The highly anticipated 26th edition of the Spider Awards is approaching, and this year, WONDR has stepped forward as the sponsor of the Best Digital Brand award.

The Best Digital Brand award celebrates organisations that have executed a clear digital strategy for their brand and achieved their goals.

WONDR’s sponsorship of the Best Digital Brand award highlights the company’s commitment to innovation and excellence in the digital space.

WONDR has been making waves in the industry since its launch, with its innovative approach to creating immersive and interactive experiences. WONDR aims to help brands create meaningful connections with their customers, and sponsoring the Best Digital Brand award demonstrates this support for brands that are doing just that.

The Spider Awards

This year marks the 26th anniversary of the prestigious Spider Awards. The Spider Awards recognise excellence in website design and development, and winning an award is an honour in the industry. The judging committee will be made up of Ireland’s leading web experts, business leaders, luminaries and visionaries.

This year’s Spider Awards promises to be a celebration of the best Irish web designs and innovations. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on 20th March 2023, and we can’t wait to see who takes home the Best Digital Brand award.

WONDR have been listed in the Top 10 Global Agencies at this year’s Vega Digital Awards 2022.

One the main award programme concludes, the Vega Digital Awards select the top ten participating agencies for the honours of being listed in the ‘Top 10 Global Agencies‘.

Selection is based on the number of categories won, the quality of entries and the company’s wider profile. To be listed in the ten agencies listing you have to deliver excellence through your creativity, strategy and expertise.

The Top 10 Global Agency listing is further recognition for WONDR and follows on from our 4 wins at this year’s programme.

This year we collected awards for

• Best Energy Website
• Best Financial Services App
• Best Insurance Website
• Best Services / Utilities App.

It is the second year in a row that WONDR have won 4 awards at the Vega Digital Awards for clients across banking, fintech, eCommerce, web 3 & insurance sectors.

Dermot further added…

“We are grateful for this recognition as it concludes a hugely successful year for us where we collected 22 awards in 12 months. Our award wins were from some of the world’s most prestigious programmes such as the Webby’s & UX Design Awards. We were also recognised at home at the Spiders, Digital Business Ireland Awards & the Digital Media Awards.”

About the Vega Awards
The Vega Digital Awards highlight the vital role of digital pioneers in an ever-changing digital landscape.

Organised by the International Awards Association (IAA), this year’s programme had over 1,000 submissions from 20 countries, clearly demonstrating the influence and reach the awards has in its mission of honouring excellence in the digital industry.

The judging panel was comprised of 22 industry experts from 10 countries around the globe.

WONDR collected 4 Global Design Awards for digital exellence at this years Vega Awards.

In addition to the 3 Vega Global Digital Awards we collected earlier in the season, WONDR have been awarded another GOLD for ‘Best Energy Website’ for our work on ESB Network’s website and PowerCheck application.

This year the awards programmes had over 1,000 submissions from 20 countries worldwide. The International Awards Associate (IAA) organised the Vega Digital Awards to celebrate digital excellence worldwide, recognising the very best in Websites, Video, Mobile, Social, Animation, Marketing, and Podcasts.

The judging panel was comprised of 22 highly respected and experienced professional experts from 10 countries, who selected three of our entries as winners.

This year, we collected 4 awards in total.

Continued Success

This is WONDR’s 8th Vega Global Digital Award since 2021, showcasing the skill and vastness of our talented team. Winning awards in various industries from eCommerce, Energy, Insurance, Services & Utilities, FinTech, Banking & Finance, Social Networking and Beauty & Cosmetics.

In total WONDR has collected 50 Design Awards, with 22 won in the past  12-months from some of the world’s most prestigious design programmes, including the Webbys (USA), UX Design Awards (Germany) & the Lau Awards (Spain).

WONDR has continued its winning streak with 2 more prestigious prizes at the 2022 Annual Digital Media Awards.

From over 400 entrants, WONDR were finalists in 3 categories for Best Small Agency, Best Website and Best in Financial Services.

On the night we took home one of the top prizes, a GOLD award for Best Small Agency, whilst we also collected a Silver Award for Best Website.

The Digital Media Awards are now in their 19th year and are one of the most well-established and well-known award programmes in Ireland.

The awards recognise creativity and innovation across digital media, including digital content creation, advertising and marketing, mobile media, social networking, app development, web design and development.

