The winner of Snowfire Awards 2022

"It's the same feeling on the website as what we deliver on-site," Oskar Jirdell, owner of Renew Sweden.

The Snowfire team met Oskar Jirdell, this year's winner of the Snowfire Design Awards 2022, and the website's designer, Giggi Sundler, on-site in Växjö.

There are more than a thousand websites created with Snowfire, and your site has won the top prize at the Snowfire Awards 2022

It's super fun. I mean, it's fantastic that the work we put into the website is being noticed and recognized. I have a vision for Renew Sweden, we know how it should look, and we make conscious choices. But it means so much to me to receive validation from others that what we're thinking and doing is right.

Tell me about RenewSweden - the Nordic region's first Social Wellness Club

I'm launching a completely new concept where the experience is everything. Here, you do things for your health and well-being. It's a place for people to meet, socialize, and also stay up-to-date on the latest in health. 

We help the body recover faster and more effectively in a natural way with services like sports massage, infrared sauna, cold baths, compression, and more. If you have a stressful daily life, have trouble relaxing, or are in pain, we can help you.

I'm a sports masseuse myself and I help many elite athletes with treatments, but this place is also for anyone who simply wants to feel better. Instead of having a night out with the gang, you can come here.

In the US, biohacking and new technological innovations are common, but these phenomena haven't quite caught on in Sweden yet. This means that on our website, we need to be clear about why it's beneficial to use our "Renews".

We've chosen to call our technological tools and treatments "Renews", which represents our focus on giving our visitors a new and improved view on health and well-being. By using our "Renews", you'll have access to a range of tools that can help you achieve your health goals.

Why do you think the design jury voted for your website as the winner?

I want visitors to have a 'wow' feeling. It's important that the first encounter with our website reflects that. We first show a short clip to set the right mood. We want to capture the same feeling on the website as when you come to the physical Renew. After browsing the website, you should feel eager to visit us and try our Renews.

We've refined, removed, focused, and suddenly, it all fell into place - the logo fits, the font fits, the colors fit, amazing images. We found a language with our communication. We found a structure.

The website tells what we're good at and gives a quick overview of what's offered and what Renew can help with.
By providing clear descriptions on the website, such as about our infrared sauna, along with a clear CTA that makes booking easy, it becomes a simple step for anyone to book and try it out. New customers are always directed to the website.

You've received help with branding and identity down to the smallest details from Giggi Sundler at the design agency Becc. How has that collaboration worked?

Giggi has really grasped the whole concept. He looks at the big picture and has such a broad experience in design and creating brands - everything from clothes, houses, graphic design, logos. Giggi sees the vision and creates the feeling for how things should look.

The best part is that I've been involved in the whole process. Giggi is so humble. We've worked together on the website. I've trusted Giggi while also being able to express my own creative ideas. I'm a bit of a control freak and pay attention to details, so it's very nice to work with someone who is responsive.

Giggi is completely fearless and dares to take risks. He based the design on the colors in the amazing photos that photographers Teo Wagesson and Anton Andersson from AWA Production took here at Renew. Together, we've pushed the boundaries and created an extraordinary experience on the website.

Why did you choose Snowfire as your platform?

"I've felt that it's a lot of fun and that my creative side really comes to life, says Oskar. Everything I've wanted to create has been possible. I don't have to compromise on how I want it to be. Giggi says that Snowfire is the Apple of websites. I've always worked on Apple. You can quickly get in and be creative.

"Yeah, I chose the platform," Giggi explains. "All creativity and joy needs tools where you can create. I've used other tools before. Snowfire is the best way to work with websites. Here, you work together with your client.

Snowfire is creative, fast and easy to start working in. Many platforms have a different type of structure where you need to work your way into the platform to fully understand how it works, but in Snowfire, there's a short distance between creativity and action - so it's very hands-on!

It's important to me that the customer owns the right to update text or images themselves when the website is done, without always needing an agency - it's a humble way of working for me.

Snowfire vs WordPress

When I explain the difference between WordPress and Snowfire to my clients, I usually use the analogy of building a house.

In WordPress, the construction of the "house" is done by different subcontractors, so they need to work seamlessly together for it to work smoothly (in the construction industry, the abbreviation LPP is generally inscribed to subcontractors - which means "solve on site" and then it goes as it goes...)

Snowfire, on the other hand, has all the building materials built in, so I know that everything works as it should, which means I can be more creative in Snowfire than in WordPress."

We designers can also choose to code completely custom blocks and customizations via Firecode to further enhance the website for the client - but that's a whole different story 😉

Give three words that describe Snowfire

"User-friendly, uncompromising, design-focused," says Oskar.

"Snowfire is like Apple but of websites; well thought-out, well-designed, and intuitive," concludes Giggi.

These are all the winners of the Snowfire Design Awards 2022 

View all the winning entries and read the jury's justifications.