高层人士，用一个词形容的话，就是“兼收并蓄”。

我们选择评委的标准只有一个——必须获得至少一次FWA奖项，团队或个人皆可。我一般会把评委招募信息发送到twitter上，感兴趣的人可以去fo。

数英网: 不同分类的作品是由不同评委团队审核的么? 一般一次评审流程需要多长时间?

FWA: SOTD和MOTD是分开的，当然有一些评委会同时参加两边的评审。流程长度视乎具体情况而定，一般会需要几天时间，但如果作品得到的分数咬得太紧的话有时也会需要几周的时间——有时候比分真的非常、非常接近，我不得不自己去做决定选出哪一件作品。

关于产品:

数英网: 关于FWA TV，我们知道所有在FWA获过奖的团队每周都有一小时时间在这个平台展示自己，不过你们对FWA TV的定位是什么? FWA TV未来会发展成什么样? 为什么你们不去为它做一个移动app，而是鼓励用户直接上浏览器观看?

FWA: FWAweb TV是我们的一个新项目，很多代理商都在上面直播了有趣的内容。不过现在我们开始对内容进行审核与选择，并且期望能做出一个内容更实用的迭代版本。我很理解观众们既希望看到有趣的内容，又希望内容很实用。我们的底线是这样一个平台必须能吸引很多人的参与并有机的成长起来。

我们基于以下两点理由没有做FWA TV的APP: 第一是我们没有足够的预算去让这个APP覆盖所有的平台，第二是我们希望一个mobile版的网站（FWA）能统筹所有的移动设备。

数英网: 最近你们接受了移动类作品的参赛，但是为什么选择这个时间点创建这样一个分类? 要知道离开只能移动平台开发的大潮已经过去一年多了（从ipad1发售开始算起），你们是如何考虑的? FWA对移动类作品的审查机制与web类有什么不同么?

FWA: 我们从两年前（2010年九月一日）就在m.thefwa.com开始做移动类项目奖项了，移动设备开发的大潮给我们带来了大量的参赛作品。至于审查机制和SOTD没有什么差别，除了评审团队不同之外——难点在于我们必须确保拥有使用全部类型移动设备/平台的评委库，幸好我们做到了。

关于未来:

数英网: 你对移动时代的来临有什么看法呢? 现在看来每个人都围着智能手机与平板电脑打转——更重要的问题是，作为行业标杆的FWA，你们认为移动狂潮之后的大热点是什么? 为什么这么认为?

FWA: 人们不希望干什么事情都必须坐在电脑桌前而已。我自己其实对小屏幕无甚好感，但是大的趋势是平板将取代PC，也许有一天一整代人将会根本对台式PC毫无概念。

智能移动行业其实还是个婴儿，很多人才拥有自己的第一部智能手机，因此我想现在人们的狂热大约和20世纪90年代初人们刚接触到互联网并因此而狂热是一样的原因。我认为移动app行业如今的确有点过热了，当你意识到你在买下智能手机的头两个月下了超过三位数的APP结果之后只用到其中10个时候，你就明白我的意思了。我想这一行最终的出路是——要么你做出横跨全平台的APP版本，要么你干脆做一个在任何设备上都能浏览的网页端，除此之外都是死路一条。

我对社交媒体的未来也充满好奇，人们现在同样对之趋之若鹜。不过Facebook真有它的fans认为的那么给力么? 起码我不信。内容始终为王。品牌所投放的平台本身如果吸引了用户过多的注意力（比如FB），总有一天后者会覆盖掉前者。然后就是品牌商的集体逃离，并且反省之后重新规划自己的创意、自己的网站、自己的目标，而非一股脑的把一切都扔到facebook页面上去。

数英网: 能告诉我们一些FWA自己的“未来”计划么? 在未来的一段时间内你们将会为我们带来什么好玩的新东西?

FWA: 新一代FWA TV，以及一本关于移动作品的study book——The App and Mobile Case Study Book。年末我们也将会开始FWA Site of the Year 2011和People’s Choice Award 2011的评选，我也一直和其他品牌探讨联合进行创意合作的方法，近期将会有一个新的project出现，总之敬请期待。

关于广告:

数英网: FWA对提交作品是收费的（不止一个环节），但是你们最近也卖起了滚动Banner这种“传统业务”，这是前所未有的举动，能告诉我们为什么这么做么?

FWA: FWA从创立开始的六年里其实分文未挣，都是靠我个人的继续在维持运营。在FWA免费的时期我只能靠自己一个人来审查所有的作品——每天50到200个，基本上占用了我眼睛挣着的所有时间，实在是力不从心。因此我通过向作品收费的方式把作品提交数量控制在了一个合理的数目——我也得到了足够的资金维持FWA的运营和发展。同样的，因为收费，稿件的质量也相应提高了很多。

其实FWA早在06年就开始做广告了。当代理商与品牌商意识到FWA在全球的影响时（累计超过1.4亿PV），他们对投放广告的需求很强大。招聘板块也是同时开设的。你需要选择、张贴所有的招聘内容，因此我必须收费来保证服务的质量和信誉。

关于Rob Ford与FWA

数英网: Rob，作为FWA的创始人，为我们讲讲你的生平以及在FWA之前的职业吧。

Rob: 哇，还有个人环节。我在读大学之前就走上社会了，事实上我从来都不喜欢墨守成规，走进校园好好读书。当我从高中毕业的时候我去一家银行面试，并工作了一段时间，然后是美国运通，然后是汽车销售。当我回顾我自己的过去，我会发现我几乎一生都在“努力并快乐的为他人工作”与“循规蹈矩”之间挣扎。于是在20几岁的时候，我选择了辞职休息——去干一些体力活，包括在夏天为别人除草。这一段狂野的日子彻底打开了我的心扉，让我看到了一个全新的世界。