Continuous Recognition for Ireland’s No.1

These awards follow on our recent wins at the Global Digital Vega Awards where we also collected 3 awards.

Previous to these recent award wins, WONDR also collected 22 awards in 12-months from some of the world’s most prestigious design programmes, including the Webbys (USA), UX Design Awards (Germany) & the Lau Awards (Spain).

Tallaght University Hospital (TUH) & its Foundation (TUHF) have launched a new brand to help deliver innovation in the Med Tech space.

The Innovate Health Tallaght University Hospital brand’s aim is to attract both domestic and international investors/partners to allow the centre to continue its work.

Originally launched in 2021, Innovate Health TUH aims to attract potential investors and partners in a competitive market which includes household names like the Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical School and Stanford Medical School.

To reflect the ambitious nature of this funding drive, the new brand and website were launched by Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar T.D. at an event hosted by Tallaght University Hospital Foundation (TUHF) in the Museum of Modern Literature (MoLI) in September 2022.

The event brought Ireland’s foremost business leaders, policymakers, and health innovators together to mark Innovate Health TUH’s first year in establishing and growing Tallaght University Hospital’s ‘Innovation Model’.

Developing a global brand with substance

Named ‘Innovate Health Tallaght University Hospital’ the innovation centre’s singular aim is to revolutionise healthcare here and across the globe.

This new breed of MedTech will facilitate idea generation, problem-solving and implementation while focusing on key areas such as brain health, chronic diseases and ageing. By combining new ideas with digital health technology they will enhance the delivery of healthcare. In doing so, Innovate Health TUH will provide better outcomes for patients.

Working closely with Ringers, a new digital brand, positioning, visual language and website was delivered for Innovate Health Tallaght University Hospital.

The new website encompasses the brand vision, the depth of expertise in the innovation centre’s team leadership and the centre’s success to date. The digital product profiles alumni technology ideas and partnerships and gives clear and concise access to stakeholders on how they can work with the brand.

Every year Awwwards hold a conference in an iconic city to bring the global design community together with inspirational talks on trends, new technologies and provocative thoughts to create discussion.

Over two days we heard from designers, developers and digital experts from across the globe who gave fascinating insights on what’s happening next, here are our key takeouts from the event.

Nothing quite compares to the impact of well crafted 3D experience, be that through video or WebGL. Paired with great content and presented with compelling motion design, 3D has the power to cut through and create genuinely engaging digital experiences. But, they come at a cost.

The additional processing power to serve and run such experiences is coupled with a greater awareness that 3D and motion design are inherently less accessible.

In the same way packaging designers have evolved to consider environmental and user impact, so too should digital designers when considering what creative tools to employ and deploy.

At the same time digital designers are finding access to 3D software, motion graphics and webGL (through ThreeJS etc) is becoming easier and more ‘designer’ friendly. In addition, the spectre of the meta-verse is driving us towards more, not less 3D.

In other words, these forbidden fruits are increasingly reachable. Their demand also seems to be increasing. But just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. As always, the experiences we create must serve the brand and the message, not the latest fad or tools we have to hand.

Motion is something that can have a phenomenal impact on any website, creating focus around key areas, not only making it more interactive for the user but giving the brand life and personality to evoke positive emotion.

We like to use motion to draw users attention & provide feedback on their progress where possible, but it’s critical to ensure motion never hinders functionality but adds to the user experience.

Likha Aesthetic Clinic uses subtle motion design to build empathy with the user. This site has been benchmarked by Awwwards for mobile excellence, due to the fact whilst we had used motion design to enhance the experience, it did not affect performance on mobile devices.

Helping users think and feel by finding the balance between science and art is a topic from the event that really stood out to us as well, as it is something that we are passionate about.

We like combining science, data and creativity to create digital products that deliver for both users and brands alike.

A recent example of this was for the 11Onze El Canut App, where we utilised the latest in artificial intelligence to predict user behaviour on our proposed designs for the launch. We then correlated this data against the results of real user testing with over 1,200 people to validate, refine and ensure we had the right user experience that would deliver for everyone.

11Onze were a good example of a brand willing to be brave, as we released openly via the user test what we were going to launch into the market. We weren’t worried by the competition nor were we afraid to hear what customers would think, in fact we welcomed it and took onboard their feedback to deliver something they wanted.

