We are pleased to announce that Grzegorz Kozakiewicz one of PlusNet’s web designers has won one of the prestigious May 1st Reboot design awards 2008 for his work on his personal web project Pencil Rebel. The May 1st Reboot is a worldwide, international, cross discipline event. It is unique and of growing significance to anyone interested in the community of Web Design and the creative industry of those who take part. It is totally independent and is non profit making. Grzegorz is one of the Web Designers here at PlusNet and has been with us just under 12 months. Even though Grzegorz's main day to day job is the coding and management of the websites XHTML/CSS templates he comes from a very creative mixed media background. Before joining PlusNet last year Grzegorz worked for an agency in Manchester called Magnetic North specialising in experimental design techniques. Additionally he has worked in his home country of Poland and both Germany and Cyprus for several years.
Photo courtesy of Wojtek Kutyla
Like many web designers, Grzegorz spends many hours at home working on his own personal Web Design projects. Grzegorz’s projects are often a little more extreme than most others; much more extravagant than mine anyway! When Grzegorz first started at PlusNet, there were always piles of cardboard surrounding his desk which he had collected on his lunch hour or from charming them from other people he'd spotted with empty boxes. Several of us thought he was mad and that it was some kind of strange addiction he had to cardboard!
Luckily it wasn’t the later and it was in fact it was all part of his new Web Design project called Pencil Rebel. Pencil rebel is Grzegorz personal website and playground for showcasing his mixed media design skills. Grzegorz spent the best part of a year creating the second instalment of his web based role playing game out of pretty much anything he could find. Coupling this with traditional and modern animation techniques, good photography and an expert knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and Flash, you get Pencil Rebel.
Pencil Rebel has made Grzegorz very renowned within certain circles in the industry and earlier this year, he was asked to contribute to an article ran by “Computer Arts” magazine on a Pole's perspective of working here in the UK.
You can see Grzegorz's work here at pencilrebel.com and you can keep up to date on his projects on his blog. You can see the making of pencilrebel.com, in the following video:
From all of PlusNet: Congratulations Grzegorz! When is the next installment?