在90年代中期的时候我开始越来越深入的接触网络——其实是为了下载免费游戏。然后我开始想拥有一个个人网站，于是又去学了HTML，然后是Flash 3，我成立了一家叫Treecity的小公司为别人做一些小的flash和网页设计。 当我的公司获得了UK Web Award 时，我开始意识到一个奖项能带给人们多大的快乐。我开始参与一些奖项的评审工作，期间我看到大部分颁奖机构在不断宣称自己多权威的同时却从不向公众展示那些“厉害”的获奖作品，因此我想更进一步，于是在2000年五月，FWA诞生了。当年我设立FWA的初衷只是为了展示那些与flash相关的设计，当然，现在完全不一样了。

数英网: 你觉得FWA和其他同类站点最大的区别是什么? 是什么特质让你们成为了行业标杆?

Rob: 对我来说，FWA就是我的BBC——独一无二，与众不同。10年来无数人模仿FWA，10年来我几乎把每一天都扑在FWA上，即使生病了依然——有一次我食物中毒发烧超过40度依然在更新站点——我想就是这样的热情与牺牲，并且在六年里都毫无回报的疯狂，造就了今天的FWA。

这些年里我看过太多站点的起起落落，太多的站点抄袭FWA的创意乃至内容。我只想说，就FWA而言，所有的“创新”都表达了这两个字的字面意思。

作为行业标杆，你必须保持最高的职业道德和中立的立场。过去的十几年里我结识了全球各地在顶尖代理商工作的很多朋友，但是当他们提交作品的时候我依然会一视同仁。有时我们被指责说收了钱于是让垃圾作品获奖，这让我很愤怒，事实上从FWA成立至今只有一家公司试图来买我们的奖项——回答自然是想也不要想。FWA作为展示世界上最有趣和有创意的作品的平台，是无价的。钱不能让你的作品获奖，作品本身才可以。

数英网: 除了FWA之外你还有别的兴趣所在么? 请列出三个除了FWA之外你最喜欢的站点。

Rob: 是的，最近几年我都在努力寻找FWA之外的人生，我妻子一直在劝我找一些其他爱好来摆脱FWA的魔掌。我一直想成为一个DJ或者音乐制作人，也许有一天我会真的去做，问题是现在40几岁的我都能当那些DJ的爷爷了。我喜欢园艺，至今为止我已经亲手培育了500多株盆栽和树——这也是为什么当年我的公司名字叫Treecity。

在把自己的十多年岁月投入FWA之后，我开始明白因特网外的世界更精彩，我现在至少在2/3的节假日里选择休息，长期来说我的计划是从每日运营退居幕后负责FWA的创意和决策，为了FWA的未来，新鲜血液是必须的。

以下是三个我最爱的站点:

1. Ukbassradio 在线音乐播放网站，超级解乏。

2. Twitter 我已经上瘾了，关注FWA的人请follow @fwa

3. Thathipster 在线游戏网站，背后的创意非常强大。

尾声:

数英网: 互动中国曾经做过两期《历年被FWA收录的中国网站 大陆地区篇/港台篇/国际友人篇》，在制作过程中我们发现FWA上的中国作品或者都出自少数几个设计师之手，或者就是不够商业化，你们对此有什么建议么?

FWA: FWA很欢迎也很需要来自中国的作品，希望互动中国的这次采访能传达我们的声音。FWA很希望推介中国广告和设计界的作品给世界其他地方。如果我们有那么一个评委（当然是拿过FWA奖的）来自中国就更棒了。如果谁有兴趣欢迎到FWA主站上来联系我。

言归正传，FWA上大部分的中国作品出自个人之手，我想这表明了在网络与科技告诉普及的年代里个人比大广告公司转身更快。新鲜事物永远是由个人先创造出来，而非大企业——并不是哪家大公司发明了轮子，不是么? 当你为自己工作的时候你可以很容易做自己想做的事情，一旦你出名——在网上出名很容易——你很快就会收到大公司的offer。你必须遵守公司的命令的各项制度，然后你的创意速度就会越来越缓慢。

我想在独立工作阶段，你必须自己给自己压力——越大越好。反复做试验，完善你的作品然后再打破它。创作，然后破坏，然后再创作，这是逼近完美的必经之路。

数英网: 还有什么想和大家说的么?

FWA: FWA欢迎来自中国的作品，我们接收以下范围内的任何作品投递，即使非英文作品亦可——设计才是我们最关注的方面。我们同样接收壁纸类作品投稿，你可以在这里了解具体的内容。如果你会撰写关于网页和社区方面的文章，也欢迎投递给我们。

以下是一些分享链接:

• FWA上最具创意的得奖者集合:
  http://www.thefwa.com/press/creative_displays/

• 获奖者展示的FWA获奖证书(其中有来自中国上海的30ml)
  http://www.thefwa.com/gallery/

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

如果你想了解更多关于FWA的一切，请直接联系我，我会亲自回复。以上是所有采访内容，感谢互动中国的采访。

以下为采访原文:

ABOUT FWA:

数英网: 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.

数英网: 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:

数英网: 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.

数英网: 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.

数英网: 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:

数英网: 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.

数英网: 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:

数英网： 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.

数英网: 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:

数英网: 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.

数英网: 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:

数英网： 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.

数英网: 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!

数英网: 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:

数英网: 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!

数英网: 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!