Do the Unexpected

One of the key themes that really struck a chord with us was being brave by ‘Doing something unexpected’.

We strongly agree with this sentiment and why it’s in our company ethos – Clarity & Bravery.

Bravery is something we bring to every digital product we work on. As we highlighted in the case of 11Onze, you can make brave choices with confidence that they will deliver through the use of science, data & art. We always push our client partners to do what is possible and right for their customers and we try to not allow technology to limit our scope but actually empower it.

So next time you hear the word MVP (minimal viable product), try and substitute it in your mind for MLP (most ❤️ lovable product).

📸 Shots from the event

Radiocentre Ireland has been launched to promote the effectiveness of radio/audio to brands, advertisers and agencies in the Republic of Ireland.

Radiocentre Ireland,a newly formed body brought together by RTÉ and the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland, teamed up with ourselves to develop a vibrant digital brand launch that could be used across web and physical events to enable them to showcase the power of radio & audio as a medium.

With over 3.2 million Irish adults listening to the radio every single day, the brand led with a more youthful visual language to better reflect the changing demographics of listeners across Ireland.

Bespoke Irish Research

In an era of endless choices for brands & agencies to spend their marketing budgets, Radiocentre Ireland will be commissioning bespoke research to measure the effectiveness of radio & audio in Ireland to demonstrate its return on investment.

According to similar studies in the UK, for every £1 spent by advertisers on radio & audio, on average they get a return on investment of £7.70. The Irish research will look to validate, measure and build trust in the medium to help increase its share of marketing budgets.

The site provides access to special events, latest trends & research reports in order to provide a depth of trustworthy information for brands, advertisers & agencies on the reach and impact of radio & audio as a marketing medium across Ireland.

WONDR is proud to be the winner of Best eCommerce Website at the 25th Annual Spider Awards.

The award recognised the beauty, uniqueness and quality of our delivery for Likha Aesthetic Clinic. This award-winning site has a rich immersive brand experience that was refined using AI testing tools during the design process.

As the longest-running digital awards programme in Ireland, the Spiders are dedicated to recognising companies and individuals delivering digital excellence.

WONDR was shortlisted for 3 awards and collected the prestigious award on the night for Best eCommerce Website in Ireland.

Serial Award Winner

This prestigious award follows on from Likha Aesthetic Clinic’s recent success at the international Vega Design Awards where it won best website in beauty & cosmetics.

LikhaAesthetic.ie has also picked up global award for ‘Mobile Excellence‘ and an Honorable Mention from Awwwards as well as a Special Kudos award from CSSDA.

Founded in 2019, the clinic has also won Best Aesthetic Clinic in Ireland two years in a row, as well as a Patient Service Award from What Clinic for outstanding customer reviews two years in a row.

WONDR is proud to announce that it is now a member of ADG-FAD (Asociación de diseñadores gráficos y directores de arte)

The ADG-FAD (Associació de dissenyadors gràfics i directors d’art) are based in Barcelona, Spain and for more than 50 years, its goal has been to promote design and visual communication in Spain’s cultural and economic life.

11Onze  x  WONDR  x  Barcelona

WONDR’s collaboration with 11Onze, to foster and grow a fintech community, shares similar values with ADG-FAD of empowering the community with insightful knowledge to enable them to develop further.

The WONDR team plan on sharing our knowledge and expertise with the design community in Spain, especially insights on how we collaborated with 11Onze to create ‘First-ever Fintech Private Social Network‘ in Barcelona.

We recently collaborated with the Deluxe Group to help them launch Pub Óg, an authentic miniature pub experience, handcrafted in Ireland.

Pub Óg creates a personal pub space where memories are created and stories told. Using local materials to craft the interior and artefacts from Ireland’s heritage of beer and spirits, it aims to create the most authentic of pub experiences for you to be host of your own special snug.

Wherever you are in the world, the sweet earthy scent of burning peat will transport you home transported to Ireland.

Pub Óg is the perfect miniature Irish pub with a working bar and an undercounter fridge that holds two kegs. Each Pub Óg has a Smart TV with remote and a sound system for entertainment. There is an overdoor fan and heater suitable for all climates, stable door, windows, outdoor shelves, shingle roof, outdoor and indoor lighting.