GCI Contributor MSLK Recognized by Webbys

New York-based design and marketing agency MSLK, co-founded by GCI magazine contributors Sheri L Koetting and Marc S Levitt, announced its website design for premiere artist representative agency Friend + Johnson has been honored for Best Website in the 18th Annual Webby Awards. The Webby Awards, presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), is a leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. The IADAS, which nominates and selects The Webby Award Winners, is comprised of web industry experts, including media mogul Arianna Huffington, Skype CEO Tony Bates, Mozilla CEO and chair Mitchell Baker, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom, mobile phone inventor Martin Cooper, and creator of the gif Steve Wilhite.

MSLK’s iconic branding and design for Friend + Johnson’s website uses the latest technology and trends — with a fluid layout which adapts to devices at all sizes, as well as lightbox and social sharing integration.

“Honorees like MSLK are setting the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet,” said David-Michel Davies, executive director of the Webby Awards. “It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the 12,000 entries we received this year.”

“We took everything we’ve learned over the past 16 years designing award-winning, user-focused portfolio sites and applied it to the Friend + Johnson website,” said Levitt, partner and creative director of MSLK. “It was a careful balancing act, combining two goals which are often in opposition: having the largest imagery possible, while also keeping the F+J brand prominent so that it is top-of-mind amongst the world’s most discerning art buyers and art directors. I believe we succeeded in doing that, as well as creating a site that is very easy to navigate. We were also very excited to partner with the development team, Lookbooks, making the most of their amazing technology platform.”

The website features a Pinterest-style home page showing a wide variety of new portfolio images and news items relating to Friend + Johnson’s exciting roster of talent. Individual artist pages feature large imagery with easy-to-navigate thumbnails available only one click away at any time. A frequently updated blog keeps an actively engaged audience informed of all agency and artists news and achievements.

The 18th Annual Webby Awards received 12,000 entries from over 60 countries and all 50 states. Out of all the 12,000 entries submitted, fewer than 15% received this honor and were deemed an official honoree.

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